Prodigal Son

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any tips for prepping?

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Tons of “great advice” about this to be found these days. It’s quite an impressive and thriving industry/economy.

The prepping industry was valued at USD 14.1 billion in 2025 and is expected to reach USD 26.7 billion by 2032, growing at a rate of 9.5% annually. This growth is driven by increasing consumer demand for emergency preparedness products due to… the fear-driven economy we have lived in since Y2K.

Wow. The industry is going to nearly double in 7 years. I know a lot of it is due to sensible people planning for weather emergencies and such, but that’s not what you’re here for, is it? I admit- I got sucked into it for a while. No regrets- the only thing I bought that I don’t regularly use (but definitely will) is the food supply. Everyone in the gulf coast should have a plan and supplies for hurricane season. If you are an avid outdoorsman, you probably have most of what you’d need. If you’re not, you probably won’t make it very far anyway.

Doomsday prepping is is one of two things (to me): a defend the fort strategy, or a never ending camping trip in a hostile environment.

How defensible is your fort? Have enough guns and ammo for how long? Are you prepared to kill people? If you live in a neighborhood, like me, you have near zero chance of long term survival. There are more entry points than you can likely cover at once, and certainly more than you can monitor 24/7. Not to mention how easily a house can be destroyed, or a wall breached. I don’t have any problem with any of my neighbors, but none of our children are starving right now either and we all have jobs and things to do. I’d like to think none of them would kill me for a taco but I don’t want to find out the hard way that I was wrong.



Then there’s the camping trip. Where are you going? Have you considered multiple locations and routes depending on multiple scenarios? Are you alone? How much can you carry? Certainly less than you will need. How will you acquire the things you need? Are you capable and willing? Everyone underestimates how hard it is to feed yourself, consistently and sufficiently, without the luxuries of civilization.

Not alone? How many, how trustworthy, and can they carry their load plus? In what ways are each of them strong and weak? Who’s going to lead this group? What is your constitution, so to speak?

There’s safety in numbers- but more numbers means more visible, and you will inevitably meet opposition of more/stronger numbers. Like minded people who survive the first wave will coalesce in a world with no law. Who do you think that favors?

Most importantly, are you mentally and spiritually prepared to live your everyday life in a war torn apocalypse? Constant REAL FEAR. The only relief is your early death. Starvation, rape, murder, theft, deception all around. Everyone is a potential threat. Even a child becomes bait for a trap. Are you ready to see the absolute worst of humanity? Are you willing to engage in these actions to squeeze another year (if you’re extremely lucky) out of life? Then what? Would it be worth it?




You need to answer these questions (and many more) before you go spending a bunch of money. If you start making a plan, your needs will be evident. Otherwise you’ll just be donating to someone else’s cause. If there is a SHTF event, you will need answers to these questions as well as the plan and supplies in place prior to.

That said, we all should have some level of emergency preparedness. From weather to riots, we all have need for it. I’m as pro-gun, pro-self defense and pro-get the bad guy as anyone. But the best thing we all can do to prepare for this doomsday scenario or the inevitable event of our own deaths otherwise is to

Her calling anyone racist is peak irony

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You don't see ANYONE in China complaining about data centers or AI.

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:lol:

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Warrior Court

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There are actual, real, fixable problems in this world. Do better.

M’kayyyyy

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The topic was theoretical astrophysics

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I didn’t know that. I jumped in on your comment about infinite regress and the concept of God being logically absurd. I didn’t read any of your prior conversation about theoretical astrophysics in this thread about conservative values and religion :lol: I am most certainly not going to argue theoretical astrophysics with you. :lol:

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So your argument is the clay deeply understands the potter?

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More like “My sheep know my voice.”

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A uncaused, immortal, timeless, immaterial, all powerful, all knowing, omnipresent, infallible, perfectly just and loving, etc., etc., etc. being is all of a sudden highly understandable and perfectly intuitable.

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Think less scientific and more Father/child.

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Just don't ask why he knits children together in their mothers wombs with terminal cancer, because then, all of a sudden, we're back God being so mysterious and beyond our comprehension.

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Perspective is everything. Mine, regarding God, is that of a child. I just trust Him. Where we disagree- I’m the problem. Regarding life- this is not the only one. That’s the oversimplified version. That perspective allows me to see things that someone who doesn’t understand that perspective couldn’t understand. For instance, I see all of the things you mentioned (and much worse) as terribly upsetting as you do. But I have hope. I have comfort. I have peace. Those things are real. It works.

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Christian apologetics is one hell of a drug.

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I get it. Hey, maybe you should check out some Muslim apologetics? Might give you a different perspective. :lol: :cheers:

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Choice

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Who’s?

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You accept the world as it is presented to you.

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While I agree with the statement, it doesn’t answer the question.

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Because you caught you.

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That doesn’t answer the question either.

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Because you know.

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Again, that doesn’t answer the question.

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Your effect on other people.

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An effect is the result of the action (or inaction). It informs us - it does not determine the morality of the action.

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If you want to go deeper then it's a matter of what you really are. It's really the transition that people fear.

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I’d love to.

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I'm not sure what you mean exactly. Are you asking where free will comes from? Not sure what self-made means either. Would you like me to explain the father-son relationship?

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:lol: That won’t be necessary.

I assumed you were an atheist. I apologize. You’re clearly a heretic! :rotflmao:

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Knowledge of things beyond our perception is understanding

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Kamala? Is that you? :lol:

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The best way I know to explain it is with math. Where you have the actual understanding of math itself, and then the expression of it. The understanding is universal and the expression is unique to the culture.

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But some other culture can express the same thing just with other symbols, stories or whatever

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Are you saying that God is the thing to be understood, and that Christianity and Islam are but two of many ways to express that understanding?

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And that's where things go wrong. Like when people claim only Jesus and so forth

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Jesus claims that. His words- not mine. I’m just spreading that word. Your problem is with Jesus, not me.

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Jesus is an expression, like the 1+1=2. It's a true thing, but it's not the only true expression. When Jesus talks about "only through him" he's talking about the things he represents.

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I was taught to never focus on the symbols, focus on the understanding behind them. Never once was the name Jesus ever mentioned to me, no names at all. The name "Holy spirit" was never once mentioned to me. However, I do see the understanding behind it. I did in fact meet what you would call the "Holy Spirit", and that was followed by the sudden gaining of understanding I speak of.

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Do you have any support for this besides your “visions?” :lol:

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So these claims of blood salvation, sacrifice and so forth are ridiculous to me.

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Now this I believe. You’ve got a decent troll going (6/10), but that came straight from your heart.

In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he wrote: “ But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”

Checks out.

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Would you like to know how forgiveness really works?

You have to follow the way.

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False. You have to accept it. Forgiveness is received- not earned. You’re not “saved” by anything you do/done/doing/will do/thought about doing. You’re saved by accepting forgiveness.

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It's not like I just outright reject scripture, I reject things that distort and misled people.

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Your entire post is a rejection of scripture. :lol:

People mislead people (and themselves)- not scripture. Blaming scripture is like blaming guns for murder.

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The protagonist in that literature finds a way to act from an atheist standpoint, but acts in perfect alignment with Religious values.

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Gee, I wonder why that is? :lol:

No need to choose. They have chosen each other- as comrades against Christ.
Once the Christians are few enough in number, Islam will fill the void. Then they will kill the gays.

Islamic Jihad- episode #54:
“America- the final frontier “

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At the end of the day it seems we're either stuck with an infinite regress or we have an uncaused first cause. And, unfortunately, both sound logically absurd.

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Pardon the interruption, but how is the uncaused first cause logically absurd? To the contrary, it’s the only logical conclusion.