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Christian values

Although I am not religious I am a firm believer in many Christian principles. I was brought up a Christian and was always encouraged by actions to treat others as I wished to be treated myself, to be charitable, not to kill or maim, steal, fold, spindle or mutilate. Simple rules that if everyone followed the world would be a much better place. In fact most religions seem to have the same basic ground rules except for islam, even the ones you would think would encourage bad things because of historical expectations.

It is therefore something I believe in strongly and despite not being religious I still believe in most of these simple basic rules.

  1. You shall have no other Gods but me
  2. You shall not make for yourself any idol, nor bow down to it or worship it
  3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God
  4. You shall remember and keep the Sabbath day holy
  5. Respect your father and mother
  6. You must not murder
  7. You must not commit adultery
  8. You must not steal
  9. You must not give false evidence against your neighbour
  10. You must not be envious of your neighbour’s goods. You shall not be envious of his house nor his wife, nor anything that belongs to your neighbour

Many of them are thought crimes and are only relevant in an advisory capacity. 1, 2 and 3 are that you have to show respect for God. Fair enough, everyone wants respect. If you don’t want to though, perhaps for religious reasons, then don’t.

No 4 is something that we want to follow. mainly because it gives us a day off. Most of us don’t go to church but we still want our lie in on a Sunday followed by a day of not working and doing what we want. I don’t know about you but I think everything seems so much more hectic since the shops were open 7 days a week. Although obviously this depends on your personal circumstances.

5 to 9 however are the basis of a civilised society. Basic stuff and if everyone followed these simple rules then the world would be a much different place. Unfortunately, people do not and we pay for this despite many of them being the basis for some of our fundamental laws.

No 10 is just good advice in general. Following that one will make you less envious, less stressed and therefore less likely to break any of the main ones which can only be good for society.

But, it is more than just those. There were associated morals within my upbringing. You helped people where you could, you didn’t judge people on how they looked, you judged them on their words and their actions. You accepted people were different and being different did not mean you could treat people differently. You were polite, and women and elders were treated with deference. You were admonished for minor transactions while serious transactions resulted in a more suitable punishment. People were not persecuted for selfish reasons. All in all, people were more charitable, moral and honourable all round. We actually felt bad if we did something bad.

Fast forward to today. We covet other peoples belongings, so much so that we have laws that actually allow us to steal from them, of course it is not called stealing, silly me, they can also steal money to give away to others and call it charity. Charity is no longer voluntary and you are selfish and inconsiderate if you object because you are now short of the basics in life. The beauty of charities was that you give your resource to the charity you liked the best. When politicians do it then it is the ones they like the best, that usually means you don’t. Look at ASH for example. I have other charities I would fund before one like this. In fact there is probably one on slugs I would prefer rather than these prodnoses and dozens of others like them.

Real charity and morals are still required now and will be after an event. However, to us this is not going to be to many of the thousands of charities currently in receipt of our money. It is going to be to things that are more immediate, local issues. Even in the giving of charity we will be more selfish about it. It will be targeted and it will be meaningful to us as individuals. So we may help feed the person just down the road or help them get back on to their feet but we are less likely to be so charitable to strangers for anything long term.

The phrase charity begins at home will be much more applicable. We will be more inclined to help ourselves first, followed by family, then friends and neighbours and finally strangers.

Of course it is necessary for us to have basic decency and compassion for others built into our psyche. Most of us have that still but I’m not convinced that in a survival situation we would be willing to actually show that to people who could take advantage of it. Taking in a stranger is a risk and when laws are worthless it is folly to automatically assume that they will reciprocate that trust. This does not mean you should not show charity it just means that you have to be careful if you do.

If you treat others as you wish to be treated, show compassion and charity where necessary then at the minimum you will feel good about yourself. What is more likely to happen though is that your generosity will be returned and you never know if at some point in the future you may through misfortune be needing help yourself. People remember people many things. How they treat others is one of the big ones.

You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.

I was told that a long time ago and it is so true. Watch next time you are out and about.

Once you have prepared your food supplies all you can then put in some extra for others. When you have put aside all the livestock you can then consider putting some away for others.

Remember though, you and yours are your priority. Make sure you are covered first. Charity begins at home.

17 comments to Christian values

  • Skean Dhude

    Just out of curiosity I looked and guess what, there are two charities in the UK that look after slugs.

    1. Conchological Society of Great Britain & Ireland
    2. The Malacological Society of London

    You can’t say you don’t learn anything on this site. 🙂

  • Silent Storm

    I’m not sure I can follow number 10. Have you seen my neighbours wife?? Wow, she’s amazing and he’s an idiot.

    How can you not be religious but believe and stand by the principles of a religion, one that has probably done more damage world wide than any other?

    When TSHTF 1,2 and 3 can kiss my ass

  • moosedog

    Do not “fold, spindle or mutilate”: were you also brought up on the works of Charles M. Schulz by any chance? That’s one of the lines I still remember and laugh at many years later. The man was a genius.

    I don’t quite follow the part about laws enabling us to steal other peoples belongings: can you enlighten me please?

  • Skean Dhude

    Silent Storm,

    It is tough but it saves people from having multiple puncture wounds.

    I’m not religious and it is correct about the damage done over the centuries but no matter what the source there is still some good advice there. The basis of our society.

    Moosedog,

    Not exactly but when I think of lists of don’ts that springs to mind every time. I can remember forms with that printed on and have no doubt somewhere in our government there are still forms with it printed on.

    The last part is where a government can take what they want from a person because they have made a law enabling it. For example;
    If Plod comes into your house and finds a large amount of cash they can take it and you have to prove where it came from.
    Plod went into a safety deposit facility, openned all the boxes and took all the items. You have to claim it back and prove where you got it from.
    Gordo was looking at raiding your dormant bank accounts and taking the money. Open an account don’t use it for 10 years and it is theirs. Cameron is looking at this as well.
    In 1997 they took everyones hand guns and paid them what they had decided. Regardless of the value of the weapon. No options.
    They can compulsory purchase your home because someone decides they want to build something there. No choice and you get what they decided is the value.
    There are many more.

  • moosedog

    Thank you Skean, I see what you mean now. Agreed, the government do exactly what they want.

  • Ellen

    Silent Storm
    The problem with this world is not God, it is man.
    You will probably have to wait an eternity + for 1,2&3 to oblige you.

    Skean
    As the world has lost faith they can no longer see the benefit of following rules of anykind.
    Therefore there are no rules to follow.
    Charity does begin at home, then you help others. That seems to be a very good rule.
    The governments will do what they can do, because they know they can.

  • Skean Dhude

    Ellen,

    As the world has lost faith they can no longer see the benefit of following rules of anykind.

    That is true but it matters little if we are to enforce the laws. Someone may decide they want to steal but when they are spending 6 months inside that alone protects us.

  • fred

    N4 – it’s essential for me. The only thing I allow is a friend to visit in the afternoon but the rest is just rest. And more rest. Without Sunday, I’d be a gibbering idiot. Wait a minute, come to think of it …

  • Skean Dhude

    Fred,

    Got to put aside some time for yourself. Saturday is my day for spending with the family. Sundays are busy in other ways.

  • Skvez

    Silent Storm,

    Religion is actually responsible for very few conflicts across the world. Greedy people use religion as an excuse to go war mongering because it’s easier to get the weak minded to agree with them over a perceived religions ‘need’ than just attacking someone for their stuff. Lets look close to home for an example. The press sells more papers if they claim that the conflict in Northern Ireland was/is religious but it’s not it’s political.
    Probably the only true damage that religion has does has been the spread of diseases by missionaries that we consider minor but devastate populations whose immune systems are unfamiliar with them.

  • Brian

    The problem being ignored when we are guided to blindly follow all the commandments is that they were developed to direct the masses to “go forth and multiply”. And that has now resulted in the fundamental problem we and world are facing – overpopulation. Almost all, if not all of our social breakdown and global problems, including the financial crisis can be traced back to the simple fact of too many people fighting for a piece of the cake. The cake is getting smaller and the hands grabbing for it are dramatically increasing.
    We are brainwashed into artificially supporting distant populations in locations unable to support life at a fraction of the population level already existing there.
    We strive to further improve medical knowledge with the goal of preserving life and improving reproduction capability whilst adding to the masses as a result.
    We pursue technical advancement with the objective of greater efficiency and therefore reduced labour needs, hence increasing numbers with nothing productive to do.
    In short the natural ways that population was self-regulated have been undermined by blindly following the old rules.
    Now I’m not a tree-hugger and I don’t advocate throwing penicillin in the bin or exterminating the great unwashed but common sense has been lost along the way somewhere.
    For myself, I’m prepping and my family will be first in the pecking order when TSHTF, I’m not as far advanced as some of you guys but at least our heads are not in the sand.

  • Skean Dhude

    Brian,

    That one isn’t in my list.

    After an event there will be a massive depopulation which could easily lead to the demise of our species. I don’t see it being an issue then and in fact it is propably going to be a good thing then.

    As far as today goes. I agree with you. Most of the planet cannot sustain the levels of population they have and starve to death helped by efforts such a live aid and our global feel good aid industry.

    Couple that with the socialist attitude in the west where we actually encourage people to breed to gain more benefits and we have massively upset the natural order of our species.

    As you can see I blame more on politics than the ‘go forth and multiply’ crowd.

    I’ve with you as far as that goes but my point about morals and ethics still stands. Most of our heads are not in the sand but held to the ground by a government jack boot. We can see what is going on fine.

  • Brian

    Skean,
    I generally agree – I was tracing the root of the problem to overpopulation.
    One thing to consider though is that a SHTF event may not result in an overnight depopulation, in some scenarios depopulation may take days, weeks or even months – this would likely be a period of complete breakdown of the structure of society and law and order. This is the first and immediate threat I see, followed by the sustainability of whatever we have been able to set-up.
    Prepping for bug-out or stay in-and-low is critical to any chance of making it through to stage 2 – sustainability.

  • iaaems

    As far as I am concerned it is necessary for any society to have a set of guidelines and in my view Numbers 1-10 were just that as far as my generation are concerned. If you add in “treat other people as you would wish to be treated” as well for a general purpose coverall attitude then you have the makings for what could be a civilised society. You do not have to be religious as well – that is a personal option. The main problem with the world is the increasing population of bi-pedal hominids – us – who have adopted a consumerist attitude to just about everything. So when you have consumed everything – what next? We need some common sense guidance on the overpopulation of our whirling ball rather urgently. I appreciate that it is not all that simple – but we have to start somewhere.

  • Skean Dhude

    Brian,

    You could trace our roots back to many things. Overpopulation is just one of them.

    After an event I expect people to be still struggling over a year later, depending on what time of year it happens. You are right it won’t be overnight unless it is a ateroid strike or something.

    I agree but if you have an option bugging out is the way of choice. Staying in has many issues as the riots have just shown us.

    Iaaems,

    I agree with the rules part but I think the problem we have with overpopulation is a lot more complex than simple numbers. There are many factors which we need to consider.

  • Skvez

    Skean,

    Ideally you are already somewhere with low population density and can bug-in there.
    Bugging out is 2nd *if you have somewhere to go to*.
    Bugging in, in a moderate density location could still prove to be a much better idea than bugging out to the woods somewhere with just a small amount of resources.
    People overestimate how ‘good’ bugging out is because they overlook how awful it will be once they’ve used up what they could carry.

  • Skean Dhude

    Skvez,

    You are correct. I worded that poorly. I meant bugging out of built up areas. Obviously if you are in a rural area or a lightly populated area then bugging in is best. In a housing estate in a city then bug out.

    I prefer to stay in myself and am planning for that but I don’t live in a high density area. I’m also looking for a rural home but awaiting some employment first before I look at locations.