Vision Forum, Christmas, and a Marketing Scheme<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I am subscribed to "vision forum" on google, which means I get an email each day with every new internet article or blog post containing the words "vision\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2011\/11\/vision-forum-christmas-and-a-marketing-scheme.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vision Forum, Christmas, and a Marketing Scheme\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am subscribed to "vision forum" on google, which means I get an email each day with every new internet article or blog post containing the words "vision\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2011\/11\/vision-forum-christmas-and-a-marketing-scheme.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Love, Joy, Feminism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-28T18:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-08-08T01:10:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2011\/11\/vision-forum-christmas-and-a-marketing-scheme.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2011\/11\/vision-forum-christmas-and-a-marketing-scheme.html\",\"name\":\"Vision Forum, Christmas, and a Marketing Scheme\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-28T18:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-08-08T01:10:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\"},\"description\":\"I am subscribed to \\\"vision forum\\\" on google, which means I get an email each day with every new internet article or blog post containing the words \\\"vision\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2011\/11\/vision-forum-christmas-and-a-marketing-scheme.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2011\/11\/vision-forum-christmas-and-a-marketing-scheme.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2011\/11\/vision-forum-christmas-and-a-marketing-scheme.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Vision Forum, Christmas, and a Marketing Scheme\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/\",\"name\":\"Love, Joy, Feminism\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\",\"name\":\"Libby Anne\",\"description\":\"Libby Anne grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family highly involved in the Christian Right. 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{"id":208,"date":"2011-11-28T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-28T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2011\/11\/vision-forum-christmas-and-a-marketing-scheme\/"},"modified":"2012-08-07T21:10:56","modified_gmt":"2012-08-08T01:10:56","slug":"vision-forum-christmas-and-a-marketing-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2011\/11\/vision-forum-christmas-and-a-marketing-scheme.html","title":{"rendered":"Vision Forum, Christmas, and a Marketing Scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

There\u2019s just one problem with this. Doug Phillips, who founded Vision Forum and continues to run it today, does not believe in Christmas<\/em>. <\/span><\/a>He says it is a pagan holiday and he and his family let it go by like any other day. Apparently, for Phillips, money means more than principle. I mean think about it, he could use the Christmas season as an opportunity to advertise the holiday\u2019s pagan roots and urge Vision Forum followers not to participate. He could refuse to offer sales or to give any sign of the holidays on his website. Isn\u2019t this what principle would dictate? But no. Because to Doug Phillips, money appears to matter more than principle. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you want to see what I mean, go to Vision Forum<\/a>\u2018s main page. Oh yes, it calls the sales a \u201cDecember Kick-Off Special,\u201d but really, who do they think they\u2019re fooling? They\u2019ve marked everything down by at least 20% and some items down by 50% and offered free shipping on orders over $25. <\/span><\/p>\n

I have to be honest. This is making me sick. I\u2019d like to think that Doug Phillips, along with Bill Gothard, Michael Pearl, etc., are at least sincere. But when I see something like this, I have to wonder. <\/span><\/p>\n

This also confirms something I\u2019ve been thinking about for a long time. Vision Forum, with its snazzy pictures and overpriced merchandise, seems like the ideal marketing scheme. Vision Forum may sell a message, but it also sells products, and LOTS of them. I can\u2019t even begin to tally the amount of money my parents have spent on Vision Forum products over the years, especially <\/em>at Christmas, but we\u2019re talking thousands and thousands of dollars. <\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also heard that Bill Gothard\u2019s training institutes and workshops cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars, and that even participating in Gothard\u2019s character training homeschool curriculum program costs hundreds of dollars per family per semester. <\/span><\/p>\n

Michael Pearl has been offering a \u201cbusiness in a box<\/a>\u201d opportunity where supporters can buy No Greater Joy products at 40% the retail price and then set up a family business selling the materials to others. The catch, of course, is that you have to start in the program with an initial investment of at least $2,500. <\/span><\/p>\n

What is going on here? Are these people about serving God, or about making money? If they\u2019re really about serving God, why not make a genuine ministry of it, taking in donations and then offering conferences, literature, and products for free, or at least for a reduced rate or actual market cost? I mean, didn\u2019t Jesus throw the money changers out of the temple? <\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"