This is an interesting commentary on a situation mainly in California of a Mormon acting in a Bernie Madoff way, swindling other Mormons out of millions.
I really like the author's conclusion:
"Dating all the way back to my undergrad years at BYU, I have made it a matter of standing policy that whenver anyone tries to get money from me (selling me something, investing, etc.) and brings the Church or related issues into it, my response is an automatic and irrevocable “No.” Any appeal to Church membership, Church authorities, personal claimed worthiness (”When I was in the temple the other day…”), etc., is a big red flag that the pitch being made cannot stand on its own merits.
The sad thing is that most Mormons are honest in their dealings with others, including their fellow Mormons. Tthat’s what makes the occasional fraud like this both effective and devestating. Those who take advantage of that trust are truly wolves in sheep’s clothing. Like the moneychangers in at the temple in Jerusalem, they turn the house of God into a den of thieves — but, unlike the moneychangers, they do so having sworn a solemn oath to take Christ’s name upon themselves. I for one would not want to be in their shoes when they face the Savior’s wrath."
The sad thing is that most Mormons are honest in their dealings with others, including their fellow Mormons. Tthat’s what makes the occasional fraud like this both effective and devestating. Those who take advantage of that trust are truly wolves in sheep’s clothing. Like the moneychangers in at the temple in Jerusalem, they turn the house of God into a den of thieves — but, unlike the moneychangers, they do so having sworn a solemn oath to take Christ’s name upon themselves. I for one would not want to be in their shoes when they face the Savior’s wrath."
I have always followed somewhat of the same policy.
My application in the same vein is that, as a general rule, I will try to never do paid remodeling/house building for anyone that I am related to. I just don't even want to introduce the possibility of souring a good relationship over business, it's just not worth it.
The same thing goes for a lot of things.
When Curt was first starting out in the financial industry (this was while we were engaged), he briefly (as in just a couple months) worked with a commision based financial advising group. We both felt like working with family members was not the thing to do. And yet, that is really what those kind of businesses are geared towards, start with your family and friends. So we discussed it and he quit.
I guess the conclusions that I come to are:
1) even though I deal as honest and uprightly as I can, I don't want to deal with people I have family or religious relations with, and...
2) I think that people who try to use family or religious relations as a basis for drumming up business are treading a potentially treacherous line.
No comments:
Post a Comment