THE LION'S HERALD

[thelionsherald]

The Business Response to Social and Corporate Responsibility

The Business Response to Social and Corporate Responsibility

By Barbara Leist

December 2, 2013

God has blessed each one of us with unique gifts and talents that we are supposed to bring into the world to further His kingdom here on earth. We know of our own personal responsibility as individuals, but what about that of the business environment? What role should businesses play in society?

By its definition, social responsibility is the initiative a business or other enterprise takes for the social concerns facing society today. Similarly, corporate responsibility is the actual contributions of a business in ways that do not involve time or money. For example, on November 25, 2013, Google placed a white ribbon on their main homepage below the search box to raise awareness for violence.

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In Deuteronomy 8:18 (NIV), it is written “But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.” Any amount of money we are blessed with (even in the business sector), God has graciously given us, and we are to decide how to properly allocate that money in a way that glorifies God.

The ultimate goal of a business should be more than to maximize profit. The Biblical business will go beyond that and will help society as a whole for the good of humanity and in addition to honouring God. In doing so, we can make a difference in the world and try to solve some of the challenges the global community is facing as a whole.

[thelionsherald]

Social Justice Gist

It's that time of the year again. A time when family, friends, and loved ones come together to celebrate the socially-assumed-but-most-likely-inaccurate birthday of Jesus Christ. Grab a hot chocolate, that hipster afghan your grandmother slaved over for you, and your significant other (or if you're an "unclaimed blessing," your self-pity) and come join me at my hypothetical fireplace to hear the hark the herald-y angelic rhymes I wrote at 2:21 am last Thursday regarding upcoming events for Social Justice (...or lack thereof):

'Twas the month of December, and all through this season

We've got pretty much nothing at all planned for some reason.

However, don't worry, cause here are some ways

You can serve others during the holidays.

November was swell, but thank God it's depleted

I've seen way too many dirty mo's than I have ever needed.

RAK Attack was the perfect way to make someone's day

But in all honesty, I praise God it's now time to put the 'staches away.

  So you know those Salvation Army guys with the bells around the city?

Maybe this year you can volunteer on that silver-bell committee.*

With the Christmas Banquet coming up, it's no wonder we're vivacious

I've heard the entertainment is gonna be audacious.

So long as there are no 'staches, it's gonna be a blast.

btdubs, if you don't have a date, I haven't been asked ;)

  Bake cookies for neighbors, donate food and your time.

Be around people who don't care that your article isn't on beat and the lines don't rhyme.

Write cards for friends you haven't seen in a while.

Say hello to the guy you pass on the street with a smile.

  Above all, thank God you're almost done with papers and exams

and soon enough you'll be home watching the Grinch with the fam

And while you enjoy Christmas, enjoy Christ too.

Who came to earth "apparently" around this time of the year

knowing full well He had come to eventually die for you.

  And so Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night

And tons of delicious food that make your jeans too tight,

a colorful set of fully-working Christmas lights,

and a deficiency in angry guys insisting on knife fights.

  Please excuse the dorkiness of the poem. You try writing a sick beat at 3 am.

But in all seriousness, let's remember to appreciate the families God has blessed us with by blessing those who are family-less this Christmas. Winter is depressingly cold already, so let's spread the love of Christ with a warm blanket, an invitation to our lonely friends to join our Christmas dinners and candy canes and warm socks for the homeless on the streets.

This time of the year is my favorite. My heart overflows with joy. I pray God does not allow me to waste this joy and that I can give friendship to the lonely people in my city who haven't opened a Christmas gift in a while.

God bless, stay warm, and, gentlemen, if I wasn't clear befo, yo mo gotta go.

Cheers, Adelle

*If you want to get involved in serving the Salvation Army, please contact Brandy Howell, the Salvation Army Assistant Campaign Coordinator, at [email protected]

[thelionsherald]

BHS (Kendra Waldie)

Did you know that capitalism and consumerism is all our fault? Yup, that’s right; we Protestants are guilty of the uprising of capitalism, as well as this ridiculous amount of consumerism that we see most noticeably at Christmas. Well, at least according to Max Weber, the German sociologist from the early twentieth century.

In his book, Weber explains that the Catholics believed that those who gave away all their wealth would be rewarded in Heaven, but the Protestants (well, mainly the Calvinists) believed that wealth was a sign that you were one of God’s “elect.” The more stuff you have, the better. Just like in the olden days when being chubby was actually a good thing because it was a sign you had money, having a great deal of accumulated wealth was a sign that God was blessing your work. With this thinking, Protestants were even able to rationalize the stratification of wealth and not feel guilty about not helping the poor and needy. Those who had lots were “blessed by God” and those who didn’t weren’t working hard enough! And thus, capitalism was born, consumerism boomed, we now have hectic Christmases, and Walmart parking lots are avoided at all costs. Though this may not have been the intent behind the theology, it was the consequence.

See? All our fault. And not only did we start the fire, we’re keeping it burning.

We like stuff. We want stuff. And we think others should want stuff too. When life is going good, and when we’re able to afford all that we want, we count ourselves as blessed. And when others around us are struggling, mainly financially, we ask God to bless them. For example, I tend to end all my emails with a “Blessings, Kendra.” A nice, heart-warming sentiment. But where did this whole idea of “blessing” come from, anyway? What does “blessed” actually mean?  When I say “blessings” in my email, I am wishing that the person I am writing to will have a great day, and that everything is working out smoothly for them. And so “blessed” in our language means healthy, wealthy, and happy. Right?

Paul talks a lot about blessings, particularly in the book of Ephesians. But never does he refer to material things and happy-go-lucky days when he says "blessings"; instead, he’s talking about spiritual blessings. Ephesians 1:3 says “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.” Even Wikipedia knows that blessings refers to holiness, divine will, the spiritual and the sacred! Where did we go so wrong?!

So, if blessings doesn’t mean having stuff, and instead means spiritual understanding and holiness, perhaps this season we need to take an extra minute to pause and think about what we mean when we wish blessings on someone this Christmas. Perhaps we should take a minute to ask ourselves if we are blessed, and in what way. Perhaps we need to take a minute or two to recognize that as we celebrate the birth of our Saviour, we are blessed more than we could ever know; God has called us, set us apart, and deemed us as holy. This is blessing.

And so, in the words of Paul from Eph. 6:24, my prayer for you is that God’s grace be eternally upon you all who love our Lord Jesus Christ. And may you be blessed this Christmas.

[thelionsherald]

Dear Deborah

Dear Deborah

Is it true that Jake Peacock uses his washboard abs to save on laundry money?

Is this even a real question? Have you seen his abs? It wouldn’t make sense to spend money on laundry with abs like those! In fact, I think all of Bethel Hall should just start paying Jake to do their laundry for them. It’s an environmentally friendly choice too.

Who is the real Kevin Tran?

I’m not sure…but his lack of true identity reminds me of a cross between Where’s Waldo and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Perhaps Kevin is their child???

Hypothetically speaking, if one were to, let’s say, render the toilet by the gym nonfunctional due to its inability to process large amounts of waste matter, who would one speak to in order to rectify this problem?

If this hypothetical situation actually happened…you must be on a cleanse. In regards to whom you should speak, look for the one they call D-Mac a.k.a. Big Rhonda.

Hey there Debby-cat! At which Calgary Bible book store would one be able to find a certified chastity belt? Not for me. It's for my friend.

Well, unless you know the dimensions of your “friend,” it may be difficult to find a chastity belt for them. I would actually suggest eBay, Kijiji, or Amazon rather than a Bible book store to save you and your “friend” from the embarrassment of trying on chastity belts on in public.

What is proper etiquette when passing gas in chapel?

I would say this depends on whether you are in the worship section of chapel or the sermon portion of chapel. If the gas leakage should happen during worship and those around you notice, you could smile and say, “Can’t you smell the presence of the Spirit in the air?” If the breaking of wind happens in the sermon section of chapel you could WHISPER to your neighbour, "this sermon is moving me internally, ya know?” or something to that effect. Either way, just own it.

What percentage of a chance do I have with Jacob Loyd? In a hypothetical happenstance.

First of all, what is this chance for? You might have a high percentage chance of making him smile or laugh, yet a low percentage chance when it comes to meeting his mother. For the purpose of this article I will assume you are asking what are your chances of ending up falling madly in love with Jacob and spending the rest of your life with him. I feel like we’ve been over this before. Ladies, you might try talking to the guy first. If you do that, your chances increase by about 1000% (unless you say something that makes you seem unintelligent—I warn against that!). So, if you have already actually interacted with this person, then I’d say you have a pretty good chance (at LEAST 30%). Also, it helps if you are Facebook friends…just sayin'.

[thelionsherald]

Library

Library News: E-books and Journal Articles

E-books. The library now has more e-books (about 150,000) than paper books (125,000). You can find out more about our e-books here https://ambrose.edu/content/e-books We subscribe to two different collections: e-brary and EBSCO. Whenever you search the main library catalogue, you can tell e-brary results by the “internet” button in the display. Clicking on that button brings up a screen with a link to the book in question. The EBSCO collection isn’t yet linked to our catalogue, but you can still search it from the E-books link on the library’s home page. The search screen is identical to the one used by our most popular journal article databases.  Speaking of which . . . .

Journal Articles. The Ambrose Library subscribes to more than 55,000 full-text e-journals in 41 different databases. These databases are listed alphabetically and by subject on the Library’s homepage:  https://ambrose.edu/resources/journal-databases-and-resources The staff of the library (including our exceptionally competent student workers) would be happy to show you how to search for articles and e-books, especially now that “crunch time” has arrived.

Accessing Articles and E-books Off-Campus. When you attempt to access e-books or journal articles while you’re off-campus, you’ll encounter a login screen. In the first box that appears, type in the number on your student card; in the second, type in the postal code (all capitals, no space in between). If you have difficulty logging in, please contact us at [email protected] or call 403.410.2946, and we’ll try to get the problem resolved quickly.

Help with Research. The library’s staff and student workers are happy to help you find the books, articles, and other materials you’ll need to complete your assignments. This is the most interesting part of our job, so ask away—in the words of Inspector Clouseau, “It’s our business to know!”

[thelionsherald]

Letter from the President

Dear stressed-out-student (including myself),

You can do it! Life is bigger than these next few stressful weeks, and hey, if you can get through this, you can do anything! Your grades are important, and yes, these final papers and assignments and exams matter… But why? I would seriously challenge you to ask yourself… why? This semester God has challenged me with what it means to be ‘academically engaged.’ I believe He calls us all to be completely present and engaged in everything we do, to give our best and nothing less for Him. And that includes our academics, the ways we have participated in class, our critical thoughts about what we were learning and what applying it to our lives looks like, and how much effort we put into everything we submitted. Do we do these things to impress our professors or peers or parents? I hope not. Do we do these things to boost our GPA and get into the best graduate schools? Maybe, if that’s the call God has for your life. But even if it isn’t, should we be engaged in everything we do to honor God? I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty excited for Christmas, the birth of our Lord. And I’ve been thinking, if I could give God any gift what would it be? The perfect life free of sin or temptation? Would I try to impress him with my GPA or the big ‘A’ I got on my latest paper (which didn’t happen, for the record)? But God, the God of the universe, already has everything, so what gift could I really give him? In Romans 12:1-2 Paul encourages us to offer our lives as living sacrifices to God. To give and be fully engaged in everything we do, in all the opportunities God has given us (including studying at Ambrose), is to live our lives as living sacrifices.

Dear stressed-out-student (including myself), I urge you, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your lives as a living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. May God grant you the peace and patience to be completely engaged, and the motivation to do your best--not for others or for the best grade, but for Him. It is Jesus’ birthday coming up after all, and I believe this would be the best gift we could ever give him- a life that is fully engaged to bring honor to Him! Merry Christmas ‘brose!

Donna

[thelionsherald]

YOU DID IT: A Note from TLH's Editor

Congratulations students of Ambrose, you officially survived the Fall Semester of 2013! You've made it from Welcome Week to Thanksgiving to Miracle Month (otherwise known as Movember. Praise the Lord it's over) to Finals.

And now we are here: that awkward time of "OHMYGOODNESS WHAT DO I DO NOW WHAT I DON'T HAVE HOMEWORK WHAT I CAN'T PROCRASTINATE ON FACEBOOK ANYMORE ALL MEANING IS GONE WHAT" 

Okay so perhaps I killed it a little on the caps lock, but these next few weeks have the potential to be really relaxing or really stressful. And some of that is dependant upon where we're going for Christmas and the nature of the holiday within our own families. But a lot of it is also dependant upon what we do with ourselves over the holidays. 

A lot of the time I am tempted just to veg on the couch watching whatever T.V. show has caught my attention, or refreshing my tumblr feed waiting for the next thing to entertain me. But in the few days that I have been back, it has been made clear that I need to achieve things with these precious free days I have. I've been about 50% successful with this "achieving things" thing. So far I've made some cookies, and a butt load of origami christmas trees. (Warning: Origami is highly addictive). My plan to do things with my life has been mildly successful, so I'm just going to keep taking it one step at a time.

Over the days of the break The Lion's Herald will be publishing the submissions we received for the December Edition including: the winner for December's #thelionsherald, Josh Bennett's comic, and Dear Deborah. Stay tuned!

We wish you a wonderful Christmas, and I hope that your break is restful, not draining. My advice? Make a list of things you want to accomplish. Here is mine: 

1. Bake things 2. Crochet things 3. Blog things 4. Origami things  5. Ski. 

Love ya Ambrose,

Bekah

[bekahhagan]

Come to the Expo on THURSDAY AT NOON to find out how you can help with YOUR newspaper! I WORKED REALLY HARD ON THIS GUYS. Also, I did near mortal combat with the printer to make this work. So please come.

[bekahhagan]

My view for the next few hours.

[thelionsherald]

Does Matt Urmson like long walks on the beach and getting caught in the rain?

Dear Obviously Crushing: As far as we know, yes. He is the perfect man. Question for you: do you have any questions NOT involving Matt Urmson? (You've asked at least nine). Why not ask him yourself? Be bold. Love Deborah  

[thelionsherald]

The Lion's Herald would like to thank:

Daniel Yu

Edward Lu

Rafael Ramirez

and Joshua Bennett

for all of the pictures and illustrations. Without them, it would have been a bland edition! You guys rock!!! 

May this never happen to you:  

[thelionsherald]

60 copies printed, folded and ready for tomorrow!!

[thelionsherald]

And we have a blog!

Alright, so today I was thinking "what are some ways that we can make the Lion's Herald more accessible to the students of Ambrose" and then my brilliant roommate said "make a tumblr!" and I was like "YES!" 

So here you go, Ambrose: here you can submit articles for the upcoming paper (they won't be published online until after the paper has been published. No spoilers allowed!) AND you can anonymously send us "Dear Deborah" questions! Sarcastic and/or un serious questions are encouraged. Let's have fun with this! 

We also want your pictures of events from around campus, and your ideas on how we can make this paper the best it can be as YOUR voice! So click on "submit" and make this editor the happiest girl on earth. 

Rebekah A. Hagan Editor-in-Chief The Lion's Herald