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S. Michael Houdmann
Supporter
The question of whether a Christian should go into business with an unbeliever is a common one. The most often-quoted Scripture is "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousn...
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Jean Email
In my personal experience dealing with Christian and non Christian business partners, I've been treated more honorably by non Christians. One Christian business partner I confronted when she crooked me actually had the nerve to quote from Isaiah and said to me angrily, "no weapon formed against me shall prosper". She then proceeded to go around proclaiming the miraculous blessings from God that she had received for free, yet she never paid me.. The bottom line is I believe having business partners who are non Christian is not a bad idea as long as terms are outlined and understood in advance. Joseph ran Pharoah's grain stores and traded on behalf of Egypt, making that nation very wealthy at the time. King David did business with the Philistines in 1 Samuel 27 and both parties got what they wanted. This did not affect David's faith in God. Solomon also did business with King Hiram in 1 Kings 9 and the temple and palaces were build with Lebanese cedar and gold from the east obtained during business dealings with unbelievers. The only time Solomon's faith was affected was when he married unbelievers, not when he did business with them. To this day we are all buying oil from the Middle East yet this has not resulted in us changing our faith to another. Our goods are made in China, our cars in Japan and our clothes in India. Being unequally yoked likely refers more specifically to marriage because that is the context of that scripture. Because if we only could do business with Christians then we would all have to quit our jobs since our bosses and co-workers are unbelievers. We would also have to dispose of these Apple and Microsoft products from companies run by atheists like Steve Job and co., since buying them is effectively doing business with unbelievers. Ultimately I think this is a personal decision because sometimes Christians can be manipulative, using their relationship with God as a way to obtain favour from you. Whatever one decides, keep your eyes wide open.
Carol Karam
I feel that because Jesus loved all people and came to save the unrighteous, we should follow his example and it would not be a bad thing to go into a business agreement with a nonbeliever. The hope would be that the example that the Christian displays would be a catalyst in converting the other. I do believe, however, that if the Christian feels he is being brought down by the unbeliever he should dissolve the relationship. In our working world, business owners or not, we are often surrounded by unbelievers and part of our job on earth is to let the Lords light shine through us. With prayer, God and the holy spirit will make things right one way or another.
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