Lie #2- Surplus-for-Charity makes a business “Good.”

In my organization, we combat the misquotation "money is the root of all evil" with the quote "money is good for the good it can do."  And that is true to an extent. However this also becomes distorted by a belief that a business becomes good if the business gives to charity.  However, as Jeff VanDuzer says, "a bank robber can tithe (the judeo-christian practice of giving 10% of income to God)." The bigger truth is that righteously earned money is good for the good it can do, and blood money will always be blood money.  You can't open enough orphanages to make right cheating your customers, abusing your employees, and defaulting to your vendors. A godly business already enriches the world around it, then doubles those riches by generous giving from the surplus.

We can smell something is off when this view is played out in reality. Imagine a world where a drug-dealer runs a highly profitable business. He runs an efficient organization with effective sales people, meticulous bookkeeping, smart logistics and supply chain management, and low expenses. He even personally uses the profits to fund an orphanage and after school program. No one awards this guy Man-of-the-Year. We rightly call this person’s actions wicked. “You are destroying lives and families and communities; you don’t get off the hook by helping others.” Instead, we enjoin our local drug dealer to use your business acumen toward a business that does good in the world (honestly, even a morally neutral business seems like a waste). 

"Bread gained by deceit is sweet, but afterward the mouth will be full of gravel" Proverbs 20:17.