Are ALL businesses sold out to Mammon?

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Lanolin

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
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Just wondering if the profit motive is the bottom line for ALL businesses and how do you distinguish Chrstian businesses from other business or is that not even a thing.

Would not a christian business just be a charity?

If so how do we support charities rather than businesses.
 
Lanolin said:
Just wondering if the profit motive is the bottom line for ALL businesses and how do you distinguish Chrstian businesses from other business or is that not even a thing.

Would not a christian business just be a charity?

If so how do we support charities rather than businesses.
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There is nothing wrong with making a profit. If a business does not make a profit, it won't be around for long. How can it pay its employees? How does it pay the bills? Paul made tents to support himself and others. He could not have done that without selling at a profit.

Money is not the root of all evil. It's the love of money that is the problem. People without a cent can be guilty of that sin. Another issue is where the money comes from. If the business is operating in the world, then profits are taken from the people of the world and potentially used for the Kingdom of God.

I had a Christian friend who was an electrical contractor. I worked on some jobs with him. He was honest, did an excellent job and charged a fair amount. Most jobs he would find something he could do for free, even if it was straightening out a power point. His customers kept coming back. He was a giver. God made sure that my friend's needs were met when he got to old for the business.

Business is means to an end. If all the owner wants is to make and horde money, God is not pleased. If it is for the Kingdom of God, God is delighted.
 
When I think of a Christian business, I think of an honest business, not a company that sells lemons, deceives customers, etc. I also think of excellent customer service. I believe they can charge market rates, but also open to working with customers on a case by case basis through reduced prices, payment plans, etc.
 
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There's nothing evil about being a business, and nothing saintly about being a charity. Necessarily.

Keep in mind that a lot of charities are basically scams. You would be amazed what some of your money goes towards when you give to the Red Cross, or the WHO, or Greenpeace, or The Wounded Warrior Project.

There is corruption in many human organizations. Yes, even churches. My parents always told me the best way to give charitably is through one's home church if it is trustworthy.
 
Lanolin said:
Just wondering if the profit motive is the bottom line for ALL businesses and how do you distinguish Christian businesses from other business or is that not even a thing.
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You seem to be implying that the profit motive is evil. However fair and reasonable profits are the "wages" of businessmen. You would not say that anyone earning an income is "sold out to mammon". So why would you question legitimate profits? On the other hand profit gouging is another matter.

You can support charities either from you wages or from your profits. Makes no difference. A business is NOT a charity and a charity is NOT a business.
 
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I think how Jesus basically liquidated his Fathers business by kicking out all the moneylenders in the the temple, and then warned it would be destroyed (closing down, clearance sale!) cos the people that were put in charge were corrupt.
 
Lanolin said:
I think how Jesus basically liquidated his Fathers business by kicking out all the moneylenders in the the temple, and then warned it would be destroyed (closing down, clearance sale!) cos the people that were put in charge were corrupt.
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Christ's cleansing of the temple has nothing to do with the rightness of running a business for profit. Those people had no business being within the temple precincts. Had they conducted lawful business with reasonable profits outside the temple, the Lord would not have objected.
 
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Lanolin said:
Just wondering if the profit motive is the bottom line for ALL businesses and how do you distinguish Chrstian businesses from other business or is that not even a thing.

Would not a christian business just be a charity?

If so how do we support charities rather than businesses.
Click to expand...

Yes, that is the absolute definition of business. That is what business is, if it's not motivated by profit, then it is something other than business.
 
Combanitorics said:
Yes, that is the absolute definition of business. That is what business is, if it's not motivated by profit, then it is something other than business.
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I thought business was a characterised by business, as opposed to laziness...but then what do I know when Jesus said 'I must be about my Fathers business'. Was Jesus making profts on the side that we didnt know about
 
Lanolin said:
I thought business was a characterised by business, as opposed to laziness...but then what do I know when Jesus said 'I must be about my Fathers business'. Was Jesus making profts on the side that we didnt know about
Click to expand...
Lanolin said:
I thought business was a characterised by business, as opposed to laziness...but then what do I know when Jesus said 'I must be about my Fathers business'. Was Jesus making profts on the side that we didnt know about
Click to expand...
Lanolin said:
I thought business was a characterised by business, as opposed to laziness...but then what do I know when Jesus said 'I must be about my Fathers business'. Was Jesus making profts on the side that we didnt know about
Click to expand...

Six days of the week shalt thou do all your labor.
 
Gideon300 said:
There is nothing wrong with making a profit. If a business does not make a profit, it won't be around for long. How can it pay its employees? How does it pay the bills? Paul made tents to support himself and others. He could not have done that without selling at a profit.

Money is not the root of all evil. It's the love of money that is the problem. People without a cent can be guilty of that sin. Another issue is where the money comes from. If the business is operating in the world, then profits are taken from the people of the world and potentially used for the Kingdom of God.

I had a Christian friend who was an electrical contractor. I worked on some jobs with him. He was honest, did an excellent job and charged a fair amount. Most jobs he would find something he could do for free, even if it was straightening out a power point. His customers kept coming back. He was a giver. God made sure that my friend's needs were met when he got to old for the business.

Business is means to an end. If all the owner wants is to make and horde money, God is not pleased. If it is for the Kingdom of God, God is delighted.
Click to expand...
thought he didnt have money he just made tents and was given food and safe passage/shelter in return

Or was it Peter who said 'Gold and silver have I none'

Jesus never saw much money cos Judas basically stole it all, and when he did have to pay a tribute tax, he got it out of a fish.
 
Paul didnt SELL tents
He MADE tents.

It never says in the Bible that he was a merchant or a tent seller. So it cant be assumed he made a profit. He made a living, not a profit.
If he made money, he would have been called a money maker, not a tent maker....
 
Lanolin said:
thought he didnt have money he just made tents and was given food and safe passage/shelter in return

Or was it Peter who said 'Gold and silver have I none'

Jesus never saw much money cos Judas basically stole it all, and when he did have to pay a tribute tax, he got it out of a fish.
Click to expand...

You are not looking at the whole picture. Lord Jesus was a tradesman for 30 years and owned his own home. He wore sandals. Poor people had no footwear. Judas did not steal it all. Only a fool does that because its too easy to detect. He did take money from the treasurey, yes. Why did Jesus catch a fish for the temple tax? Maybe He was just making a point that He did not need to take money from the treasury to pay His own way. We know very little of what Jesus and the disciples did. The gospels are just a tiny portion of the actual ministry of Jesus and the disciples.

Paul may have bartered tents, we don't know. He did ask the churches to take up collection for the church in Jerusalem. I get the impression that it was money, not goods.

We know from history that the typical wage for a manual worker was a denarius a day. People were not paid in food or clothes.

In the first days of the church, many sold their possessions to help the less fortunate. Ananias' sin was not to have the money, but to lie about how much he was giving to the apostles. If he'd kept all of it and not lied about it, he would not have been punished.
 
Gideon300 said:
You are not looking at the whole picture. Lord Jesus was a tradesman for 30 years and owned his own home. He wore sandals. Poor people had no footwear. Judas did not steal it all. Only a fool does that because its too easy to detect. He did take money from the treasurey, yes. Why did Jesus catch a fish for the temple tax? Maybe He was just making a point that He did not need to take money from the treasury to pay His own way. We know very little of what Jesus and the disciples did. The gospels are just a tiny portion of the actual ministry of Jesus and the disciples.

Paul may have bartered tents, we don't know. He did ask the churches to take up collection for the church in Jerusalem. I get the impression that it was money, not goods.

We know from history that the typical wage for a manual worker was a denarius a day. People were not paid in food or clothes.

In the first days of the church, many sold their possessions to help the less fortunate. Ananias' sin was not to have the money, but to lie about how much he was giving to the apostles. If he'd kept all of it and not lied about it, he would not have been punished.
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really how do you know Jesus owned his own home? You assuming much.
everyone had sandals but the sandals did wear out...you try walking the desert on hot sand and rocks with nothing on your feet. This is the middle east not the Pacific Islands.
Jesus never had money on him Judas kept it ALL because he was the treasurer. And Judas would dip in to it. He assumed he had the right to take whatver he wanted.
When Jesus fed the five thousand with loaves and fishes he nor any of his disciples at the time had ANY money on them.

We actually do know a lot of what the disciples did from the gospels. Anyone with a brain can read what they did.

a salary in romans time was paid in SALT...that is why its called a salary. wages was to WEIGH part of that salt. it was an allowance. a denarius was worth so many pounds of wheat. when they didnt have danariuses they would still have to be paid in food or goods.

dont assume 'collection' means collection of money!


Nobody said the sin was that anais and saphira was to have money...but they did lie and KEEP the money. The point of selling everything and giving to the poor was not to make money, it was to use THAT money to buy food and supplies. You cannot eat money, so its useless to keep it.
 
Lanolin said:
Paul didnt SELL tents
He MADE tents.

It never says in the Bible that he was a merchant or a tent seller. So it cant be assumed he made a profit. He made a living, not a profit.
If he made money, he would have been called a money maker, not a tent maker....
Click to expand...
That is one of the dumbest things I've heard in while. I was in the work force for 50 years. No one once called me a money maker. I worked for money, not for the fun of it. Do you think Paul had a printing press? Or a coin press? That's how you make money.
 
Lanolin said:
really how do you know Jesus owned his own home? You assuming much.
everyone had sandals but the sandals did wear out...you try walking the desert on hot sand and rocks with nothing on your feet. This is the middle east not the Pacific Islands.
Jesus never had money on him Judas kept it ALL because he was the treasurer. And Judas would dip in to it. He assumed he had the right to take whatver he wanted.
When Jesus fed the five thousand with loaves and fishes he nor any of his disciples at the time had ANY money on them.

We actually do know a lot of what the disciples did from the gospels. Anyone with a brain can read what they did.

a salary in romans time was paid in SALT...that is why its called a salary. wages was to WEIGH part of that salt. it was an allowance. a denarius was worth so many pounds of wheat. when they didnt have danariuses they would still have to be paid in food or goods.

dont assume 'collection' means collection of money!


Nobody said the sin was that anais and saphira was to have money...but they did lie and KEEP the money. The point of selling everything and giving to the poor was not to make money, it was to use THAT money to buy food and supplies. You cannot eat money, so its useless to keep it.
Click to expand...
Try doing some research yourself.

https://opentheword.org/2015/01/16/did-jesus-own-a-home-in-capernaum/
 
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