If your city was destroyed and the ONLY place left for food/shelter was a Mormon building would you go?

I was thinking about this due to what is currently happening in the Philippines. Accepting help from TSCC would be very hard for me to do, but, on the other hand, I guess I would finally be getting something out all that tithing I paid them. I'm thinking that I would rather sleep on the streets than walk into a Mormon church again, unless it was for my children then I would if it was the ONLY place to go. So, would you?

Desperation makes moral stands irrelevant.

It is an issue for you because you have awareness. If you didn't know anything about TSCC other than it had its doors open as a shelter you'd be going in right away.

Oh absolutely anyone who's ever paid tithing should feel no hesitation to take shelter there. Maybe feel a little residual nausea over it, but there's nothing wrong with etting some shelter & safety & a return on one's investment.

*getting

Hell yeah! I'm surprised the doomsday preppers never talk about making mormon church buildings into their headquarters in a WROL situation. All they would need to bring is food and set up a strong perimeter. Not a bad idea, actually...

Years ago on a 5th Sunday combined priesthood/RS meeting we were given an organizational discussion about being prepared as a ward building to become a community shelter in event of an emergency.

He described what it would be like for the ward building to be transformed into a community shelter. He said that within capacity of the building, non-members (family of members, perhaps close friends too) would be welcome to share the shelter but that all would be expected to abide by church standards while sheltered there.

Fair enough, but I confess even in my TBM mind at the time my first thought was Slumber Party! Hookups! Lol

That's probably bullshit. When a hurricane threatened Haiti, the LDS church turned away non-members from using the building. When my son was on a mission in Quebec during the huge ice-storm, the only ones they let use the church during the power outages were the missionaries, who played non-stop basketball for days while the RS sisters were required to bring them breakfast, lunch, and dinner, when they themselves had to face utility shortages and drive on dangerous roads.

I have NEVER seen an LDS church open its doors for any kind of emergency.

+1...agreed.

Of course you would.

Lets see... Food and shelter vs minor discomfort at being in a "church" again, along with starving, potential illness and exposure to the elements... Why are you asking this again?

I mean, I get it, it's an LDS church, but is that really enough to keep you from safety? Especially if that the designated shelter for your area?

If you were an atheist and it were a catholic church, or any church for that matter, would you refuse? No probably not.

Shelter is shelter, food is food, there is no "moral stand" to take, it's just a building in that case.

Wow...I wasn't thinking about it from a moral stand point. I was just imagining my city being destroyed and having to return to my ward building. It would be very difficult. When my family left we told people that we didn't believe anymore due to church history/doctrine that we learned about it. It would be very hard to return looking for help from the religion and people that I walked away from. It would be difficult returning and living there after being shunned, judged and excessively talked about. That's all. Carry on. I'm enjoying reading everyones responses.

Nope.

Yea, I even would bunk with Bishops wife......

Of course I would. This has nothing to do with religious belief.

I served a mission in Cebu Philippines some years back, and we experienced a devastating typhoon then as well. A number of the locals (mostly non-Mormon) broke into the local Mormon church for shelter during the storm. The church was on slightly higher ground and strongly built with reinforced concrete -- much more secure than the local homes built of bamboo, coconut wood, and palm thatching. Nobody said a word about it to discourage anyone. When I arrived and found people inside, I gladly told the people there they were more than welcome to take shelter as needed. Desperate times call for desperate measures. This has nothing to do with religious belief -- merely the simple fact that concrete and steel are stronger than bamboo and coconut.

At the local mormon church building I've donated blood, played PAL basketball, attended school concerts, and attended both Boy and Girl Scout activities. So, not a problem. For a while, it was our community's best resource for public gatherings.

I do get a bit of a laugh during the blood donation time though.... the truck they park out front has a big ad/logo for a local casino. That would be an interesting use for the 'cultural' hall.

When was this? In the 1960s?

The local mormon church is still being used for a blood donation center, and as a voting location. As of a few years ago (this decade), a big catholic church was built, and the city built a rec center. So, better things came along, but those were recent enough that I attended those events as a wayward mormon. I would usually get dumb comments from mormons such as "glad to see you back in church again."

Of course. After all the money I paid in it only seems fair.

Yes. Would the church allow me, and other survivors to do so? History says no.

Absolutely. I'd actually probably feel much more comfortable taking help from them than from a charity or some other church, because I feel like the Morg owes me something for all the time and money they took from me!

It is screamingly obvious most or all of you have never been in a city that has been destroyed. Live through a major flood, hurricane, earthquake or tsunami, and you'd realize how silly the question is.

Me, hurricane and flood.

Your response is quit judgmental. I am the one who started this post and I have actually lived through two disasters. It wasn't as bad as the Philippines but both experiences were severe enough that help needed to spent and it was all over the national news.

Sure. Lots of opportunities for subtle sacrilege.

Nope. Too many bad memories.

Hell yeah! Church's all have basketball courts! That is one thing I really miss about it.

Sure. I'm a stakeholder.


Ana

Knowing what I know, I would find another bldg. if at all possible.

but helping people in need transcends all that BS. There is plenty wrong with Mormonism but I'll give them credit where due also. I'm glad they now allow their buildings to be used for those in need. At least all that tithing $$$ spent to build them is finally being used for something worthwhile.

Local LDS buildings do get used as a blood donation center and polling locations, so it's possible that they would also become emergency shelters. I happen to be in earthquake country, so if those buildings weren't retrofitted or built to current seismic codes, there's a chance some of those buildings might not be safe enough to use as emergency shelters. In my community, school gyms are more often used as emergency shelters as they're bigger.

NO

I would out of desperation, fear, or no other choice, but I'd be wary. And on guard.

And given my past experience with Mos, if I saw people bartering baptisms for food, I'd say or do something to help make that stop.

If we're talking about just some water, some food, and some temporary shelter, then yes.

In my city, one of the LDS ward buildings is a Red Cross designated hurricane shelter. They have to take nonmembers.

I would go, but only if they let me bring my dog. I do not abandon my dog in a natural disaster. Will not happen. Ever. I'd rather walk to Georgia (it's only 20 miles). Also, I would be keenly aware that it's not clean -- you know, the members are supposed to clean the place. So you know the restrooms are nasty. I would bring my own bleach wipes and toilet paper and other supplies because ew.

The good news is, there are many hurricane shelters in town and there is one only a couple blocks from my house and it DOES take pets. (Too many people were refusing to go to shelters without their animals a few years back, risking lives, so the shelters down here started changing policies.) It's highly unlikely that all of the shelters have been destroyed except for the one at the LDS ward. Even if that happened, the odds of getting in would be very low because then you're looking at a situation where one LDS ward house shelter is the only place to go for 200,000+ residents. I wouldn't even try to walk ten miles across town to get in, knowing it would be full of FSU students (that ward is on campus) and people who live on that side of town.

Honestly, depending on the damage and situation, I'd most likely either get the hell out of town in advance of a Cat. 3 or higher or pitch a tent in my backyard and camp out. The only reason I can think of that my city would be completely destroyed and nobody had a home to go to would be nuclear annhilation. Most natural disasters leave something behind.

Does anyone really think that the doors would be opened for the sake of humanity? Out of the goodness of the institutional soul?

It is a business.