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February 19, 2005
A Survey Of Sorts
By QBlog in
Tim, the Random Observations guy, has posted an interesting survey that explores the relationship between Quixtar and Christianity.
How has this organization [Quixtar] affected your view or relationship with God? I'm not interested in short-term effects, such as "I made a decision" but more long-term effects.
- Did it increase your faith at one point?
- Did it make you more cynical about religion when you left? Or at the time?
- Or did having a bad experience cause you to try to clarify your own values?
- Did it give you a bad view of Christianity, the faith they pretend to represent? Or did it encourage you to look into it?
- If you're not a Christian, did you feel your own faith, or non-belief, was respected? Or was there any heavy-handed attempts to pressure you into something you didn't believe?
- Did your experiences make real differences in the way you live? Do you treat other people better? Did being in Quixtar help you attend to get involved in non-Quixtar religious organizations regularly? Or did it draw you away from whatever faith you had?
- What are your actual, first-hand experiences?
So head on over to Random Observations and fill out the little survey. It asks some good questions and I'd be interested in seeing the responses.
Comments
1. No, it had no effect at all, other than to be somewhat repulsive at the time.
2. No. While there seemed to be a strong connection for many IBOs around me to be Christian within the business, I held many of my opinions about religion prior to becoming an IBO. So my participation in the business didn't really change anything in that regard.
3. I would have probably done this regardless of the nature of my bad experiences. Seems to me one should be doing these sorts of reviews, anyway.
4. Again, I held many of my views on organized religion before getting involved in Amway, so the business had little impact on that. It didn't take long, though, to realize that this may be an issue for our prospects, particularly those who we knew were non-Christians.
5. No, my wife and I were repeatedly given materials and spoken to (one-to-one and from the stage) in a manner that placed their (our upline's) Christian beliefs over others'. They frequently threw in some kind of a disclaimer, but the attitude was always there.
6. I think it solidified my sense that organized religions could be used by clever people for whatever purposes they desired, whether or not those purposes were noble or consistent with the faith.
7. #1) We were given a book, signed by our Triple-Diamond (even though he was not the author) entitled "More Than A Carpenter." It is a book about why we should believe in Jesus.
#2) One of our Leadership Tapes was called "The Truth About Christmas." Enough said.
#3) After I had returned from YNMI in 1997, my Triple-Diamond told me in a private conversation that one day I would be "ministering to thousands of people."
At the time, I thought, "I'd love to have an organization like that, but I'll NEVER minister - to anyone."
Yeah, I know: Negative!
#4) When my Triple-Diamond realized that his Christian ministering of me was not going well, he sent my wife and I a gift in the mail.
A Jewish calendar.
It's incredible, looking at this chain of events now, that we stayed in another three years!
PW
I am not and will never be an IBO, but as you may have noticed from prior posts, my in-laws are heavily involved in "building the biusiness." My own family and that of my inlaws are both devout Lutherans. What their involvement in the business has caused me to do is to examine my own faith, to clarify my beliefs and actions, and has caused me to look for opportunities to serve others regardless of if they can give anything back to me in return.
That is the problem I see with Quixtar's mixing of business and religion. If sharing the faith is a main component in the business, share it right away as you STP, not just to those who follow you long enough to come to a major function.
Great responses. But shouldn't they be posted on the random observations site?
It's not a big deal I guess but it was Tim's post on his site. Which part of Qblog's request to head on over there and fill out the survey didn't we understand? :o)
"So head on over to Random Observations and fill out the little survey"
I did head over there, but chose to answer the questions at my OWN blog.
I left Tim a link to the answers.
Dave
Guess I got so caught up in the questions... I glossed over the "head over to Tim's site."
Oops. Guess I still won't make it as a Quix-bot, cause I'll admit when I made a mistake.
Roger
I posted my comments there.
Cliff Phillips :-)
1. No. It did nothing to increase my faith in any religion.
2. Yes, as an agnostic, I was concerned by the apparant intertying of religion and the business.
3. Nope.
4. To me, yes. They represented a necessity to be Christian to succeed in the business that was a gift from their god.
5. My beliefs were (as well as others) were questioned with the "well aren't [they] Christian?" should it matter? It is supposed top be a business of selling products supplied by Quixtar, not a faith based following of someone whom you purchase tapes and "tools" from.
6. I have always respected individuals rights to practive whatever religiuon they want. and anyone who is more interested in my becoming their religion than themselves just practiving their religion is a concern. They tend to act as though their personal salvation depends on whether or not I believe in their god, and that is just plain rude of them to interject themselves upon me in that way.
7. Listening to my upline (Kershbaum) bragging about how Diamonds Ron Goldman and his wife "used to be Jewish" and were "saved by this business".
Roger
Posted by: Roger, Husband of a Team Brainwashee | February 19, 2005 5:04 PM