What are you preparing for?

[Brosia]

pardon the grammar


just trying to get a feel for everyone.... for what are you preparing?  Do you expect a break down of the economic structure (as if it's not already broken ...)?  Do you expect an environmental cataclysm (hurricane, polar shift, etc)?  Are your reasons spiritual or religious in nature (the Rapture,etc)?

And, how close to prepared do you feel you are? Is this something you've practiced your whole life, are you new to the whole survivalist idea? How did you get started?

I look forward to getting to know you all

[offdalip]

I relearned pretty late what was going to happen , what they taught us in public schools in the 70's ( which they don't anymore ). And that is, that the world will run out of oil.
It took me awhile to research it and put together the ramifications of it all. At first I thought it would be a relatively slow event to play out over 10-20 years or so. Then the financial
stuff started to happen and I researched pretty well into that as well. The upshot is that the financial crisis, while delaying the time when the earth is completely out of oil, paradoxically, will
shorten the time when we are all thrown into a world of less energy and much strife. Maybe 3-5 years or so now. Deflation/ depression followed by inflation/ hyperinflation then maybe default on the currency system , I dunno. Hopefully I'm wrong. I'm starting with the basics, solar panels, battery systems, control systems, led lighting, water handling purification delivery, hydroponics, raising catching animals, knowledge preservation e-books, tools. After the basics are covered I'll move on down my list. yes I even thought about night vision equipment, security and guns but I haven't got that far yet

[opsec]

I'm operating on the theory that the more self sufficient you are, the less of a victim you are. Victim of what? Anything...people, circumstance, government, you name it. If you think about it, self-sufficiency is just another form of wealth preservation. I stockpile food, ammo, clothes...etc. for the same reason that everybody else stockpiles money in their bank.

[Atash Hagmahani]

Offdalip has captured the essence of the two big threats. There are others, and they are all somewhat related.

For example, as the government keeps growing, ironically it becomes ever more over-stretched, and therefor can not respond to natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes. You are on your own, as several people on this board have already witnessed first-hand.

Are your reasons spiritual or religious in nature (the Rapture,etc)?

Where does the word, or concept, "Rapture" occur in the Bible? If it's not Biblical in origin, where DOES it come from?  

[Alaskan]

  We prepare for all the above, except the rapture. Not christian.
 We live in area where one good winter storm can close our only road down for a very long time.
 Have seen this befor and the grocery stores get cleaned out in short order.
 The economy is scarey to say the least and a new "fearless leader" come January. Unless Geo W. declares a state of emergency and stays in the White House.
 So there's a few reasons I prep..............Alaskan

[hancocs]

I prepare becuase I just think it is common sense. No matter who you are or where you live you should be prepared for emergency's. I do prayer for the best and prepare for the wosrt. Rapture is not found in the Bible just like the  wordTrinity is not found but implied. God the Father, Son and Holy ghost. Rapture is a discriptive word for the second coming of Christ and you can find that all over the Bible from Old to New testament. Iam Christian and not ashamed to stand for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Are we getting near his return and seeing the birth pains of that...Maybe. But also the Bible tells us "No man knows the day or hour of his return" I don't mean to preach here or offend anybody.

[Dame]

While Rome was in decline the powerful elite entertained the masses and set the tax rate at whatever they decided they needed for themselves plus enough for the system to get it.  Tax collectors were appointed, and then became hereditary positions with the death penalty for resignation or failure to meet the set quota.  Rates and means of collection were irrellevant as well as source.  Some of the written information that survived talks of the loss of Roman Law as the single greatest loss when the whole system finally collapsed.  I doubt it took much from the invaders to make it tumble. 

The masses blamed the educated whom they saw as the elite, so they burned all the books.  The Church, the official state religion at the time, achieved a monopoly on literacy and the educated took the books they could carry and emigrated to Ireland.  Literacy returned to continental Europe at the invitation of Charlamaine nearly a thousand years latter.

Preparing for the survival of persons, knowledge and skills should they become overtly at risk again. 

Land base, tools, skills, storage facility, food, clothing, the required essentials to allow a small group to make the transition to rudimentry self-sufficiency. 

[opsec]

Interesting you should mention that. I have a sort of private knowledge bank that I am preparing myself. I have obtained several books on mathematics, physics, science, economics (Austrian school) and political science that I keep inside a large military ammo box. The box is steel with a waterproof seal and camming lid. These can be buried in the ground for years at a time. That's just my small contribution to the continuity of free society after the dust settles from the collapse.

[Atash Hagmahani]

I am taking my personal library with me wherever I end up, regardless of cost of transport. Some things are not replaceable.

While Rome was in decline the powerful elite entertained the masses and set the tax rate at whatever they decided they needed for themselves plus enough for the system to get it.  Tax collectors were appointed, and then became hereditary positions with the death penalty for resignation or failure to meet the set quota.  Rates and means of collection were irrellevant as well as source.

The Roman Empire collapsed into hyperinflation. Early Denarius'es (the half-denarius is the biblical "Shekel") was 90% silver. Late ones are almost pure lead. The Roman emperors even tried "wage and price controls", resulting, predictably, in shortages, just like they did later.

Because the tax system wasn't very well-organized, it was often possible to escape taxes by fleeing from one province where they were soon going to have a tax levied, to one that had just had one. This resulted in a fairly large amount of movement from province to province, by impoverished citizens fleeing the prospect of being made an example of, for not being able to afford their taxes. They would flee on foot, walking huge distances, broke.

The taxation was so bad, that there are records of people in outlying areas cheering on the invading Vandals, because they didn't impose as heavy taxes.

Rapture is a discriptive word for the second coming of Christ and you can find that all over the Bible from Old to New testament.

Actually I personally can't. I've never found any such thing. Please cite (book, chapter, verses). One example from Old and one from New Testament would be good. Please include the version of the Bible you refer to, which might account for the discrepancy. Thanks.

Iam Christian and not ashamed to stand for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Good, we like people to have the courage of their convictions. However you're welcome to reply offline (see the personal reply feature) if you like, which might make sense so as to keep this thread more focused.

Are we getting near his return and seeing the birth pains of that...Maybe. But also the Bible tells us "No man knows the day or hour of his return"

Maybe that is so that you will always live every day of your life as if He might come back tomorrow.

I don't mean to preach here or offend anybody.

Not offended, and I'm the website owner, so my opinion counts. I have a under-used, private, non-sectarian forum for those kinds of discussions, but I'll have to give some thought as to how to put it to good (godly?) use. 

[darkdwarf]

"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."--John Lennon
About the only thing I am not prepaired for is everything to go according to my plan. My personal worst case senerio is  having traveled far away from my home with friends for an evening out when the SHTF. How can I get back to my stuff with only myself, my wits, and wearing nothing but evening out clothes?

[Malone Laveigh]

I'm operating on the theory that the more self sufficient you are, the less of a victim you are. Victim of what? Anything...people, circumstance, government, you name it. If you think about it, self-sufficiency is just another form of wealth preservation. I stockpile food, ammo, clothes...etc. for the same reason that everybody else stockpiles money in their bank.

This my reasoning in nutshell as well.  You know, it's rather humorous that people don't think twice about purchasing car, home, health, life insurance, but when it comes to the ability to be able to truly care for their loved ones in an emergency, the majority of people seem to want to allocate that responsibility to a Government entity.   

Preparing my loved ones to be self-sufficient is life insurance, teaching my loved ones to defend themselves is home insurance IMO.  While monaterily protecting ones assets is important, I consider an FRN replacement value much lower on my list of priorities.


Malone