Talk to me about Vision Forum

[BarefootBetsy]

Originally Posted by teamommy

I wonder if we could make a list somewhere of people, books, and organizations that are associated with VF. As a homeschooler I don't want to inadverdantly sign up for anything involving them.

The people I know about:

RC Sproul Jr. (I don't think his father is, but Jr. definitely is and Jr. was defrocked several years ago too by his Presbytery)
Doug Wilson - Promotes the Multigenerational Faithfulness ideas
Doug Phillips (of course - he's in charge of VF)
Geoffrey and Victoria Botkin - Very high up in VF
Elizabeth and Anna Sofia Botkin (Geoff and Victoria's daughters)
Scott Brown - involved with the NCFIC, you can read his blog posts on their website, he was rebuked at Trinity Baptist Church in NC for abuse of spiritual authority in July of 2006
Philip Lancaster - Wrote Family Man, Family Leader which is promoted heavily on VF's website (and was published by them as well)
Jennie Chancey - promotes VF on her blog
Voddie Baucham - speaks at VF events and in their videos
Jasmine Baucham (Voddie's daughter)
James and Stacy McDonald (used to own Homeschooling Today magazine)
The Duggars (affiliated with both VF and Gothard)
Bill Gothard - there are quite a few overlaps between his followers and VF followers and they get funding from the same people
Michael Farris - Founded both the HSLDA and Patrick Henry College
Charles Provan - wrote The Bible and Birth Control which is used to validate the Quiverful doctrine by VF - this is Provan's only connection to VF as far as I know
Gary Bauer - Dominionist
Jonathan Lindvall - teaches that even a child's thoughts and feelings should be under submission to their father
Nancy Campbell - founder of Above Rubies magazine, has her books published through VF
Peter Bradrick - used to be the executive assistant to Doug Phillips, now is the operations manager for the NCFIC (see below)


Organizations, websites, and blogs - names, NOT links:

Visionary Womanhood - blog
Ladies Against Feminism - blog
National Center for Family Integrated Churches (NCFIC) - organization founded by Doug Phillips to further his ideals of "Biblical Patriarchy" in churches
Constitution Party - political party
HSLDA
Patrick Henry College (given $ by the same people who give Gothard, VF, and HSLDA $)
The Homeschool Leadership Summit (2009)
Hobby Lobby - crafting store which is affiliated with Gothard (TestifyToLove found this out a couple months ago).
Above Rubies - Promotes VF ideals such as Quiverful and women's "true" Godly calling being that of staying at home and raising children and being a help-meet to their husbands


Ideas/doctrine:

Multigenerational Faithfulness
Stay at home Daughters - it is a sin for daughters to not be under their father or brother's headship at all times - no college, no living on their own
Patriocentricity (they call it "Biblical Patriarchy") - the wife and children exist to glorify God through facilitating the husband/father's "vision" in whatever way the patriarch wants them to.
Quiverful - the use of any sort of BC to space or limit children is sinful and a sign of a lack of faith
Transfer of Authority - When ownership of a daughter passes from her father to her new husband
Covenental Homeschooling - not educating your own children at home is a sin
Isolating children from the sinful world - part of the reason for homeschooling
Dominionism - the idea that Christians should control secular government through political action

Vision Forum also pays homage to several racist folks who are no longer alive such as Robert Louis Dabney and RJ Rushdoony.


Many homeschooling conferences are affiliated with VF now - I don't know which ones, but VF and their affiliates were instrumental in banning certain curricula from the big homeschooling conferences. Sonlight is one of the curricula that was banned from several conferences and if you google "Sonlight banned" you'll find more information about this.



To sum up: VF has their fingers in many pies and their influence is creeping more mainstream all the time, from what I (and others) have noticed. I've had several friends get heavily involved in the heresies which VF promotes. It's so important to be vigilant with this issue! None of us here are any better or smarter than those who have become heavily entrenched in these beliefs. I can tell you that my friends who got involved in this stuff were very smart people, strong believers

I'm sure there are many more people associated with VF than I know of. Be vigilant and aware! I'm not one to throw the "c" word around much, but I do, with completely certainty, believe that Vision Forum is a cult.

VF's beliefs are extra-Biblical in origin, they call for isolation - especially of girls and young women who often receive sub-high school education as well since their purpose is to grow up and have babies and who aren't allowed to leave the home until they are married - and people are ostracized when they reject the teachings. Fathers are given all the power and women and children are marginalized which sets up a potentially abusive environment