OVO

From the “Christ@Work” Web page: “Christ@Work is the organizational brand name for FCCI used in the United States. FCCI (Fellowship of Companies for Christ) is an international organization of Christian business leaders whose members believe in the sovereignty of God and the validity of His Word. As such, we understand that God is the owner of the company we seek to lead, and that we are stewards of His business. Together we seek His will for the operations of these companies through study, mutual encouragement and accountability, and prayer. [...] Mixing religion and business DOES work.” FCCI believes that “the Bible is God’s written and inspired revelation to man and is the primary authority for man’s life.” They cite Leviticus 19:35, wherein the Lord commands us to not cheat others by using dishonest weights and measurements in commerce. That sounds good. I wonder what they have to say about Leviticus 19:19, wherein the Lord commands us to not wear clothes of both linen and wool? How about Leviticus 19:20-22, wherein the Lord commands us to beat slave women who have sex with men other than their slave-fiance (the Lord missed His chance, again, to say that slavery was wrong)? And does FCCI have anything to say about Leviticus 19:27, wherein the Lord commands men to refrain from rounding the corners of their hair or beards? The Lord commanded us to do all those things, and said them all at the same time – shouldn’t we do all of them?

The Bible does contain some fine moral advice in it. It also contains some inhumanly evil moral advice. It also contains some foolish nonsense that dresses itself up as moral advice. That doesn’t make it much different from any number of other books, ancient and modern. What makes the Bible different is that groups like FCCI cite the Bible as divinely inspired – infalliable, and to be taken as a whole. The FCCI presents the Bible as a moral authority only when it makes sense and when it matches current secular morals. When the Bible commands us to beat women slaves or to not cut our beards in God-displeasing ways, only a few verses away from the ‘good’ stuff, the FCCI has to rely on people not reading the Bible for themselves to maintain their moral authority.