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Question on Bribes and Business

March 10th, 2015

Clive Roberts
March 9, 2015

Hi guys, please help me out here. What does the bible says about conducting business ethically? Some Christians I know do a lot of business with our country’s government. The perception is that most public servants ask for “golden hand shakes” in order for ones tender application to pass.

This can be in the form of hard cash in a black bag or favors which requires money. These Christians I’m referring to, blanket this act as being be business savvy. What are your thoughts?

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  • Dwight Payne It’s illegal. Do we really need to say anything else?
    Yesterday at 7:19am · Like
  • Sarah Van Baale My husband runs into this type of thinking all the time, but he will not conduct his life this way. The truth is, you run into this line of thinking in and out of government. Just because it is the norm does not make it right. A person who sees God as their provider, not man, can conduct him or herself in a manner that pleases the Lord and is full of integrity. No backdoor deals or fudging numbers or making promises that you can’t keep. Colossians 3:23 should be the standard no matter where a Christian is employed.
    Yesterday at 7:59am · Edited · Like · 1
  • Steve Ray Webb This question sounds like it should have a blatantly easy answer, but in the world of business it is not always so simple. For example, why should we tip a waiter for food at a restaurant? After all, we have paid the listed price on the menu, and any product purchased at a restaurant, or elsewhere, comes with a reasonable expectation that it be delivered to us without extra cost unless fully agreed upon in advance. So why should we ‘bribe’ our waiter to give us good service? This comes down to what are often called ‘facilitating payments’ in legal jargon, and have been tested in court in various manners. The primary criteria are as follows: 1) whether the person or company receiving the payment is providing you a specific demonstrable service, 2) whether or not it is clearly governed by law, 3) whether it is openly documented (waiters are legally required to report their tips), and 4) whether it gives you an unfair advantage over someone else seeking the same service. Unfortunately, even these guidelines can become sticky because the laws, particularly in foreign countries, are not always clearly written, and being known as a big tipper at a restaurant, for example, will quite often give you an ‘unfair’ advantage over other diners. This is why we are no longer living under the Old Law; it simply could not handle all the contingencies we meet in life. Instead we are to pray for godly wisdom in making difficult decisions (James 1:5) and then use this wisdom when it is given.
    Yesterday at 8:33am · Like · 2
  • Fred Apelquist A big NO-NO on this stuff. That goes without saying.

    As for what Bible says, Commandment #8, don’t steal, should cover this, as such handshakes are stealing from all kinds of people (taxpayers, if no one else). Plus, the essence of numerous Bible ver    ses speak against such behavior, going back to Old Testament advising Jews not to charge interest, treat well aliens who live in your land, etc. Of course, The Golden Rule certainly speaks against such actions.

    Just a few off-the-cuff thoughts….
    Yesterday at 8:52am · Like
  • Steve Ray Webb Allow me to provide a real life example. My wife gets caught in Indonesia making a foolish driving error. The policeman tells her she has to go to jail on serious charges unless (quietly on the side) she makes an immediate donation of $5. Indonesian jails are downright dangerous both for their inmates and their health standards. If she goes to jail she will be there until I come and make a huge payment based on trumped up charges. Waiting for this to go to court would mean her sitting in jail for months with no expectation of being declared innocent. Meanwhile it is against the law in Indonesia to bribe a policeman, but privately the government officials admit that their policemen are drastically underpaid and are expected to ‘make money on the side.’ So what do I tell my wife? I tell her to pay the $5 and come straight home. We paid a facilitating payment. The policeman was doing his job; my wife was in the wrong; she paid for it; and we helped an underpaid policeman earn a wage. Sometimes we are faced with choosing the lesser of two evils.
    Yesterday at 9:13am · Like · 1
  • Fred Apelquist Steve –



    No one would disagree with your wife’s actions, given the culture norms and the consequences to her (and you) of not doing so. But all your other points regarding the larger issue show how sticky can be living in this fallen world. Egad! May God save us all.
    Yesterday at 10:23am · Like
  • Christopher Dupre Proverbs 11:1, and the rest of the chapter, really. Having lived overseas myself, I don’t think people realize how above board the U.S. is compared to just about everywhere else in the world. Nothing gets done in any capacity without bribes. I attribute this to the prominence of Christianity in our country, which is not seen anywhere else in the world.
    Yesterday at 10:36am · Like · 2
  • Fred Apelquist Amen, Christopher. Well said.
    23 hrs · Like
  • Steve Ray Webb So true, Christopher. I’ve seen this hit missionaries real hard. Do they want to make a facilitating payment that is borderline in terms of its morality/legality or do they want to give up their missionary work and return to the U.S.? It is easy to make moral judgments from afar about never giving a bribe but in actuality it often comes down to accepting the lesser of two evils.
    23 hrs · Like
  • Clive Roberts Steve Ray Webb, you got me thinking now. This is not as easy as I thought. For an example, do I do business with someone whom I suspect is corrupt in his dealings with government, but on the other hand, our business dealings are above board? But if there is a suspicion that he is corrupt on his end with his clients; does it make me unethical as well?
    11 hrs · Edited · Like
  • Ed Chait I’ve worked in situations where my superiors were doing some things illegally. I had to weigh things out in each situation as each one was unique, as to whether my conscience was OK with continuing to work there. The constant in each situation was keeping *my* side of the street as clean as I possibly could.
    10 hrs · Edited · Like
  • Ed Chait I can relate to our culture being different than many other countries. I remember when I was a kid in Argentina, if you wanted a telephone line for your house or business, you would be put on a waiting list. It would take 3-4 years to get a line unless you bribed someone.
    10 hrs · Like
  • Steve Ray Webb Hi Clive Roberts, situations like yours are numerous and can be incredibly complicated. How about doing business with our own government, who many of us have come to believe is corrupt? I think back to Corrie Ten Boom and her family (and others like them) who repeatedly told bald-faced lies to protect the Jews they were hiding during World War II. Were they wrong in telling these lies? I think many people who have simplistic answers on this have not had to face tough decisions themselves where there was not a clear cut best answer. Once again, you need to pray, and pray hard for wisdom in taking the best course of action. There are typically many factors to take into account. We must ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do?”
    10 hrs · Like
  • Sarah Van Baale There is a distinct difference between lying and backdoor deals in business for your own personal profit and protecting the weak and “innocent” from the Nazis or corrupt governments who throw people in jail to make money. And we shouldn’t rationalize unethical business dealings, specifically in America, with instances of how corrupt governments act outside of the U.S..
    5 hrs · Like
  • Steve Ray Webb Hi Sarah, Nobody here is in favor of doing anything dishonest for personal gain. The point is that many decisions involve trying to decide the right thing to do in circumstances where doing the right thing is not obvious, and often when either decision you make results in negative aspects. How about when you have one law where you live that opposes another law that is in your home country? I have been in that circumstance. The larger point here is that too many Christians happily jump on others to accuse them of ‘moral relativity’ without understanding the circumstances involved.
    5 hrs · Like
  • Sarah Van Baale Yes, Steve, but that is a slippery slope. More often than not, we can easily discern right from wrong. Certainly there are instances where it does become difficult, but Clive’s original post referred to unethical business dealings being rationalized by reclassifying them as “savvy.” Which is why I thought it was important to draw a distinction. Personal profit in business does not equate and cannot be rationalized by instances of bribing and lying for protection. If we try to muddle everything up and make it seem as though life is always gray and we can rationalize everything, then sin itself becomes hard to discern and is easily justifiable.
    4 hrs · Like
  • Steve Ray Webb The trouble is that judging others is also a slippery slope where we can become increasingly the arbiter of right and wrong. As far as profit in business being justified by bribing, most foreign countries operate by facilitating fees that are not written into law books, but neither are they frowned upon; they are just part of doing business. If you want to be registered as a foreigner in India, you pay a faciltator to do it for you, or you are entangled in red tape for months. Some people would consider this a bribe. I do not. It is necessary to weigh all the circumstances and use God-given wisdom in making such decisions.
    4 hrs · Like
  • Sarah Van Baale I agree with what you said, but judging others is not wrong nor is it a sin. In fact, we are called to be discerning and make judgements. (A good book on this is “Who Are You To Judge?” by Lutzer) As Christians we should live lives distinct from those around us, full of integrity, love, wisdom, passion, and humility. Our lives at home and at work should be marked by Christ. I’m not sure the best advice to Clive would be, “Don’t judge.” I also don’t think we’re called to be the police to the world pointing out everyone’s sins. But, yes, we should be different from the world in our business dealings – so different that we are indeed a light in a dark world. After all, this world is merely the beginning and one day we will all stand before God and give account for our actions. When we choose what to do, we should have the judgement day on our mind so that we can honestly consider if we are just making excuses to rationalize behavior or if we are actually honoring God with our actions.

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