Disaster/Doomsday Prepping

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inomcoke

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I just got a question from my brother, I wasn’t sure about the answer. Any thoughts/answers would be appreciated. Here is his exact question -

I was just watching an episode of Doomsday Preppers and wondered if that lifestyle is compatible with Christianity. I think of the Jews not taking more that a day of manna, the Apostles traveling with only their clothes, Jesus teaching to store up treasure in heaven, do not worry about your needs etc. Do these teachings apply to being prepared for a disaster?
 
My belief In Jesus Christ makes me unafraid of “Doomsday”. I would not wish to live through the “end of the world scenarios”. I have friends that ask about I plan to do about the December 21, 2012 prediction. I say nothing at all. On the other hand a natural localized disaster, such as Hurricane Sandy or as we have here in my part of the USA, tornadoes and horrific ice storms in which the world is expected to survive preparation is of course the prudent thing to do. To me it all depends on how strong your faith in an eternal life in Heaven with the Lord. Would you really want to wander around blind and starving in the aftermath of a nuclear war? A comet or other space body impacting the earth, a super volcano such as the Yellowstone Caldera, another ice age, etc. are probably unsurvivable and what I would call an act of God. Some may think this stance is committing suicide, I see it as God’s will.
As for storing up treasure in Heaven, I have a neighbor that takes that literally. Never planning far ahead and always telling me God will provide.I want to say here that my neighbor is of a non-denominational protestant. God may provide what we need, seldom what we think we need or want, hence we get the super rich who don’t want to pay taxes for the greater good of others.I’m sorry I got off track. My belief is that we don’t prepare for doomsday just prepare to receive the lord. Be not afraid.
 
inomcoke said:
I just got a question from my brother, I wasn’t sure about the answer. Any thoughts/answers would be appreciated. Here is his exact question -

I was just watching an episode of Doomsday Preppers and wondered if that lifestyle is compatible with Christianity. I think of the Jews not taking more that a day of manna, the Apostles traveling with only their clothes, Jesus teaching to store up treasure in heaven, do not worry about your needs etc. Do these teachings apply to being prepared for a disaster?
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From what I gather, it depends on your circumstances. It’s one thing to make an individual decision to trust God and go with very little. On the other hand, if you have children who need care, they are not old enough to make that sort of decision. It’s like refusing cancer treatment based on religious beliefs, for example – adults are able to make an informed decision, but children can’t.

The other side of the coin is to remember that in a disaster, people who have prepared are not going to be a burden on public services that could go to other people who may not have been in a position to prepare. They might also be able to care for family or friends.

Think of it this way – would we wear seat belts, buy insurance, install smoke detectors?

I do think that, however, that there is an unrealistic rabbit hole that some people go down, to where their participation in religious and public life is damaged by their prepping (which itself contradicts the catechism – isolation, not prepping). That’s not good, either.

I always tell relatives and friends that it’s good to have at least a month’s worth of food, water, and supplies on hand. No way of telling what is going to happen, and when it does, it’s too late to do anything about it, but that’s just prudence.
 
My belief In Jesus Christ makes me unafraid of “Doomsday”. I would not wish to live through the “end of the world scenarios”. I have friends that ask about I plan to do about the December 21, 2012 prediction. I say nothing at all. On the other hand a natural localized disaster, such as Hurricane Sandy or as we have here in my part of the USA, tornadoes and horrific ice storms in which the world is expected to survive preparation is of course the prudent thing to do. To me it all depends on how strong your faith in an eternal life in Heaven with the Lord. Would you really want to wander around blind and starving in the aftermath of a nuclear war? A comet or other space body impacting the earth, a super volcano such as the Yellowstone Caldera, another ice age, etc. are probably unsurvivable and what I would call an act of God. Some may think this stance is committing suicide, I see it as God’s will.
As for storing up treasure in Heaven, I have a neighbor that takes that literally. Never planning far ahead and always telling me God will provide.I want to say here that my neighbor is of a non-denominational protestant. God may provide what we need, seldom what we think we need or want, hence we get the super rich who don’t want to pay taxes for the greater good of others.I’m sorry I got off track. My belief is that we don’t prepare for doomsday just prepare to receive the lord. Be not afraid.
 
2452 The goods of creation are destined for the entire human race. The right to private property does not abolish the universal destination of goods
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Jesus also said to sell your cloak and buy swords.
If the bubble bursts for any reason. I think Christ might be glad to see the well prepared venturing out to drag a few of the less fortunate out of the wreckage.
it’s kinda hard to do if you, yourself, fail to survive long enough to do it.
 
I’d say we also do not want to be publically associated with the “survival crowd”.

This movement, with it’s heavy arsenals, fear of the government, and apparent longing for a back-to-nature transition, is frankly scary (at least to me). It is not the image needed by those who drop the LORD’s name.

Best to stock up quietly for natural conditions and not self-identify as a “prepper”. IMNAAHO.

Think about it. If everything is about to end, do we want to cling grimly to a human life we cannot in any case hold, or prepare others for life everlasting?

ICXC NIKA
 
We know not the day nor the hour of the end
It isn’t hard to look at world events and prognosticate protracted armed conflicts.
It isn’t difficult to look at history of natural disasters and see all things taken forgranted are cut off. In either case, they are not “The end” but rather extreme periods of hardship with a return to normalcy. all we need to do is carry on long enough to start the rebuild or, make a pilgrimage to an unaffected area.
If, on the other hand, it really is the end of the world. He who hath created the Universe in 6 days and rested the 7th, I am certain, could smoke this mote of dust we are riding on faster than all the nukes we’ve created simultaneously detonated around the globe.
 
GEddie said:
Best to stock up quietly for natural conditions and not self-identify as a “prepper”. IMNAAHO.
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Of course! Otherwise the looters will know exactly where to go!

Seems to me that nonpreparedness was considered foolish by Jesus Himself, for He said
Five of them were foolish and five were wise.
The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them,
but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps.
Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps.
The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
But the wise ones replied, ‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’
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Richard320 said:
Of course! Otherwise the looters will know exactly where to go!

Seems to me that nonpreparedness was considered foolish by Jesus Himself, for He said
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That was in reference to spiritual preparation…

However, we need both prudence and trust in the Lord. We cannot let our prudence become overwhelming and cause us to lose our faith in God, but otoh, having a reasonable reserve is very sensible, esp for those who live in places where disasters might strike.
 
St_Francis said:
That was in reference to spiritual preparation…

However, we need both prudence and trust in the Lord. We cannot let our prudence become overwhelming and cause us to lose our faith in God, but otoh, having a reasonable reserve is very sensible, esp for those who live in places where disasters might strike.
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and understanding that places where disaster might strike refers to everywhere.
we have to dismiss much of the day to day risk to get on with our lives.

Take a warm breezy Saturday in summer where you wake up with a cup of coffee thinking of how you might fill the day.
On a whim you hop in your trusty car (after getting dressed of course) drive to some store to buy a kite, snacks and drinks then make a detour through a fast food joint before heading out to the countryside to a field where you’ll make a day of flying that kite.
Once there you hear the birds see the runny babits munching clover deer grazing in the distance. You breathe deep the fresh air, put the kite together and send it aloft.
How dangerous could this possibly be.
The potential for your demise was at every turn.
your coffee maker is an electrical device made in China, that you fill with water.
the car you drove probably has many significant components made in China.
the store has a mix of society where the finest all the way down to the most vile of criminal elements can be found.
the fast food joint may, at any time, receive shipments of goods contaminated by salmonella or e coli.
the bridges along the way might not be as sound as they seem.
The field where you stand … hey wait, was that a rattle snake? and what pray tell is festering in that small pool over there.
The bunny seems safe enough, but in summer they are all full of infection and or parasites. The grazing deer, if pressed to do so, will fight you to the death, preferably yours.
the chirping birds can carry avian flu.
bugs … they can bite.
poison ivy has to grow somewhere.
moles dig holes in fields A broken leg in a remote location like this is bad juju
theres far more that could go wrong but dwelling upon each and every risk is quite debilitating.
Its prudent to prepare for the likely risks.
Bug spray, a first aid kit and a good pistol will address most of the risk of a warm sunny day in summer. In fact after youve emptied a few cans of soda the pistol can add to the enjoyment of the day after the kite gets hopelessly entangled in the trees
 
I’d be happy if people just learned to prepare to live a couple weeks on their own without dying in droves. Is it THAT hard to have a propane BBQ grill, a couple extra tanks around, a water filter and a fair amount of dried food? Got plenty of blankets, a kerosene lamp and a liquid fuel catalytic heater for winter power outages? Wood stove works too if you have enough wood. Most fireplaces provide little heat in the house unless they have an external cold air supply tube. All this can be had for just a few hundred bucks (and much of it doubles nicely as camping supplies).

Maybe I’ll even get a shotgun someday as taking up bird hunting does rather appeal to me. But it’s a LONG way down the priority list. First I need a lot more duct tape because my car’s getting old! 😉

But you WON’T see me digging a bomb shelter in my yard, stocking up on weapons or loading barrels with food to bury in secret stashes. I might expand the garden next year, does that count?? 🙂
 
No matter how “prepared” you are, you cannot prepare for everything.

The catastrophe that will end everything is not, most likely, in the sky, on the sea, in the earth or any of the physical appurtenances we use each day, but inside our own bodies. And no matter what we do, the adventure of human life will end, for each of us, with eyes rolled back in our heads.

Preparation is OK, certainly, but to build your life around it is IMNAAHO a mistake. You could end up like the man in our LORD’s parable who died thinking about his silos.

ICXC NIKA
 
inomcoke said:
I just got a question from my brother, I wasn’t sure about the answer. Any thoughts/answers would be appreciated. Here is his exact question -

I was just watching an episode of Doomsday Preppers and wondered if that lifestyle is compatible with Christianity. I think of the Jews not taking more that a day of manna, the Apostles traveling with only their clothes, Jesus teaching to store up treasure in heaven, do not worry about your needs etc. Do these teachings apply to being prepared for a disaster?
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I had another thought…

Wouldn’t having insurance be considered being prepared for a disaster? The Knights of Columbus sell a lot of it. kofc.org/un/en/insurance/index.html
 
I discovered there is a group for prepping on the forum. I do not like the term. I do not agree with survivalism. I do prepare, but I live in hurricane country. I do not consider DIY stuff to be prepping, but just living your life, for example: growing a garden.

I agree it is silly that people do not keep a few things on hand. I think it is imprudent if those few things turn out to be months upon months to years worth of material supplies, and if your entire life revolves around the concept, e.g. cities are death traps live out in the most remote place possible.

Arsenals are not about being prepared other than one good rifle and sidearm with ammunition for defense of community, family, and self, which in the American tradition (one can argue the Anglo-Saxon common law tradition or the universal natural law) is legitimate. The truth is it becomes about collecting using the justification of being ready for armageddon. They also come about due to anxieties people feel about their rights being in peril. In fact I also believe they illustrate the fears many have about the culture of death, e.g. if they permit the murdering of babies, what is next? (Something many have pointed out about such evils being lawfully embraced, and as the Venerable, Servant of God, Archbishop Fulton Sheen said: we now have lovers of life and lovers of death. Guess which camp perverted the law to their whimsy?)

Once a person has everything though there is no real point to discuss it. It is boring to talk about my generator that keeps my mother’s insulin cold when the power goes down. I think most of it is people confusing enjoying the outdoors, bushcraft/camping to gardening with it. That is what irks me. I hunt and fish. I do not call those things preparing. I call those things hobbies that I enjoy because I like to be outside, or if you acquire a bicycle to ride so you have transportation. If you got it for when the great EMP happens then something is odd, but if you got it becauase the store is less than a mile and it saves gas, which maximizes money saved, that is just navigating through the delimas of life and not being a survivalist.

Lastly, yes trust in God, for He provides! 🙂
 
Recently, there was a nasty hurricane and a nasty snow storm.

People who had not done at least some preparing were in a bad way.

Some of my friends reported that they have arranged to install whole house generators fueled by natural gas. They are tired of having to camp out inside the house.

Someone else posted that he was impatient with the slowness of plowing out his street because he only had two days worth of food in the house.

Well, it doesn’t cost much to have a week’s worth of food in the house. Or a month’s worth.

And if you can’t afford a whole house generator, at least buy an el cheapo generator that you can use with extension cords to power some basic appliances.

Why should anyone seem to prefer being a victim or a burden on his neighbors, when for very little money, they can do some basic emergency preparing.

A friend went camping and was mocked by people they encountered for their various kits and supplies. Then one of the mockers got injured; cut their foot on a sharp rock … without sturdy hiking shoes … barefoot … they had no protection. They had NO first aid supplies. My friend bandaged up the injured person and then they and their whole group had to depart immediately for medical attention … camping trip ruined for the unprepared.

Basic stuff.
 
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