by notsurewheretogo 18 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
My still-in wife has asked we prepare a "go-bag" with all the stuff we need in case of a natural disaster....we live in a country where there is none!
But when I asked where this all came from she mentioned hurricanes etc but again we live in an area where they can never be things like this.
Thus I suspect this is a society based instruction...can anyone enlighten me?
Are the society advising dubs to be doom preppers????
They have been advising a "go-bag" for the past 7 or 8 years.
It is an (as usual) too-late reaction to Hurrican Katrina in the US. When that happened, thousands of JWs were relocated to other states, sometimes hundreds of miles away, and they were ill-prepared for it.
Not to mention that congregation activities were disrupted. Imagine, there were dozens of congregations that did not submit their field service reports on time! The horror!
And further not to mention, it was the perfect opportunity for "faders" to completely disappear off the radar screen of their congregations.
To avoid such mishaps in the future, the WTS now requires each congregation to have a "diaster plan". Part of that plan is to encourage every family to have a "go bag", containing food, water, medicine, etc. for several days. The idea is that in case of some sort of emergency requiring evacuation, the JWs just grab the "go bag" and jump in their car and go.
This "disaster plan" is ostensibly for the good of the congregation members. And of course it is rather a good idea for those who live in high-risk areas to prepare for emergencies, part of which preparation should be such a "go bag".
But given the WTS' history, as I intimated above, the "congregation disaster plan" appears to be primarily a way for the congrgation to still remain under the autonomy of the WTS branch.
Having a "go bag" is actually not a bad idea. And WTBTS isn't the first to come up with it. A lot of what they recommend comes from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). Even if you have no natural disasters, think of ones you might have that are unnatural, like a house fire, or just having no electricity for some time due to a storm. This simply provides basic necessities for a few days... food, water, change of clothes.
business blows up in the area, evacuation
train runs off track with chemicals, evacuation
Don't demean having plans in case of evacuation just because you heard it from your jw spouse...
Not decrying the value of being prepared for some kind of unusual situation but anyone who was around when the announcement was made will recall the speculation it sparked on if the bags were there for when Armageddon hits and how close it must be now. This might have been unintended from the WTS but I doubt they minded.
If she is using the actual term "go-bag" she probably wants to feel like she is following "The Slaves" direction and also let's her be able to say yes that she has a go-bag prepared when the subject comes up.
You can have a go bag...or just hang out at Mcdonalds for awhile....or at my local bar.
I was having tea with a couple of 85+ JWs a few years ago who were comparing their Armageddon "Go Bags". Neither one was able to climb stairs to leave the home.
I was having tea with a couple of 85+ JWs a few years ago who were comparing their Armageddon "Go Bags". Neither one was able to climb stairs to leave the home.
