there’s a basic contradiction, nonetheless.
– the purpose of work, you say, is to glorify god.
– the purpose of a company is to maximize profit.

when moving from the individual to the group, priorities do/can/often get changed.

while it might be possible to look to maximize profit while not doing harm, it takes more fortitude than it seems like most companies have.

good luck.

bye.

Aside from all that, how do you think you got the computer you are typing on and the house you are living in and everything you are using and eating and consuming? Did it all just all out of the sky? Somebody worked to produce it for you, and you bought it, buster. And most of the time, you are not dying from food poisonng. Admit it. Some pretty good stuff comes out of business. And it does glorify God. (Did you thank God for your dinner tonight?)

And most people that I know who lead businesses try like heck to do it with honesty and integrity, while being good stewards of their resources.

There’s plenty of good material written on this subject, if you would like some references.

>>we are a church community filled with our fair share of corporate executive-types

.. and the companies they work for.

What bugs me is that on the one hand, the ostensible purpose of work is said (in the original posting) to be “to glorify God”, but *what* is sometimes done is most horrifying.

There is an endless list of atrocities of much corporate behavior… from producing salmonella-tainted foods, to bribing, to destroying communities with poisonous products dumped in rivers and streams, covering up bad results of drugs, and so on and so forth. Endless it always seems.

So what is the purpose of saying that purpose of work is “to glorify God”?

Umm.. are you talking specifically to me? Or to Wall Street? Or to the vast world of business and corporate life in general?

Well, I’ll go ahead and assume that we are on personal terms, so here you go:

1. Thank God, we are not laying anyone off at my company. In fact our company is doing pretty OK right now. So you got that one wrong. And if we did have layoffs, would it glorify God? That, my friend, is a very difficult and interesting question indeed. Maybe you should start a blog to address it. But not until you have been in that position yourself, k?

2. Our company has a strict debt policy that is wisely governed, and it is not unstustanable by any means. No bankruptcies to report here. Wrong again.

3. Bribes to congressmen? Toxic products? Uh – I think you got the wrong number.

4. I fought my last speeding ticket and went to the local court to see if it could get reduced. The policeman actually cut me a break and I only had to pay half of what it was written up for. Praise God! Wrong again.

Sounds like you are angry, bro. And doubtful too. I get that you want to vent. Might as well be here.

when you piled on unsustainable debt so your company goes bankrupt, were you glorifying God?

when you paid bribes to congressmen to get the government regulators to look the other way when your company produced toxic products, were you glorifying God?

when you pay off policemen to forget about your speeding ticket, were you glorifying God?

If you answer to stock holders, that means you glorify God in part by increasing the value of the company.

When I was a teacher, I glorified God by teaching really well. I assigned challenging books and poems. And I pushed the kids to write really hard essays. That was my job. In doing my job well, I also glorified God.