Surviving the last days, will you be stockpiling for the end of the world?

I take it that you don't believe in the Rapture then.

 

I honestly don't know which finale it will be. Never really tried to figure it out either.

 

Since I don't adhere to a left behind scenario, no hoarding.

 

How would you classify the Left Behind series? As far as End Times view?

 

Based on my post in the last days thread?

 

Yes.

 

Left Behind is a brand of futurist interpretation called premillennial dispensationalism. It's the Dallas Theological Seminary, Master's Seminary, Calvary Chapel view. Not every detail would be agreed upon, but the main points would.

 

I guess a lot depends on just how you think the end days will happen.

If you believe in a pre-tribulation rapture where all the Christians are whisked out of harm's way and those who don't believe face the tribulation then there's no need to stockpile because you won't be here.
If you believe in a "reverse rapture" (it's a curious idea, whereby the Christians are the ones left and the non-Christians are taken) then there may be some value.
If you believe in a mid-trib or post-trib rapture then there may be some value in maintaining some kind of stockpile, but the decision to create a stockpile raises a whole host of other questions.

Firstly, how large a stockpile are you talking? If you're trying to sustain a family of four for 1,260 days then the water requirement alone will be huge. If you assume four pints to drink and another two pints for cooking/cleaning etc (given that you can wash your body with water that isn't necessarily clean enough to drink), per person per day, then you've got 6x4x1260 = 30,240 pints, which weighs about 14 tons. Where are you going to keep 14 tons of water, such that you can access it daily but other people can't steal it? If you're expecting to rehydrate dried foods then you'll need even more. And that assumes you'll sit in your fortress watching people outside literally dying of thirst and not sharing your supply with them. Then comes food. A stockpile big enough to last four people 1,260 days is also going to be huge. Again let's say the family of four taking two meals per day you've now got 4x2x1260 = 10,080 meals. If a meal weighs a little under a pound you've got another four tons or so of food. Your 30,000-odd pints of water will take up about 15 cubic yards while 10,000-odd meals (assuming one meal is as small as 24 cubic inches) takes up another 5 cubic yards. So you're talking 20 cubic yards of storage, assuming you're going to sit and watch people die all around you because they have nothing. And this is all for four people. If you want to provide for friends as well, how many friends? If you want to provide for another family of four you now need 28 tons of water and your total storage requirements are going to run to some 40 cubic yards. Very roughly that means you're filling a 12x15' room to a depth of six feet.

Of course if you have food and the hungry masses don't they're going to find a way to take it from you. Do you have a fortified home, and are you well stocked with enough ammunition to repel unknown numbers of desperate people who will literally do whatever it takes to steal your food, on the basis they have nothing to lose? Are you willing to stand guard and literally gun people down when all they want is the food and water they need to simply go on living?

If you've taken the time to prepare such a huge stockpile and for some reason have to flee, all that work was for nothing. If you get overrun by the hungry masses your stockpile is now theirs, unless you've got a way to retake your home. And once they are entrenched with enough food and water to survive, they aren't going to give up without a fight.

In all honesty, if we are to live through the Tribulation I suspect we're going to have to lean very heavily on God the way the Israelites did during the exodus. If God could provide manna then he can provide manna now. If God could provide food for Isaiah then he can do it now. If God could make a handful of flour and a little olive oil last for days for Elijah he can do it now. To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if the world comes to hate the church because we are apparently doing OK (thanks to divine provision) and so they assume we have resources and refuse to share them. What better way for the beast to turn his people against us than to point out that we live while they starve, so they should turn in the selfish hoarders?

 

Wow. That's not a situation i care to be in. Especially since preparation isn't really a feasible option.

 

I keep my 14 tons of water stockpiled in the river that runs by the house.

 

Or the whole tribulation is a wild speculation and in reality Jesus just comes back when we least expect it and it's all over.

 

You mean, "like a thief in the night?"

 

The only thing I have in common with Thief In The Night and premillennial dispensationalism is the unannounced imminence.

 

Ditto that.