mtnman (and all other posters)-

Please be careful. The Fastlane forums have a strict policy of not discussing religion, politics, and several other topics (like network marketing).

I think you've phrased your question carefully, but please be aware that if this turns into a religious flame thread, I'm going to need to delete it.

To others reading this thread: Please do try to respond to the questions posed. Can the bible be used as an asset to teach about business and money? And if yes, how?

I think everyone on these forums will agree that teaching about money and business is important. Doing it within a religious context is no different-- the question here is NOT about religion. It's about how to teach fastlane concepts within a biblical frame of reference.

Thanks,

-Russ H.

 

I would start with the common themes that NOTHING is impossible, and that the seemingly easy path can lead to demise. I know these are vague, but they could easily be branched into more specific topics with references and parallels from both religious and business contexts.

Be it business or any topic of study, if the biblical (or any other religious) frame of reference is used, it seems to me that it would be most effecive to teach how the principals outlined in the literal religious passages could be applied to the students' daily lives...rather than in a "how many quotes can you recite" fashion.

---please delete if this is out of line for the forum---

- John

 

The Bible actually speaks a lot about money. Parables about talents and making them grow to me speaks of investing, in many areas but including financial. It was the one who did the best at making his seed money grow that was rewarded the most and the won who didn't do anything that was punished.

The Proverbs were written by the richest man who ever lived. I would think he would have had some good money advice in his writings. Steven K. Scott has authored books about Solomon and his success. I've read "The Richest Man Who Ever Lived" and have yet to read "Mentored by a Millionaire", but he has taken and made some of the Proverbs make sense for today.

The biggest problem with the Bible is much of the time you can read something and go huh?

So I'd say the answer to the question is yes, the challenge is understanding how something written thousands of years ago and from different cultures can be understood and the principle itself applied today in a relevant way. Principles of wealth are timeless, no? It's the method of achieving that changes.

We buy and sell houses and businesses now, not sheep and goats. Too bad houses don't reproduce like cows...

 

I think Og Mandino is one the best to take this to a fastlane level

 

Joel Osteen has based his career on all of the positive messages of the Bible. If you are looking to get a different framework for Biblical quotes check him out.

...I also went to Christian based schools up until highschool, and I never once got the message that money was bad- but that the love of money was bad. I always understood the messages the dealt with money, (like Janet said) to be a good steward of what you have- and if you don't then that misuse of what God has given you is frowned upon.

 

True statement. A must read is The Greatest Salesman in the World.

 

Interesting website I found whilst confirming the John D Rockefeller quote "Control everything. Own nothing."

Lots of interesting tie-ins w/biblical examples for business and shielding oneself via corporate structures:

http://www.epicwealthstrategies.com/assetprotection.html

-Russ H.

Disclaimer: I was raised to be very religious, but now consider myself not religious at all (I'd describe myself as spiritual, with a profound aversion to organized religion). But I am a big believer in infinite diversity in infinite combinations-- meaning that I harbor no ill will or bad feelings towards anyone who is religious (or is not). I support both.

 

I became very involved in a Christian Youth Group when I was in my teens. I will never forget the moment when I had an "ah-ha" reading Proverbs 31 and the description of a godly woman.

She was a good wife and mother, managed a household, bought real estate in her own name, oversaw the management of the land, and had a business (again in her own name). Up until then, I had fought against this notion that I had that a woman had to make a choice between her faith and business. I saw that wasn't so - and it made all the difference in my life.

It's funny, I haven't thought about that deciding point for years. But, this thread helped me remember that moment (with a lot of fondness) and I did a search on Proverbs 31. I was amazed by how many resources there are for young women today on this same theme. Cool.

Russ: I'm a little bit like you. I might practice my Christian beliefs a bit more, but I consider myself more spiritual than religious. In the past few years, I've had some amazing (and very positive) conversations about faith and beliefs with a Hindu and a Muslim in Indian, a Muslim in Afghanistan, Orthodox Jews in NYC and with people with various Christian beliefs in different parts of the US and MX. (Church services in little pueblos in MX are an incredible experience.) To me, that is a big part of my faith - finding those kernels of goodness, ethics, integrity and service in which we can all agree.

And, at the risk of getting my post deleted, one more comment... A friend of mine gets REALLY put off by judgemental religious people and has a great saying, "Oh, I can't go to your church...I just don't hate the right people."

That sums it up perfectly for me. Talk about acceptance, building together, creating something bigger and better - I'm there. Talk about exclusion and hate - no thanks.

 

I think I will wade in a little further. I went to college to be a pastor. About half way through, I found out that preaching was not a skill I possessed. My longest sermon was 13 minutes. The kids loved me, the old folks were all looking around like "What do we do now?". The good thing about this was that through this I learned to study the bible for myself, and not just believe what other people told me it said/meant. I am still weeding out some of my previously-taught misconceptions. To me, it seemed like some 'mature' christians were just modern day "pharisees" adding rule upon rule to the message Christ gave us.

Regarding money and success, I firmly believe that Christ followers should strive to be an example in all areas including money and success. Unfortunately, some pastors only speak about money when it comes to greed, or more often when the collection plate has been a little light. And some Christians twist the parable of the talents(money) to mean other things, perhaps because they do not like facing the reality of the money aspect of this and what it means in their lives.

For me, the most powerful section on money and not just money in the Bible is the parable of the Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25. Just recently, I rejected what I was taught this meant, and studied it for myself. Not even similar.