JUDEO-CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES

America needs to wake up from the comfortable lies of socialist anti-hero rhetoric and reclaim its birthright as a country founded upon Judeo-Christian free enterprise principles. Warren Brookes writes:

“At its roots, economics is a metaphysical rather than a mathematical science, in which intangible spiritual values and attitudes are at least as important as physical assets and morale more important than money supply. Products, after all, are the assembly of qualities, and their value derives directly from the innate character and ideals of those who create them and the workmanship of those who produce them. Things are in their final analysis, the expression of thoughts. Quality products derive from quality thoughts, shoddy products from shoddy thoughts. Plainly, then, a national economy, like an individual business or a specific product, is the sum of the spiritual and mental qualities of its people, and its output of value will be only as strong as the values of society”

We need a reawakening of the old American values of a strong work ethic and basic understanding that “your word is your worth.” De Tocqueville, in his classic “Democracy in America” said:

“America is great because America is good, and when America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great!”

Our biggest goal on the Team is to make a difference in each and every member of the team and one of the ways we do that is by educating our members. Quality thoughts produce a quality business. The very thing for which anti-heroes criticize our business – our books and our tape series – is actually our biggest competitive advantage. The growth rate of the Team enterprise is in direct correlation to the personal growth rate of the individual members of the Team.

You might be thinking, “O.K. Orrin I can see your point on free enterprise, but isn’t it wrong for Christians to make money?” Let’s have Wilhelm Ropke answer that out of his book, “A humane economy”:

“Self discipline, a sense of justice, honesty, fairness, chivalry, moderation, public spirit, respect for human dignity, firm ethical norms – all of these are things which people must possess before they go to market and compete with each other. These are the indispensable supports which preserve both market and competition from degeneration. Family, church, genuine communities, and tradition are their sources.”

The market, without Judeo-Christian values, degenerates into a dog-eat-dog affair that is not worthy of our great country. Ropke called it “compassionate conservatism” and some have credited his ideas with greatly assisting in the amazing comeback of West Germany after WWII.

Warren Brookes, in his book, “Economy in Mind,” weighs in with this comment:

“Ironically, just when a growing share of the public sees the direct connection between spiritual and moral values and real economic well being, the mainstream liberal Christian church has all but abandoned primary emphasis on moral teaching. Yet without this teaching, capitalism loses its enormous potential to bless. It is no accident that capitalism rose to world economic leadership only as a byproduct of the spread of Judeo-Christian spiritual values and laws; and to the extent that these values dissipate in hedonistic, amoral humanism, capitalism itself will decline……The same humanist-socialist who hate the market hate Christianity and Judaism with equal intensity, because the God of Israel requires individual spiritual growth and freedom.”

Brookes had a major impact on me when I read his book.

The Team ought to be proud of their emphasis on personal growth and change. That is the only way to build a business or a life that will stand the test of time. It is not popular today to talk about Christianity and business in the same breath, but I would personally be lost if I had to do business without the ethical direction my faith gives me. Let me close this section with one more quote from Warren Brookes’ book “Economy in Mind”:

“Throughout the economic history of this nation, we can see that those companies survive and succeed the longest which have done the best job of identifying real human needs and filling them – and thereby contributing to our general well-being by responding to the market. Conversely, we observe again and again that those companies, which systematically abuse and exploit both workers and consumers (markets) for the sake of short-term gain, tend to have very poor survival rates. There is nothing in this that is inconsistent with the fundamental metaphysical principles and laws which permeate most religious doctrine, which teach that evil motives produce their own failures, while good inevitably produces its own generous rewards. Capitalism, then can survive only if it is leavened by the insights of the spiritual sense which tempers greed and promotes genuine vision”

Chris Brady and I have seen our share of greed in business, but we refuse to label a whole business or industry bad due to the greedy non-Christian behavior of a few individuals. Jesus said that any foundation built on sand would not last the storms and we have seen our share of businesses built on sandy foundation fall. The only nations, businesses, and people whose characters will last are those whose characters are built on a foundation of rock.