+1
Forum: Recovery Board

Avon was founded in the late 1800's, it predates "Multi-Level Marketing" and Avon used to be a legitimate Single Level Direct Sales business. Unfortunately, the MLM Death Star empire has pretty much taken over the direct selling universe and Avon decided to go the MLM route in more recent history. Currently, Avon doesn't seem to know what it wants to/is going to be. It noisily resig
Forum: Recovery Board

+1
Forum: Recovery Board

If I understand you correctly, he works for a mormon-run business and he is an ex-drug addict. So it sounds as if he has a lot of instability in his recent background and is literally dependent on Mormons for his livelihood right now. He is in a very vulnerable position, for sure, easy prey for them. It's very sad.
Forum: Recovery Board

It's kind of the same tactic the Multi Level Marketing kingpins use: Create a dishonest, unhealthy, unethical culture from the top down... ...but then let the member/distributors do the actual dirty work, (lying about the fake BizOp, lying about the "simplicity" of a payment plan that is really quite complex, making false product/health claims and other general manipulation)...
Forum: Recovery Board

"do you see it as ALL being made up, including the witnesses etc, or are there little bits of truth that have been thoughily exaggerated?" Your question reminds me of what I thought was a great post on another website, The Salty Droid, that concerns itself with modern day con-artists, particularly the Internet-oriented fraudsters. I liked it so much I saved it. It's about how the
Forum: Recovery Board

jerry64 wrote > > > From my perspective it seemed that Joe Smith was > trying to "restore" something more like the > rule-based Old Testament ways, that Jesus, > himself, actually preached against (speaking > against the Pharisees and people who valued > appearance of good vs. doing good, such as his > performing miracles on the Sabbath). Thank y
Forum: Recovery Board

Elder What's-his-face Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > much of the ministry of Christ in the > NewTestament was to dispell the practice of > obedience for the sake of obedience. Which was the > greater law- to only walk a few counted steps on > the Sabbath, or to heal the sick that was brought > to him. > > Sabbath was made for ma
Forum: Recovery Board

Great article at Truth in Advertising about Vemma, an MLM targeting college-aged people. https://www.truthinadvertising.org/college-student-recruited-questionable-mlm/ The stories told by the concerned parents in the article are so similar to what happened in our family when my son was recruited into Mormonism. The dishonesty from your child, which we definately experienced, is so shocking
Forum: Recovery Board

That's why IMO as a "religion" or spiritual practice, it's snake oil. It's like the Herbalife distributors who claim that their diet shakes treat cancer and diabetes, and will also make you wealthy. They promise utopia and funnel in plenty of vulnerable people. In contrast, Buddhism starts with the premise that life is full of suffering and pain. The spiritual practice then concer
Forum: Recovery Board

I think you need to work in some Multi Level Marketing moguls and maybe a DC congressional mormons-only prayer group that the MLM people make big campaign donations to...you could do a whole spin off series on these characters alone.
Forum: Recovery Board

I have been studying the whole MultiLevel Marketing phenomenon for the past couple of years....there are so so many similarities between MLM and Mormonism (as many on this site realize). MLM is the same: a very plastic pseudo-business. When they start to get in trouble for some abuse, or when regulators or the public start getting wise to one aspect of the scam, the MLM and their lawyers just
Forum: Recovery Board

And the overriding modern day reason for them is tithing extortion.
Forum: Recovery Board

"I don't go to church at all, I don't like it." I just want to thank you for saying that to the young woman. Even if you feel it wasn't much, it was assertive and honest and who knows, it is a seed planted might someday germinate.
Forum: Recovery Board

Yeah, in my opinion is the field of psychology still has a long way to go as "science". Including the meds part of it (....maybe even Especially the meds part...the woman in this interview is a good example). I don't know if either of you have time to listen to the interview, but it is pretty refreshing. Dr. Drew agreeing that the ex-Church of Christ woman participating in the inte
Forum: Recovery Board

http://drdrew.com/132/ Cult tactic groups: It's such a difficult topic, most interviewers aren't even close to understanding the topic, and discussions usually end up going off on less-useful tangents. This discussion with Dr. Drew is surprisingly good. I agree with the idea that mental health professionals, especially, need to be much better informed. It makes sense that they would
Forum: Recovery Board

It really doesn't resonate with me. My sense is totalist governments, high demand, high control, cult tactic groups (whether political, religious, business, self help or other) are Orwellian. But "free world", "western world" countries are more like Huxley: http://abetterkuwait.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/1984-vs-brave-new-world/ The majority of American journalists
Forum: Recovery Board

I personally don't think any mormon missionary is honest in their dealings with their fellow humans. It's a case of the deceived becoming the deceivers, however. Then there is the case of Bishop John Swallow...a gatekeeper to the temple, if I understand the mormon system correctly...on what planet would such a dishonest, unethical person have any kind of credible claim to be sitting in j
Forum: Recovery Board

I have been wondering if the new character, the male nanny that Phil and Gloria employ, is supposed to be Mormon. He has the whole sanitized/earnest attitude, appearance, voice, persona. He also has a girlfriend in Utah who he was supposed to be flying out to visit in the last two (wedding) episodes of the season...the GF was however texting him not to come; he was having a hard time picking
Forum: Recovery Board

The whole point of X'ity is you don't need a temple, don't need to pay the money changers. The point is to be inclusive of all people, not to exclude, to do personal inner reflection, inner work, and inner change as opposed to overemphasis on superstitious ritual ceremony which is superficial etc. etc. Temples are the antithesis of X'ity IMO.
Forum: Recovery Board

The Nutrition Club "Interns/Trainees" are cleaning toilets for free. Sound familiar? I think that this post is totally on-topic, myself.
Forum: Recovery Board

A quick answer re ethics and the role of short selling in the market: http://www.investopedia.com/university/shortselling/shortselling4.asp
Forum: Recovery Board

I have been following the story, so I watched the entire presentation today, and have read some of the published reactions, and observed both yesterday's and today's stock market response. One impression I came away with: Like Mormonism, MLM fraud is unusually (and maybe counter intuitively) complicated, outrageously dishonest and obfuscated. The perpetrators lie so much, blatantly employ
Forum: Recovery Board

I'm not exmo, but I wanna chime in... My favo show of the moment: "Borgen", from Denmark, with English subtitles. Don't know what TSCC would think of it, but it's not Disney, subplots involve sex outside of marriage, so I guess it's "adult". Season One now available from Netflix on DVD. A bit like House of Cards, (which I love), but less dark. Also a bit like The West Wing
Forum: Recovery Board

How about The Book of Randy?
Forum: Recovery Board

With MLMs, the "distributors" are really the customers. There is some retailing going on, but the main "customers" are the distributors themselves, that is the irony, and nine out of ten don't make any significant money at all, especially when you factor in their time, and many actually lose money, sometimes in the tens of thousands of dollars. They are sold this fake Biz
Forum: Recovery Board

And has his trial date ever been set?
Forum: Recovery Board

The Law of Attraction is also huge among the Multi-Level Marketing crowd. It is a blame the victim philosophy at it's core. The new age, self-help hucksters like Rhonda Byrne or James Arthur Ray are in the same mold as Joseph Smith. Snake oil sales. I think this article says it well: http://www.salon.com/2007/03/05/the_secret/
Forum: Recovery Board

"The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ELCA is the largest Lutheran body in the USA. The church bodies that formed the ELCA in 1988 began ordaining women in 1970 when the Lutheran Church in America ordained the Rev Elizabeth Platz. The ordination of women is now non-controversial within the ELCA." Others here: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordination_of_women_in_Protestant_chu
Forum: Recovery Board

n/t
Forum: Recovery Board