William Keith Hatfield - The Shark Tank Theology: How the Tank Mirrors Lifes Journey

Parables contain great truths couched in drama. Jesus used them often. William Hatfield has skillfully drawn valuable truths from the drama of Shark Tank to illustrate self-evident life principles. His analogy of the secular and the sacred accents our opportunity and responsibility to insure our eternal acceptance. The map for that acceptance and ensuing benefits is carefully drawn.

DAVE HARDY, DMIN

DALLAS THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

We all desire to be successful, but in order to succeed in both business and in life, we need to know how to navigate where we are or what we have, in order to obtain the best deal. William Hatfield has given us the secret to closing the best deal of our lives.

MATT MOORE

PRESIDENT, YOUNG BUSINESSMEN OF TULSA

OWNER, HEARTLAND DIRECT INTERNATIONAL

Bill Hatfields book shows us that a business sharks deal is profitable to him. The deal Jesus offers us is always to our benefit. Accepting Christ is the best offer we could ever get. We are the winners! Peace, joy, happiness, and eternal life are ours.

TED ROBERTSON

FOUNDER, ROBERTSON TIRE COMPANY

PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF

CHRISTIAN BUSINESSMEN

THE SHARK TANK THEOLOGY by William K. Hatfield

Published by Creation House

A Charisma Media Company

600 Rinehart Road

Lake Mary, Florida 32746

www.charismahouse.com

This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwisewithout prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Copyright 2016 by William Hatfield

All rights reserved

Cover design by Rachel Lopez

Design Director: Justin Evans

Visit the authors website at www.charitybaptistchurchtulsa.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: 2016938855

An application to register this book for cataloging has been submitted to the Library of Congress.

International Standard Book Number: 978-1-62998-550-3

E-book ISBN: 978-1-62998-551-0

I dedicate this book to my beloved wife, Sharon,

my lifes companion, best friend,

and greatest inspiration.

CONTENTS

S HARK TANK HAS become one of the most successful shows on American television. It is based on a Japanese program Dragons Den. Now in its sixth season, Shark Tank has become so successful that it is not unusual to see on some stations a Shark Tank marathon with episodes running either back-to-back or night after night. A successful spinoff, After the Tank, followed in 2015.

The show opens with sharks swimming in a tank like what you might see at an aquarium, set to ominous music, reminiscent of the Jaws theme. Then, down a long corridor lined with aquariums, walks one or more people. These are the contestants. They come with a business proposal and a company to pitch to the investors, known as the Sharks.

As the camera follows their walk toward two massive doors that open into the Sharks room, we are given our first glimpses of the Sharks. There are five of them, sitting in a row, waiting for the entrance of their potential partner (or partners) or victims.

The Sharks are advertised to be self-made millionaires and billionaires. On a rotating basis we see Kevin OLeary, who became a billionaire after selling the Learning Company; Robert Herjavec, who sold some companies for $350 million; Daymond John, the millionaire founder of the clothing line FUBU; Barbara Corcoran, millionaire real estate investor; Mark Cuban, tech billionaire and owner of the Dallas Mavericks; Lori Greiner of QVC, among other things; and Kevin Harrington, worth $450 million as founder and CEO of several companies, including the Home Shopping Network. Comedian Jeff Foxworthy also makes an occasional appearance. These are the Sharks.

As the contestants arrive at the entrance to the Tank the doors swing open. The facial expressions of the Sharks are shown as they get their first look at the pitchmen. There may already be a display or visual aid set up in their tank, but this is the first time they see who is behind the product. There are smiles when children are included, laughs for funny costumes or when the pitch begins with a humorous element such as masks, gymnastics, or costumes. A memorized spiel follows by the hopeful entrepreneur, one usually very well prepared. It begins with what the pitchman hopes to get from one or more Sharks. It ends with an invitation, sometimes formed as a question such as, Who wants to partner with me in this fantastic business?

It is usually pretty quickthe pitch, the questions, and the acceptance or rejection. The contestants may be derided, insulted, humiliated, and reduced to speechlessness or even tears. The Sharks may be angry, petulant, accusatory, or just downright insulting. These filthy rich (the show describes them as such) people may often illustrate well why Jesus was so pessimistic about their chances of entering the kingdom of heaven! They may also stoke even higher the fires of resentment many people already have against wealthy people. But often, they will show some compassionate concern and care as they invest in someone because they believe in the person, or because they want to help the entrepreneur as they are someone who has worked hard with a lot stacked against them. Some such episode scenes have scored big on YouTube. (See the farmer pitch on YouTube.)

The show is examined from every angle, as it is about life, lifes lessons, and so much more. It is no wonder that a Google search will turn up all manner of articles regarding its psychology or lessons that can be learned. Episodes are dissected, success stories are put under the microscope, and the best and worst deals are examined by business magazines and newspapers such as Forbes and Wall Street Journal.

That is what I am doing. I am weighing in. This show provides too good of an opportunity to pass up. It presents an obvious religious application or spiritual connection. Its no wonder that it is such an appealing show and that it has resonated with so many. Its popularity shows no signs of waning. People keep inviting it into their homes each night because it is compelling in its themes of absolutes, grace, penalty, and punishment. All of these beg for an expression for us who will live for all eternity, as C. S. Lewis put it, everlasting splendors or eternal horrors. Im not surprised that the producer of the show, Mark Burnett, is devout Christian. He and his wife, Roma Downey, are famous for producing The Bible and A.D., the two series that ran during the 2015 and 2016 Easter seasons.

So I trust you will enjoy these eternal lifes lessons from Shark Tank.

I JUST BEGAN WATCHING Shark Tank recently. I had changed my satellite subscription to get rid of most of the movies and fiction. I now major on news, sports, documentaries, history, and real shows about real people. While browsing through the offerings, I came upon Shark Tank and remembered seeing some promos featuring Mark Cuban. His Mavericks were the favorite NBA team here in Tulsa for many years. That was before Oklahoma City got the Thunder!

Anyway, I TiVoed an episode and watched it later that week. I was just getting used to the new remote and inadvertently set it to tape the series, rather than just one episode. So my queue was full of some of the seven years of episodes by the time I checked it.