- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
Interesting that J Reuben Clark makes it a head of household (ie. male) responsibility. My husband has never participated in food storage, and in fact has frequently criticized me for not doing it the way his mother does. So I stopped. Not worth the strain it was causing in our marriage. Kipper wrote:
After reading the prayer in D&C 109 it seems a stretch to say ‘prepare every needful thing’ means “…should adversity come, we may care for ourselves and our neighbors, and support bishops as they care for others.” Maybe I’m trying too hard not to see it.
I’d agree…it is a stretch. It is kind of like when they say “obey the commandments” and use that to apply to whatever they are selling at the moment as something we have to do.
Bottom line…food storage is a good practical idea.
Our government has the same advice:
HereThey just don’t use scripture to back up the idea that it is a good idea.
So…in the church, because of D&C 109, we sell it as a commandment. Others sell it as a “good idea.”
As Uchtdorf stated:
Quote:there are so many “shoulds” and “should nots” that merely keeping track of them can be a challenge. Sometimes, well-meaning amplifications of divine principles—many coming from uninspired sources—complicate matters further, diluting the purity of divine truth with man-made addenda. One person’s good idea—something that may work for him or her—takes root and becomes an expectation. And gradually, eternal principles can get lost within the labyrinth of “good ideas.”
I think we have to use wisdom to know what we can and can’t do with all these commandments we are given.
Quote:Be ye perfect, in everything, all the time, with exactness.
…OK, I’ll try!
No. See how easy that was?
Well, 2020 proved to me at least that food storage IS useful sometimes. SamBee wrote:
Well, 2020 proved to me at least that food storage IS useful sometimes.
Useful? Sure. A good idea if you’re able? Absolutely. A commandment? Absolutely not.
Given the choice of a sacrament meeting talk about food storage or one about the atonement of Jesus Christ I’ll take the latter every time.
DarkJedi wrote:
SamBee wrote:
Well, 2020 proved to me at least that food storage IS useful sometimes.
Useful? Sure. A good idea if you’re able? Absolutely. A commandment? Absolutely not.
Given the choice of a sacrament meeting talk about food storage or one about the atonement of Jesus Christ I’ll take the latter every time.
Well this year has seen food shortages in our supermarkets round here, restrictions on travel and me in quarantine for two weeks. I really couldn’t have done without it.
SamBee wrote:
DarkJedi wrote:
SamBee wrote:
Well, 2020 proved to me at least that food storage IS useful sometimes.
Useful? Sure. A good idea if you’re able? Absolutely. A commandment? Absolutely not.
Given the choice of a sacrament meeting talk about food storage or one about the atonement of Jesus Christ I’ll take the latter every time.
Well this year has seen food shortages in our supermarkets round here, restrictions on travel and me in quarantine for two weeks. I really couldn’t have done without it.
.
I didn’t say otherwise. That makes it a good idea for you and others, still not a commandment.
Commandment or no commandment, it’s served me better this year than some church advice e.g. wearing a white shirt! I have used it in the past once or twice, but when lockdown approached here, I at least had my food taken care of. A lot of my non-member friends were panic buying. I have also had opportunities to use food storage before. (It is supposed to be rotated after all.) I was once unemployed for an extended period when we used it (supplemented by church food orders and personal savings which are also part of self reliance). And several years ago we had severe flooding here that didn’t directly affect us n the our home was safe but we were cut off from the outside world (literally) and had no power for a week. In that instance we were also helped by public service organizations (principally the local fire department, who did get some supplies from FEMA, and the Salvation Army – the Red Cross was no help nor was the CoJCoLDS except later in clean up). During the pandemic, even though I live in a rural area and the closest supermarket is 10 miles away, we have not experienced any shortages of food. CNN kept telling us there was no shortage of food, the problem was the panic buyers. Fortunately for us for some reason the local panic buyers favored toilet paper and pasta. We had TP and don’t eat tons of pasta (and had enough for what we do eat or might have needed to in an actual emergency). Additionally, FEMA and our state emergency management agency also encourage and distribute resources regarding things like emergency food
and waterstorage. Some items of full disclosure: 1) We don’t and never did have anywhere close to a year’s supply of food. 2) We also don’t the three months supply of food currently encouraged (if you dig around the church website enough to find it). 3) We do have 72-hour kits (highly encouraged by our state EMA – they even give away supplies for them).
Just a side note: the thread topic is “Food Storage a Commandment.” Testimonials about food storage probably fit. Testimonials about food storage being a commandment (or not) definitely fit. I’ve already made my position very clear, but I should also note I have a very narrow view of what I consider to be a commandment and all of them are contained in scripture (which should be read to mean Bible).
I think a lot of people get the wrong things. LDS have an obsession with wheat for some reason. I know people who bought foil wrapped sacks of the stuff. I suppose it keeps longer than potatoes. They’ve even found edible and growable grain in the pyramids. I used to live in an area where you could get snowed in for days on end. Not as bad as Alaska or Idaho perhaps but bad enough. We had a lot of logs in dry storage so if the power went then we could keep warm. I couldn’t do that where I live now. So some of this is instinctive.
I don’t entirely buy the panic buying argument. I think this situation has shown how fragile our supply chains really are. We definitely had issues with goods running out – some of which are ironed out now.
I don’t have the big mega-Mormon food storage thing going, but I do have months or at least weeks of food available. The one time I did panic buy a bit was shortly before the Millennium… When I wondered if the computer bug would strike. I think I hadn’t thought it out as well as I do now.
I feel that in a personal disaster it would be much easier to secure help acquiring foodstuffs than it would be to secure help paying rent, needed car repair, etc. (Though there are probably good programs out there that would do both/either). I therefore believe for me personally it is more advantageous to have an emergency fund that could be used to for all sorts of financial emergencies. I just have never lived in a time when access to food was scarce.
I have said something about the dangers of partisan media elsewhere, but please don’t discount this because it is from Fox. I do not think we are out of the woods yet. Next year is going to be bad due to the consequences of this year, which has undermined food production in many countries and put millions of jobs at risk worldwide.. I would recommend all forum members make preparations (not be “preppers” necessarily). I live in a First World Country and we saw food shortages earlier this year. One major supermarket near me had rows and rows of empty shelves. Our supply chains are very fragile. Next year the problem may be at the production end, not the retail side. it’s going to be a rocky ride.
https://www.fox5dc.com/news/nobel-un-agency-warns-2021-could-have-famines-of-biblical-proportions Quote:The head of the World Food Program says the Nobel Peace Prize has given the U.N. agency a spotlight and megaphone to warn world leaders that next year is going to be worse than this year, and without billions of dollars “we are going to have famines of biblical proportions in 2021.”
David Beasley said in an interview with The Associated Press that the Norwegian Nobel Committee was looking at the work the agency does every day in conflicts, disasters and refugee camps, often putting staffers’ lives at risk to feed millions of hungry people — but also to send “a message to the world that it’s getting worse out there … (and) that our hardest work is yet to come.”
Roy wrote:
I feel that in a personal disaster it would be much easier to secure help acquiring foodstuffs than it would be to secure help paying rent, needed car repair, etc. (Though there are probably good programs out there that would do both/either).I therefore believe for me personally it is more advantageous to have an emergency fund that could be used to for all sorts of financial emergencies. I just have never lived in a time when access to food was scarce.
This is generally my sentiment as well.
I was raised by my grandparents who were Great Depression era people. While Gramps, like many other laborers of the day, was unemployed during the depression they never talked about not having enough food. They hoarded other stuff though, including cash. They did not trust banks and only kept enough money in their checking account to play the bills that were paid by check, while they paid cash for most bills (actually going to the electric company, the phone company, etc.) and paid cash for groceries.
SamBee wrote:
I think a lot of people get the wrong things. LDS have an obsession with wheat for some reason. I know people who bought foil wrapped sacks of the stuff. I suppose it keeps longer than potatoes. They’ve even found edible and growable grain in the pyramids.
Yes, I think wheat was very common in the heyday of the year’s supply (80s/early 90s). We have neighbors that had barrels of the stuff in their basement that they tried to give away early 2000s as their kids matured and left home. I asked him what they intended to do with it had the need arose. He said they had a wheat grinder and they knew how to make bread from it. When asked if they intended to live on bread alone he didn’t really have an answer. This guy was educated and so was his wife, but I think it’s still very evident that Mormons are generally gullible when it comes to stuff like this. The prophet said to have a years supply of food and some entrepreneur in Utah comes up with “Hey, wheat’s great, it lasts a long time, it’s easy to store, it’s nutritious, you should buy my wheat and follow the prophet.”
I also think this is why the current more moderate three month recommendation emphasizes food your family actually eats.
SamBee wrote:
I have said something about the dangers of partisan media elsewhere, but please don’t discount this because it is from Fox. I do not think we are out of the woods yet. Next year is going to be bad due to the consequences of this year, which has undermined food production in many countries and put millions of jobs at risk worldwide.. I would recommend all forum members make preparations (not be “preppers” necessarily).I live in a First World Country and we saw food shortages earlier this year. One major supermarket near me had rows and rows of empty shelves. Our supply chains are very fragile. Next year the problem may be at the production end, not the retail side. it’s going to be a rocky ride.
https://www.fox5dc.com/news/nobel-un-agency-warns-2021-could-have-famines-of-biblical-proportions Quote:The head of the World Food Program says the Nobel Peace Prize has given the U.N. agency a spotlight and megaphone to warn world leaders that next year is going to be worse than this year, and without billions of dollars “we are going to have famines of biblical proportions in 2021.”
David Beasley said in an interview with The Associated Press that the Norwegian Nobel Committee was looking at the work the agency does every day in conflicts, disasters and refugee camps, often putting staffers’ lives at risk to feed millions of hungry people — but also to send “a message to the world that it’s getting worse out there … (and) that our hardest work is yet to come.”
Not discounting it because it comes from Fox, discounting it because the sky is not falling. I’m expecting Pres. Nelson’s upcoming message of hope will be more along this line.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.