Although I have an extremely knowledgable friend who regularly reports to me about Y2K issues and information, my husband remains unconvinced to the true serious nature of Y2K. He feels that at most, a few computers may go down temporarily ( a minor inconvenience). My friend and her husband are busily spending every weekend shopping for generators and stockpiling food. And they appear, by all accounts, to be fairly rational and intelligent people. Which of these approaches is closer to the truth? Can anyone give me more information that could persuade my husband to take this situation a little more seriously? Thanks.

-- Tom O (todo@mtaonline.net), July 30, 1998

Answers

This is precisely the problem. No one is sure what all the ramifications of Y2K are. The general public is barely aware of the issues and don't know that a debate is taking place. I just recently found out that people are actually preparing with generators and supplies, etc. That scares me. I still don't believe the doomsayers, but I am actively researching this issue because I want to be sure.

Buddy Y. from DC

-- Buddy Y. (buddy@bellatlantic.net), July 30, 1998.

Tom O...

The key to Y2K is reading reliable information about it...and reading a lot of it...

Everyone on this forum and anyone else who deals with Y2K goes through various stages of denial until they finally arrive at the "spend money" stage. It can be a long and bumpy ride to get there.

You'll never convince your husband; he must convince himself. There is an astounding amount of information on the net, but for convenience sake I would start with Gary North's page because it is organized by category. You can find it at http://www.garynorth.com Wade through his rhetoric and read the articles.

You can go to my site at http://www.lifetel.com/y2k2000.htm and find hundreds of links to the best sites on the web.

Blessings!

-Pastor Chris

-- Pastor Chris (pastorchris@lifetel.com), July 30, 1998.

Yes, the problem is that no one knows for certain. Even the most optimistic acknowledge that there may be a 'bump in the road.' The most pessimistic call it The End of the World As We Know It (TEOTWAWKI).

Each of us have to make up our own mind about how severe the problem will be. Some other good sites to check are:

http://www.year2000.com/y2karticles.html ---- Peter de Jager's site has daily newspaper articles.

http://www.y2kwomen.com/ --- Karen Anderson's site for women, includes advice on unconvinced husbands, as well as simply getting the Y2K story from the woman's viewpoint. This might be a good place for Tom O to start.

There are some fairly rational and intelligent people who have been preparing for a long time. There are also some who flatly refuse to see a problem.......as I said, each one of us must be responsible for what we do with the knowledge we are given. Each must make up our own minds.

If you decide that you are better off preparing for something that may not happen than not preparing for a disaster that may happen, I would suggest going to:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/8948/Y2K.html

From there you have a choice of preparedness sites, and go to:

http://www.y2knightmare.com/forums.html

which is Gary Norths forums on individual aspects of preparedness, including forums on power generation, food storage, non-hybrid gardening, etc.

Such a lot to learn, such a short time to learn it in. I wish you very good luck.

rocky

-- Rocky Knolls (rknolls@hotmail.com), July 30, 1998.

Each day YAHOO prints currrent and recent major(?) newspaper articles;I cant tell you how to get there from here but I can "send" the site e-mail. The evidence is piling up.

-- Arthur Rambo (buriedtreasure@webtv.net), July 30, 1998.

Whatever you do, be careful not to freak out your spouse. I would end up yelling at my wife in my frustrated inability to get my urgent need to leave the big city (Sydney, Australia). So we ended up selling the house and separating. Now she's got the kids and I am in no position to help them at all unless I can persuade them to come to the safe(r) place I am moving to, up country. My wife and her family still think I am crazy. Good luck to you and anyone else. Don't make the same mistakes I did.

-- David Harvey (vk2dmh@hotmail.com), July 31, 1998.

Like David, my wife won't move, or take any "drastic action". She admits things could get rough, but seem to prefer to suffer/die with the masses - IF it comes to that (which she doubts). I decided to risk dying and stay with her & the two (young) kids. It it really gets rough, since we are on the outer-ring of the sub-burbs, we can run (drive), but with no-place to go that won't be much help.

I'll stock-up on enought stuff for a few months, but being so close to D.C., if it really is TEOTWAWKI, I'll probably be gone in a (nuclear) flash! It's hard to imagine what Russia & other nuclear powers will do if their economic conditions grow worse the pre-WW2 Germany...

-- Anonymous (Anonymous@anonymous.com), July 31, 1998.

Tom O, Take a little time and do this: contact ALL your utility companies (heat, light, water, phone) as well as your insurance company (home and auto), your bank, your postal service, your auto mechanic, and wherever you do business. Send each an Email, expressing your current understanding of the Y2K (probable) debacle, and ask for a return statement as to what they are doing, if they are Y2K compliant, or expect to be. I have done so, and received answers from most. It does not look very hopeful. On this website, on the first page, you can scroll to chapter 10 of Ed's book. Click on there and you will find a listing of all the States, but Oregon. (I don't know why it isn't there!) Click on your state and you may find addresses to use. I found help there for my state: Washington. Ed has truly supplied us with a great service on this Forum! Hope this helps; it does take research and doing "homework."

-- Holly Allen (Holly3325@juno.com), July 31, 1998.

Start praying to Jesus and he will answer your prayers. There is power in prayer. Jesus will transform your spouses heart to be in unisom with yours. Pray to the Holy Spirit to touch their heart. Do not be too demanding upon your partner. Read scriptures from the Bible to convince your spouse that Armegeddon is about to begin. Read passages that will convince your spouse that the time of trouble, like the world has never seen is at hand. I am certain your spouse will be convinced that the Bible holds the answers to all lifes miseries. Read to your spouse how Moses lead the children of God out of slavery. Read to your spouse the Book of Revelation and how it graphically depicts what the end days are like. The Holy Spirit will convince your spouse that the day is at hand. There will be gnawing and gnashing of teeth, they will cry for the rocks to fall on them, they will hide their face from God. Tell your spouse how God will punish those into eternal hell fire if they do not obey his warning of danger and to flee from danger. And if that doesn't bring your spouse into submission, then I think thats grounds for divorce. You should not be unequally yoked. God only rules.

-- TheWordRules (counselor@aol.com), August 01, 1998.

Tom O,

The best way to convince someone is to ask them questions about why they feel the the way they do. Look for holes in their logic. Then ask "what if" type questions about the possible outcomes of this situation. You must do this in a gentle and caring manner, and it will not happen overnight. People, in my experience, are not so much convinced by others as much as they end up convincing themselves.

-- Uncle Deedah (oncebitten@twiceshy.com), August 01, 1998.

"SPIRITUAL MATERIAL for Counsellor"

Dear Counsellor.... your intentions are commendable, but for the sake of those who don't know what the Bible says, I must correct what you wrote regarding convincing one's spouse of the seriousness of y2k. First, as some have correctly said, there's no biblical reason to assume that simply praying to the Father, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, guarantees anyone anything! In order for prayers to even be heard, let alone answered in a positive way, the life must be free of sin. You don't often hear this taught in churchanity, but it's true. (see previous posts by Arcy or some others).

Secondly, there is no biblical justification for divorce just because a wife or husband doesn't submit to the wishes of their spouse.

My statements can be confirmed by any good commentary, or by simply asking an opinion on pastor Chris's forum.

Respectfully,

Roy

-- Roy Cave (roy@techcomm.net), August 02, 1998.

Roy: No one's life is free from sin! Is yours? Are you ready to be beamed up? Can you walk on water? See, that's what I mean about you people coming off like your free from sin and your ready to be plucked from earth without facing death.

-- Bardou (bardou@baloney.com), August 04, 1998.

"SPIRITUAL RESPONSE TO QUESTION FROM BARDOU"

You're an intelligent woman with much to offer this forum, Barb, but spiritual advice is not among them! Your hostility toward God, the Bible, and believers is ruining your credibility, and deepening your anger. There's hope, however, but ONLY in submission to Christ. I'm sure you realize you're too proud to do that on your own, so don't be surprised when help comes along in a form you could never imagine.

As for being without sin, indeed, we all sin, but true believers have been justified and converted, and therefore do not practice sinning. When they sin they will confess it and not just ignore it. Every sin that a true believer commits has already been paid for through the shedding of Christ's blood. He will never be brought into judgment because of his sins, but unconfessed sin breaks his fellowship with God, hinders his prayers, and brings forth discipline in this life.

No, I do NOT walk on water, but I'm absolutely ready to meet God... right now, but not because of any contribution on my part. Christ bought me, caught me, and brought me into fellowship with Himself when I was deep in sin, and just as wicked as the forum crowd that now ridicules me.

Please... will you and your friends try to come up with a new line besides "holier than thou"? True believers are not apt to be self righteous. In fact, they are humbled by the knowledge of the depth of sin from which they were rescued. The self righteous are usually the religious hypocrites and deceived wicked ones who parade as believers.

-- Roy (roy@techcomm.net), August 04, 1998.

Please spare me the true believer bit Roy. Just owning a computer or being on-line tells me that you are better off than most folks! The fact that you are better off is a sin by itself...."Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven."-Luke 18:22; Mark 10:21; Matthew 19:21...."What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight."-Luke 16:15 Kinda funny how christians can't stand communism when big J seems to be speaking the party line! Oh, what the hell! One more for good measure: "You cannot serve both God and money."-Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13 "DO I HAVE AN OPENING BID ON ROY'S COMPUTER? SOLD!-TO THE HERETIC FOR $666. hee-hee

-- Connie L. (Cofkee@aol.com), August 05, 1998.

Bravo,Connie. I've always felt that when people prayed there probably was nobody on the other end of the telephone. Of course, in january 2000,they'll probably be nobody on the end of any telephone.

-- Jan S C Czarnecki (czarneck@tbaytel.net), August 05, 1998.