A Dinner Conversation with Two Menu Items
© Copyright 2005 by Robert L. Withers
All Rights Reserved
A few weeks ago at dinner with business associates the talk turned to “religion.” Our consultant from Florida mentioned that she had been raised Christian Scientist but that she now attended a Unitarian church. She made a point of explaining that the pastor never talks about sin, that everything is upbeat, and that there is no negativity. (So as not to single out any one group, let me be quick to point out that many church franchise operators do not talk about sin).
She went on to relate that her son, after recovering from cancer, had recently joined the Catholic Church, which had been a surprise to her, but that it was okay because “after all, all these roads lead to the same place.”
There were six of us at dinner and this was the first time four of us had met our consultant, so rather than reply to her comments at that time I decided to pray for an opening during the following day when I would be with her for a number of hours.
Menu Item One, Diagnosis Sin: In the afternoon of the following day, while in the car with our consultant and two associates from our firm I said, “Susan, I was thinking about your son this morning. I suppose that if he hadn’t received a proper diagnosis that he would have died of cancer.”
“Yes,” she replied.
“I also suppose that had the doctor decided not to give him the correct diagnosis, but instead had told him that he just had a cold and needed some hot soup that the doctor would have been guilty of malpractice.”
“Of course,” she responded.
“Then, I was also thinking that when your son received the diagnosis of cancer that he probably didn’t get angry with the doctor and that he probably didn’t blame the doctor for his condition.”
“Yes, I’m sure that’s true. While he was obviously concerned to hear the news he was relieved to receive an accurate diagnosis so that his condition could be treated.”
“Well, then, as I was thinking about your son, it caused me to think about our attitudes regarding our own spiritual condition. I was wondering why we take offense when it comes to diagnosing our spiritual condition? Why is it that we take offense when someone points out that there are spiritual issues that require attention?”
“I don’t know. That would probably make a good sermon topic for you.”
Knowing that I would have further opportunity to interact with Susan I left the conversation off at that point, and I will send her a synopsis of a sermon I did shortly thereafter entitled, “Diagnosis Sin.”
Menu Item Two, All Roads Lead to the Same Place: An element of the dinner conversation which I find amazing, and which I encounter in a number of business venues, is the popular idea that “all religious/spiritual roads lead to the same place.” This is incongruous with sound business judgment. In fact, when Susan made the comment I wanted to say, “I’m a bit concerned with that philosophy. We’re paying you thousands of dollars to produce a marketing plan for a new product and if your philosophy concerning eternal things is that one product or approach is the same as the next one, and you carry that philosophy over into your marketing plan, I’m not certain you’ll be as precise and defined as this product requires. I’m not certain we’ll be getting our money’s worth.”
How is it that women and men in business, who are bottom-line oriented, who understand financial accountability, who presumably realize that two plus two will always equal four, and who would take great offense at someone constructing a feasibility study in which the formulas were doctored to arrive at an attractive yet unsound result to induce investment, how is it that these same women and men will take an approach concerning eternal matters that “all roads lead to the same place”?
Of course, we might say that the proliferation of accounting fraud in corporate America would provide the answer that, “Since they no longer recognize truth in business little wonder that they no longer recognize truth elsewhere.” While this may be true for some, it is not true for all, for many business people are still forthright in their financial disclosures.
So then, how can people who would insist on accurate financial statements, on accurate feasibility studies, how can these very same people approach the most important bottom-line issue in life with the attitude that “any proposed solution will do, all solutions mean the same thing”?
That is a question I continue to ponder and it is one that I will continue to ask.
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