Should food storage be shared?

arbilad · Head Chef

Should food storage be shared?

mirkwood · Senior Bucketkeeper

"For years we have been counseled to have on hand a year's supply of food. Yet there are some today who would not start storing until the Church comes out with a detailed monthly home storage program. Now suppose that never happens? We still cannot say we have not been told.

Should the Lord decide at this time to cleanse the Church...a famine in this land of one year's duration could wipe out a large percentage of slothful members, including some ward and stake officers. Yet we cannot say we have not been warned." President Benson Welfare Meeting, October Conference, 1966

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The church has come out with that program...they have told us to get 3 months of regular food and then get a year supply. Not to mention the years and years and years of counsel to get food storage. I still have not found the qoute that tells me to store food for my neighbors so I can take care of them.

-- Edited by mirkwood at 17:14, 2007-12-06

Mahonri · Senior Bucketkeeper

Cleanse the Church?

D&C 112:24-26
24 Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation; and as a whirlwind it shall come upon all the face of the earth, saith the Lord.

25 And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth, saith the Lord;

26 First among those among you, saith the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me, and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house, saith the Lord.

alabamabelle · Senior Member

I guess I deemed the sharing part to be in keeping with the widows, the fatherless, the elderly, etc.

And, under certain promptings with others.

But I don't think we should consider ourself to be our neighborhood storehouses. We do have a responsibility to warn them of the coming tribulation. We can't put oil in their lamps FOR them.

And of necessity, those who do not prepare to have the needed oil will be shut out of the bride chamber.

If that hurts our hearts, then we need to do a better job of warning our friends and neighbors in and out of the church.

Roper · Senior Bucketkeeper

alabamabelle wrote:

But I don't think we should consider ourself to be our neighborhood storehouses. We do have a responsibility to warn them of the coming tribulation. We can't put oil in their lamps FOR them.

I know of one good brother who did exactly that. He converted his garage into a climate-controlled food storage area and built a year supply for his family and his home teaching families. Definitely above and beyond.

Organist · Senior Member

I think this scripture applies to food storoage, too.

Matthew 25:34-40 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

-- Edited by Organist at 19:42, 2007-12-06

alabamabelle · Senior Member

Roper wrote:
I know of one good brother who did exactly that. He converted his garage into a climate-controlled food storage area and built a year supply for his family and his home teaching families. Definitely above and beyond.
Above and beyond is correct indeed.

Was he a wealthy man who was called in some special secret capacity to serve those who were totally incapacitated and unable to leave their homes and do for themselves?

Or was he incorrectly applying a principle for temporal salvation? I wonder if his complacent home teaching families appreciated his sacrifice in their behalf? (and, since he was so good and thoughty for the needs of others, he wouldn't have bragged about it to them.)

I can't remember a time in which church counsel is given that the prophet says DO THIS EXCEPT FOR THIS GROUP OVER HERE WHO IS EXCUSED FROM EVEN MAKING AN EFFORT OF ANY SORT.

But, I may very well be incorrect. If so, please teach me. I am "ignert", but I am willing to learn.

Mahonri · Senior Bucketkeeper

I know of one good brother who did exactly that. He converted his garage into a climate-controlled food storage area and built a year supply for his family and his home teaching families. Definitely above and beyond.

Sounds to me something that Roper would do.

Roper · Senior Bucketkeeper

Bama--he wasn't asked to do it. He certainly didn't start out with the financial resources to do it. It took him a few years. He told nobody about it, not even the HT families. The only reason I know is because I'm good friends with his son. He simply said, "They're my stewardship so I'm going to take care of them."

Mahonri, his example made such a powerful impact on me that I'm working to get to the point where I'll be able to at least do 72-hour kits for my HT families. Still gotta finish the supply for my own family first.

arbilad · Head Chef

What I find interesting so far is that noone has yet responded to the poll saying that they have negligible food storage. Now, I know that about 5 years ago the head of the Aurora Cannery (that's the church cannery near Denver) spoke in my ward and mentioned that only about 16% of the church members in the area that cannery serves had any food storage whatsoever. So it's weird that so far 100% of the respondents to this poll have all or some of their year's supply. Either we have a bunch of especially faithful saints on Bountiful (which is what I like to think) or those who don't have any food storage are not responding to this poll.

Cocobeem · Keeper of the Holy Grail

Or they're overstating, in hopes of being there before the stuff hits the fan.

My family has a year's supply, thanks in large part to my dad's belief in a seven years' supply from when he joined the Church in the 60s.

I'm not sure about sharing... meaning I can't put exactly into words what I will or won't do in every circumstance that may come up. If I came across orphaned children and infants I think I'd have a strong "mothering" urge to share with them. Older women as well. Men, not so much.

alabamabelle · Senior Member

Roper wrote:

He simply said, "They're my stewardship so I'm going to take care of them."
Not to belabor the point, but if we go back to the 10 virgins as an archtype of preparedness, wasn't he actually NOT helping them?

If people were to discover that he had prepared FOR them, they would have no incentive to follow the commandment to prepare for themselves!

Good intentions aside, he might have better served them by teaching them, driving them to the cannery, helping them build shelves, etc.

But, since I wasn't there, he probably did all of the above and acted with a greater sense of urgency in their behalf.

dianoia · Senior Member

Arbi, I'm one of those who didn't respond to your poll who doesn't have a full year in right now.

The reason I didn't is because I don't have a full year (not yet, we used a bunch during DH's unemployment stint), I do believe in sharing.... and you kind of implied in your opening statement that I believe in sharing because I'm preparing to mooch.

To be honest, whenever this issue of sharing food storage has come up, I always envisioned myself on the giving end, sharing what I DID have with others. It never even occurred to me to ask others to share with me, and this idea of "pooling resources" is something I've never heard of before. (Although I had a major spiritual experience about the importance of pooling skills. I think I'll start a thread and share it.)

I recognize I'm in the minority on this board, but right now my stance is "I'll share unless I'm prompted NOT to."

Of course, this is all theoretical. Who knows how I will act when faced with the actual circumstance.

Cocobeem · Keeper of the Holy Grail

Good points, Bama.

Duke of Mirth · Profuse Pontificator

Short term emergency, probably yes. Long term catastrophy, not gonna share. I have a duty to my own family first.

Roper · Senior Bucketkeeper

Bama, I don't know the particulars. They're his stewardship, so he's entitled to the inspiration of how best to use his talents and resources to serve them.