Tyler Piston

11/16/20
Professor Rae and Wilson
Organizational Ethics
Response Paper 1

Capitalism is defined as an economic system. Within capitalism, the government plays a

secondary role. In capitalism people and companies make most of the decisions and own most

of the property. The way Keller views capitalism is too skeptical. There are many reasons why

he is too skeptical, but the main one is how he perceives capitalism. Capitalism is a market

economy where the production of goods or services is all based on supply and demand. It has

no government intervention. Capitalism can be mis viewed, and that is what Keller is doing

here. Capitalism relies upon competition. The United States is viewed as a capitalist society,

when that is not true. There are traits of capitalism, but we would not be defined as a capitalist

country. The misconception of capitalism is where Christians need to take actions. The core of

capitalism is the economic system that best aligns with the views and teachings of the Bible, but

aligning Christianity and todays capitalism is not an easy task. The capitalism of today shapes

people in ways that go against the influence of religion. A religious belief is not just supposed to

be believed, but to be lived out. Today’s capitalism doesn’t just target one’s work life, but it

targets shapes the character of one’s entire life. Christians have the ability to shape the way

today’s capitalism is viewed. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 states, “For even when we were with you, we

gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat." We are meant to work. We are also

meant to work together. This will allow the true form of capitalism to form, and not let the

misconception of capitalism to show up. Christians have the power to form a flourishing society

if we can bring out the true form of capitalism.

 Money can be perceived as one of the true evils of the world. Money rules our lives. In

today’s society, money equals happiness and power. Keller says that “money can take on divine

attributes, and our relationship to it then approximates worship and obeisance,” and I

completely agree with that. People do not feel safe if they don’t have money, and it doesn’t

matter if they are Christians or not. Material is a problem. Not only does materialism exist, but

it is dominating our society. Money itself is not a negative thing, but the way our society views

money can have a deep negative impact on our lives, our relationships, and our priorities. Keller

discusses the story of Naaman from the Bible. Money can affect our mentality. Just like

Naaman, people that have wealth believe they should be treated better than others. This is a

bad mindset. Not only will it affect your relationships with friends and family, but it will also

create a negative relationship with God. Keller identifies Chris as rich, but became poor so we

may can become rich through him. We need to not to be seeking ways to make money, but we

need to seek ways to grow closer to God. Money will take over our lives, but if we obey God, he

will replace the evil desire that we have.

Determining the right job and identifying your calling is not an easy task. I believe that a

large portion of today’s society chooses their jobs based on what helps them instead of what

helps others. It is hard to say this because everybody is called to do something different. There

are ways that every job can help others flourish. I am in the middle of Keller’s statement, I

agree and disagree in a way. Today’s society looks to see what jobs will make them the most

money. When asking some of my friends, and even my family, I asked them why they chose

their certain vocations and their responses were all based on the pay of the job. When thinking

of my life, I definitely went into college with that money mindset. I chose my major based on
what I thought will help me get that high paying job. It wasn’t until I put all my faith in the Lord

that I realized that what I chose was my calling. I found that there are ways for every job to help

others, no matter how big or small the job is. The problem is that a lot of people don’t have a

relationship with God. Instead of letting God guide their careers, they let money guide them.

This leads to some serious repercussions.

In order for businesses to succeed they need to pursue profits. Without profits the

business will fail, but managers need to make sure they are doing this in a way that doesn’t

desecrate the dignity of human beings. We would like to think that the way of life is to do

something because it is right, but that is not the case. Our world is broken, we look for what

profits us instead of looking for what is right. There are a lot of ways that companies can

implement both. I believe that there are actions that companies can take where they improve

productivity which will lead to higher profits. When Keller talks about paying employees more

and giving them a good working environment, I agree that it will pay off in the long run. I don’t

just think managers should just give out raises, but giving out small raises here and there to

people that have earned it is never a bad thing. The more employees enjoy their jobs, the more

productivity they will have.

The part that I learned the most from was from the third paragraph. This part taught

was really eye opening. It talked about the problems we have with money, and how we put

money at our pedestal. When we do this, we make money our God. We desire money and what

it can get us, when we should be desiring a relationship with god and what everlastings he will

provide us with. Christ will provide us with what we need. Another part I felt was eye opening

was related to the jobs we find. This especially relates to college students. We go into college
and look for jobs that we feel will help us get a high salary. We look for jobs that pay well, and

sometimes that’s a good thing, but in a lot of cases that is not. God will call us to where he

wants us to work. He will put into our minds where he wants us.