Jesus’ Response to the Food Storage Warrior

Yesterday I posted “My Shotgun—My Food Storage.” If you need the back story of this post then you may want to read it. So, how might Jesus respond to the food storage warrior? I do not presume to speak the mind of God. However, there are many sayings and teachings of Jesus that we may draw upon to arrive at a coherent Christian response to a very common phenomenon among Latter-day Saint men and beyond. By the way, if I am excluding female food storage warriors please let me know. In general, I have not observed, anecdotally, women being anything more than surprised over the fantasy of boys and men to defend food storage with shotgun, rifle, handgun or some other weapon with lethal potential. In that light, consider the following teachings of Jesus (with a dash of Peter and Paul) that address this question from various angles.

*Matthew 5:42 “Give to him that asketh.”

*Matthew 7:12 “Therefore, whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye

even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”

*Matthew 10: 8 “Freely ye have received, freely give.”

*Matthew 25:35, 40 “I was hungered and ye gave me meat. . . . Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

*Mark 10:21 “Sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor.”

*Mark 12:44 “She of her want did cast in all that she had.”

*Luke 6:35 “lend, hoping for nothing.”

*Luke 6:38 “Give, and it shall be given unto you.”

*Luke 14:13 “When thou makest a feast, call the poor.”

*Acts “Such as I have give I thee.”

*2 Corinthians 9:7 God loveth a cheerful giver.”

*1 Timothy 6:18 “Be rich in good works, ready to distribute willingly.”

Of course, there are many more. As you see, this does not include a single citation from the Book of Mormon (i.e. King Benjamin), The Doctrine and Covenants (i.e. Consecration), The Pearl of Great Price (i.e. Enoch’s city of Zion), and the Old Testament (i.e. 1 Kings 17 Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath).

It appears to me that Christ’s answer to the food storage warrior is put down the gun, pick up the alms, and serve the poor and hungry with a cheerful heart. Anyone that tells you that Christianity is not a challenging faith is either very new or very ignorant. It demands a rise to counterintuitive action. Giving food to the poor in times of acute shortages likely fits into this realm of human experience.