Wanda's Dilemm Should A Christian And A Non Believer Have A Business Together

Business Ethics
Assignment #4: Business Dilemma
Professor: Christopher Rezvani
Student: Nurzhan Mamraikhan
Problem
Wanda's Dilemma: Should a Christian and a Non believer have a business together? Wanda is a new Christian who has been planning to open a business with a life-long friend who is not a believer. Wanda has heard that somewhere in Corinthians it says that Christians should not enter a business partnership with an unbeliever. Not wanting to violate the teachings of the Bible, she has decided to form a corporation with her lost friend instead of a partnership. 

However, Wanda still feels a little nervous about the situation. She comes to you for Christian advice. Does this verse prohibit her from forming a corporation with her lost friend? What about
an LLC?
In considering this, Wanda remembers that she also has some stock in General Motors Corporation. She is pretty sure that GM has some unbelievers who are shareholders in GM. She is wondering whether this passage should lead her to sell her stock in GM as well. 

Please be sure to fully explain your answers and conclusions, citing all relevant sources including your text book, scholarly works, and Scripture. Be sure to follow all the prior instructions given for discussion boards in making your answers. Further, you should either use the words 'Prohibits' or 'Does Not Prohibit' in the subject line of your discussion board post, depending upon your conclusion. Then, in your replies, you should select at least one person to reply to who has reached the opposite conclusion if possible. *
Solution


Personally, I believe people have morals and values ... and they are very important parts of a person's makeup. As in the military, we hold integrity as one of our core values ... it makes us dependable and trustworthy. I think it is very important to operate truthfully to one's self ... because if you can't be true to yourself, can you be true to a partner? 

But it sounds like
Wanda is trying to be true to the Bible in a literal sense. If that is correct, business is business ... a partnership is the same as a corporation is the same as an LLC. If you are taking Corinthians literally, I believe that it says not to start a business with a non-believer. Again, I believe scripture is interpreted differently by each individual, as was the translation from Hebrew to English. 

As you move to global companies as GM is, you probably can't get away from believers and non-believers doing business together ... I'm sure there is a non-believer working in a factory, or bookstore that either manufactures or sells Bibles ... is that business condemned in the business of spreading God's word? 

This is why I believe that business and religion should be mixed in a very cautious manner, but it is important to realize that it's pretty unlikely to have a "believer" pure business ... after all; the object is to raise money. If you refuse to take money from a "non-believer", you handicap your business from the start. 

Finally, realize that this is my opinion ... there is no "written" basis to this. Is Corinthians a "rule", or a scripture subject to interpretation? What was the original Hebrew version, and what did it really say? If we are not to do business with non-believers ... what is "business"? Are we not supposed to spread the good word to non-believers? And in spreading the news, is this not conducting business? 

I don't know if I really clarified anything, but I think I did shed light on how big of a problem this could be ... and probably sparked a few more conversation entry points.