No I don't think you are naive. This is from my Preparedness Manual. By the way I wrote it myself.
Our Christian Duty to our Fellow Man
For many Christians their responsibilities to their fellow men weight heavy in their minds and the vision of a friend or neighbor coming to them for help with a staving child is a nightmare that they fear.
I have discussed this subject at length with fellow ‗preppers‘ on various online preparedness groups that I frequent to and I have come to the conclusion that there is no ‗one size fits all‘ answer. For almost every scripture one quotes as to it being our Christian duty to do all we can to help our fellow man, one may quote another that distains the slothful and the ill-prepared.
In the end I believe it is up to each of us and the circumstances as to what and how much action we take. For a childless couple to give a neighbor a couple cans of powdered milk during a blizzard is not the same as a couple with children doing the same thing after an EMP attack. To me the order of things should be God, my family and then my fellow man. I should never do anything that jeopardizes the relationship that come before.
As for me to ease my conscience and hopefully meet my duty as a Christian my own plan is to put away an extra 10% of preps‘ to use as tithe towards helping my fellows in an emergency. To me by setting aside that which God ask in tribute and then distribute it to those in need I have meet God‘s covenants and yet have not place my family in need or want. I will add a warning to this solution and that is for you to be careful as to how you distribute this aid. In these days in which so many seem to deem that it is their ‗right‘ to have their needs provided to them by others, the knowledge that you have prepared and have stores of food and goods could quickly cause others to ‗demand‘ that you share.
When possible I urge you go through a trusted third-party to donate your extra stocks, your church or an organization such as the Salvation Army are two good choices. But try to remain anonymous with your assistance, for desperate times drive many to desperate deeds. There is a quote from one of my all time favorite TV shows Deep Space Nine which explains this so very well:
Let me tell you something about humans, nephew: They're a wonderful, friendly people - as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time and those friendly, intelligent, wonderful people...will become as nasty and as violent as the most blood-thirsty Klingon."
Quark from: Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Episode: The Siege of AR-558 (#7.8)" (1998)
Or as 1 Timothy 5:8 says:
Anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
You should never commit an act of charity that in turns places your family‘s safety in jeopardy.
JR Cook 2/23/2010
Black clouds cover the horizon, the lightening is flashing and there is the distant sound of thunder! The storm flags are going up, will you heed them?
I am very aware that if it’s the great end that there is nothing I can do to stop or change it, but history is full of instances and times when man or nature have caused such a calamity that people have cried out and begged God to end it all.
The bible has many verse such as this:
A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.
NIV Proverbs 22:3
This verse and others are there for a reason and I urge all to take heed of them, because we are clearly on the edge. Everyday there is a new story about the ‘Yutes’ who grow more restless everyday and when you add the fact that because of the economy people are already on edge it won’t take much to set things off.
Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:
“Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Siege of AR-558 (#7.8)” (1998)
Quark: Let me tell you something about Hew-mons, Nephew. They’re a wonderful, friendly people, as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time and those same friendly, intelligent, wonderful people... will become as nasty and as violent as the most bloodthirsty Klingon. You don’t believe me? Look at those faces. Look in their eyes.
Today we have ‘yutes’ who roam our streets who are with out morals, without respect for law or life itself. They will look are you with the same ‘doll eyes’ a shark does before he eats you and they will feel no more compassion than the shark does.
That will be the test of many. Most preppers I know are Christian people and they will hesitate to do what they might have to do to stop the ‘yutes’. On the other hand the ‘yutes’ won’t think twice nor lose a minute of sleep, in fact they will smile and laugh about it.
For those who are just starting or are old hands at prepping you may find my Preparedness Manual helpfull. You can download it at:
http://www.tomeaker.com/kart/preparedness1i.pdf
For those of you who haven’t started already it’s time to prepare almost past time maybe. You needed to be stocking up on food guns, ammo, basic household supplies like soap, papergoods, cleaning supplies, good sturdy clothes including extra socks, underwear and extra shoes and boots, a extra couple changes of oil and filters for your car, tools, things you buy everyday start buying two and put one up.
If you like to read more about what SHTF in Bosnia was like take a look at this post on Bosnia War Survivor Selco’s Blog at:
http://shtfschool.com/
“There is no greater disaster than to underestimate danger. Underestimation can be fatal.”
As the LDS say “When the emergency is upon us the time for preparedness has past.”