This morning I came across this article written by Dr. Albert Mohler - "Abortion is as American as Apple Pie" - The Culture of Death Finds a Voice". Dr. Mohler reminds us of the anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade in 1973, and how from this "more than 50 million babies have been aborted, as a rate of over 3,000 each day." While those numbers are certainly staggering, and should make any pro-lifer shutter at the impending wrath of God that is surely to ensue for such treason against His creation - we are forgetting another side of the abortion epidemic.
It is a sad reality in which we live. "Abortion is as American as Apple Pie" - truly it is. Sadder still is that we only think of the murder of innocent babies in the sphere of a doctor physically removing the life from an unborn baby by his/her own hands and then disposing of the murdered child like a butcher disposing of scraps.
The birth control pill is an abortifacient - Marget Sanger would be so proud that one of her prized ideas (I called it the silent killer of babies) has infiltrated the minds of the masses so much so that they do not even recognize what she intended it to be used for - killing babies. The birth control pill does not prevent conception - but it does make it nearly impossible for that newly conceived baby from attaching to the lining of the uterus. Conception CAN STILL happen - and you just have no idea it did in many cases. The IUD - abortifacient. Several vaccines use aborted human fetal cell lines (human diploid cells) - and we don't even wince at this knowledge. We make excuses for why that is acceptable but we balk at the notion of a doctor injecting saline into a mother's uterus with the premeditated intention of burning the unborn baby to death - not to mention the horror of how later term abortions are done.
Yes, the murdering of innocent unborn babies is as American as apple pie - and so many who claim to be 100% pro-life do make exceptions in their hearts and in hypothetical situations when it is acceptable and even "good" to murder an unborn baby. Classify it as you will, justify it whatever way you need to - but the Lord's vengeance will not allow for excuses, no matter how eloquent and logical they may sound. You want to stand up for life - then let us all be consistent lest we face the wrath of God for even in the smallest of ways condoning or benefiting in anyway from abortion in all its many forms.
Yes, I believe this issue is pretty straightforward - however, I know so many of my Christian brothers and sisters, still in some way, sit on the fence and silently advocate abortion - possibly without even knowing it. There are no subclass of humans - not in God's creation - and we should be wise to remember this. I do applaud Dr. Mohler for sharing this article and revealing to us, once again, the "death culture" we are living in. I do wish however, more Christians would expose all of the forms in which unborn babies are being murdered each day - that number of "3,000 each day" would surely sky rocket - and to our shame too.
I fear the Church has failed our nation in so many ways, defending the life of the innocent being at the top of the list.
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! - Isaiah 5:20
Today after calling our medical insurance company, I found out that they will cover a homebirth!I am so super excited and we’re going to set up a meeting with our homebirth midwife to discuss everything.I won’t switch over until after 20 weeks, which will be after the ultrasound.This had been an option until our finances changed a bit, and the last insurance we had wouldn’t cover a homebirth because of the type of midwife we would have to use.However, this time it looks like I just might get the birth I have so longed for!If for some reason it all falls through I am very happy with the midwives at the hospital we switched to, but of course I would prefer a homebirth.Now that we know the insurance will cover a homebirth, it means this is the best financial option, as it is MUCH cheaper than giving birth in the hospital.
I will be 18 weeks on Sunday, and this baby is definitely an active little wiggler.I have to say that feeling a baby move around and kick in my womb is the most amazing feeling.It surely keeps me humble about the preciousness of life.We have our ultrasound on October 14th and already have a boy name and a girl name picked out.We won’t reveal the names until we know the gender of the baby.After listening to Doug Phillips session on “Naming Babies” (Baby Conference) we took a very different approach this time to picking out names.If you’d like to listen to individual sessions from the Baby Conference you can through BlueBehemoth.com for $0.95 a session.I highly recommend the entire conference as it has been such a blessing to Malachi and me.
Fall is here, but it sure doesn’t feel like it down here in South Louisiana.I am not quite sure when it will cool off, but we are definitely ready for some cooler weather.I am getting very excited about preparing the Thanksgiving meal for us.Now that Malachi is back working retail, we have to stay home for Thanksgiving.This is actually my first choice, because we really want to start our own family traditions.I am working on a family newsletter to update everyone on some of the convictions we’ve had in regards to certain holiday traditions.I am hoping to have it reviewed by a few people first and then posted sometime soon.Obviously, if you’ve been following my blog you know that we don’t celebrate Halloween in any form.You can read an article I posted on the subject of Halloween and how Christians should respond here.
I have been so giddy the past few days because we have been able to hear our little baby’s heartbeat every day! It is such an amazing sound that my ears will never tire of hearing.
In honor of my giddiness, I am doing another giveaway of the Vision Forum’s Baby Conference on an MP3 CD! This time will be a bit different because instead of just picking one winner, I am will be picking FOUR winners! See, the giddiness rubs off doesn’t it?
The same methods of entering the giveaway still apply.
First Entry: Leave a comment here on my blog with your first name and last initial.
Second Entry: Leave me a comment on my personal facebook pagein reference to this giveaway.
I will announce the winner of this giveaway on Monday, August 9, 2010 at 1pm CST. All those participating in the giveaway have until 12pm CST to get all their entries in.
We’ve been listening to this conference and it has been such a blessing! I was listening to one of the session where Kevin Swanson spoke and he made a very sad but true observation about how even the Church views children; “We love drywall more than we love babies”. Also, during the conference it was cited that the fertility rate within the Church these days is only 1.7 children per mother. This means that even Christians, who have been called to be “fruitful and multiply” and believe that “children are a blessing from the Lord” are not even meeting the replacement ratio of 2.1 children per mother. I knew that the fertility rates worldwide are at a record low, a dangerous low in many demographers’ opinions. I did a research paper on the subject of Human Population over a year ago, and learned that people as a whole, regardless of nationality are refusing to have children. This in turn dramatically harms the nation’s economy and places a burden on the younger generation that they will not be able to carry in regards to fueling the economy and supporting the increasing aging population.
Russia has been frantically trying to pay their citizens the equivalent of nearly $10K per child to encourage their citizens to have more babies. China is also in the process of taking steps to reverse their “one child per family” policy and encouraging families to have daughters because they have a huge aging population and not enough young people to support it, and they do not have enough girls being born to marry the increased population of boys in the country. Some countries have sponsored speed dating to encourage busy young working couples to marry and have children to increase their fertility rates. Sadly, this problem is not limited to the pagans; this has become a problem for the Church as well. Thomas Malthus is one of the men who fathered the lies about how the human population was growing at a higher rate than the resources needed to support the population. People like Charles Darwin and Margret Sanger only furthered Mathus’ errors with their racist ideas and encouraging birth control, abortion and euthanasia. All of which are very much present in our nation and within our church walls.
There has never been an economic boom with lowering fertility rates, it has only happened the other way around. I also highly recommend the DVD documentaries “Demographic Winter” and “Demographic Bomb”. I had a personal email interview with Mr. Phillip Longman, a secular, atheist demographer who works with a secular think tank in Washington, D.C., who appears in the documentaries several times. He wrote a book entitled “The Empty Cradle” that we purchased during the time I was writing my research paper. He addresses the dangerous fertility decline throughout the world and how it affects our economies and mankind. He said in an email to me;
“…in day to day life most people experience the world as becoming ever more crowded: traffic gets worse, jobs lines grow, college admissions become more competitive, etc. From this experience, people find themselves thinking, oh, wouldn’t be nice if there just fewer people getting in my way all the time, forgetting that is those other people who collectively provide the goods, services, ideas and company without which we would be hopelessly lonely, materially and spiritually impoverished, and ultimately abandoned. Even people in countries that are already in absolute population decline are susceptible to this feeling, often because, even when number of people fall, the number cars, for examples, grows while jobs become more scarce” (P. Longman, personal communication, September 15, 2009).
He went on to say that
“Finally, the over-population meme strengthens social causes to which many are attached, specifically, feminism, gay rights, environmentalism and personal liberation generally. It does so by weakening the social pressures that have long coerced people into traditional marriage and family formation. The fear is that in a world of declining human population, society would become much more socially and religiously conservative and intolerant of “non-breeders.”This is why they push back” (P. Longman, personal communication, September 15, 2009).
Yesterday we finally got some rain, but it was a storm and it brought along lots of nasty lightening that knocked the internet out for a while. Fortunately the storm didn’t knock the power out; we would have been miserably hot inside then!
Another milestone in this pregnancy was achieved yesterday. I am now 10 weeks and one day pregnant with this precious baby. We actually got to hear the little one’s heartbeat yesterday. Last year when we got pregnant we purchased a handheld Doppler from Amazon.com, but unfortunately we hadn’t been able to make any use out of it until yesterday! Once I found the little baby its heart rate was 167bpm the first time and then later in the evening was 180bpm! The girls absolutely loved hearing the baby’s heartbeat and it was such a blessing for me and Malachi to know that all is still well.
The nausea isn’t all that bad these days, and compared to my pregnancies with Sofia and Charlotte, the nausea hasn’t been nearly as bad. I am thankful for the Lord’s grace during these past few weeks, and although I struggle with fatigue, the Lord has continued to give me the strength I need to persevere through each day. Pregnancy is a great object lesson on only on the Lord’s Sovereignty but in how we have no choice but to rely and put our faith only in Him. He does what He pleases and we keep faithfully trusting in His Sovereignty. There is no greater peace than knowing the Lord knows all things (1 John 3:20) and controls all things (Ephesians 1:11).
Mr. Tim Challies over at Challies.com wrote a thought provoking article today on “How Will We Be Judged?” Mr. Challies brought up some great points on how each generation that come judges the past generation on social and cultural norms and issues of their day. How will Christians in the coming generations judge us? It is obvious that each generation has its own set of failures, and the Church is not exempt from producing many of those failures. Mr. Challies makes note of the issue of slavery here in America not too many years ago and how there were Christians who owned slaves. He says:
“You and I look to the southern Christians of the mid-1800’s and marvel that they could somehow believe that slavery was anything less than abhorrent. We look even to those who disliked slavery and wonder how they could have been so complacent, so passive in the face of such evil. “I am against slavery but feel we should let it die a natural death” does not impress us. But only outright arrogance could lead us to believe that we have no blind spots, no areas in which future generations of Christians will shake their heads and marvel that we could have been so blind.”
I highly recommend reading through Mr. Tim Challies’ article.
I also must recommend Mrs. Crystal Paine’s newest post over at Money Saving Mom. It is Part 3 of her posts on “15 Favorite Preschool and Kindergarten Resources”. She offers some great encouragement at the end of the article for mothers of little ones. She has hyperlinked Parts 1 and 2 too for easy access to read the previous posts.
A few months back when we were getting stuff together for Sofia’s homeschool curriculum a certain book was recommended to add to our “Read Aloud” section, “My Little Golden Book About GOD”. Have you heard of this book? Do you own this book? If you own it, have you read it and did you find anything wrong with it? Well, in first few pages of this book my husband found the most absurd error for a book that is supposed to be for children to tell them about God. It was the first time either one of us opened it to read to the girls, but it was clear right away this book would not remain in our home. Why you ask? What could make this book so bad that we would actually have the urge to burn it?
“Think of the snow-capped mountain peaks. Those peaks were crumbling away with age before the first people ever lived on earth”
OH REALLY? Where does it say that in Genesis? Do you notice the obvious error? Since when did anything “age” long before mankind was created? Wouldn’t that imply there was death before the fall of man, when the Bible says death entered the world? This book in a very subtle (yet highly obvious to us) way sneaks evolutionary theory into a child’s book that is supposed to be a CHRISTIAN book about God. Anyone else have a problem with this? There is NO place or allowance for an “old earth” in scripture, and nothing died or aged for many years before the creation of mankind. The Genesis account of creation does not allow for such rubbish. This is yet again another reason that EVERYTHING that we buy, even from a Christian bookstore needs to be read through before purchasing.
We felt this error enough for me to need to expose it in a blog post. I am not sure if anyone has ever done this, but it was recommended to me that I write to the publishing company and complain about the error. I am getting my thoughts and scripture together to formally complain about this book. I do not in any way recommend this book to ANYONE!
We should be very careful as parents to be aware of all the things our children read that may steer them or their beliefs about God in the wrong direction. This book, while it may seem harmless sets the stage for a child to question the authority and authenticity of the scriptures. Parents beware! (I will expound on the error in this book in a separate blog post)
I pray that all of you are enjoying your Tuesday, and that you use this day, as with all days to glorify the Lord alone!
I received this comment today in my inbox about my blog post “Test Results” on being pregnant:
"I like your words, they inspire me a lot but I have a feeling that you are becoming paranoyd [sic] with this hunt for pregnancy. I see you copying the duggars´ life style. It seems that you don´t think about the planet which is overpopulated, the bad world we are living in. It´s a irresponsibility [sic] this way of thinking because you are not alone in this planet. there [sic] are so many children in need for a family why don´t you go adopt some and get satisfied with your big family."
First of all, I am not "paranoid" about my pregnancy and I don't "hunt" to be pregnant. I do not "copy" any family in regards to how my husband and I run our family. Also, the Lord has not opened the door for adoption yet. I am a huge advocate for adoption because I was adopted by my father. I also get the feeling this person doesn't know me very well, and it may have been the first time they visited my blog and they must be under the impression that we have a lot of children. We only have two live children because we have had 4 miscarriages. This is my 7th pregnancy and we are praising the Lord for another opportunity to have a baby and raise him/her for the glory of God.
We are also not looking at the size of our family from an ecological point of view but from a Biblical worldview. It appears the person who commented has been duped like the majority of the world into thinking that there is a human overpopulation problem and that "Mother Earth" is running out of resources, or will eventually run out of resources to support a dangerously growing population. This is 100% false. There is not one shred of factual or scientific evidence to support Thomas Malthus' theory that the human population grows geometrically while agricultural resources grow linearly.
This is a subject I have done immense research into, and continue to research. I did a research paper for an Environmental Science class last year on this very subject. I had the honor of having email correspondence with demographer Phillip Longman, who is an atheist and works for a secular think-tank in Washington D.C. on this topic. He wrote a very informative book on declining fertility rates and the supposed overpopulation issue, called "The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity and What To Do About It".
Here is part of my email to Mr. Longman:
“My first question is; why is it so hard, even with the evidence available to convince people that there isn't a crisis of overpopulation? I can't seem to explain or convince anyone in my class that there is a demographic problem. They refuse to accept the evidences I have put forth. My instructor has applauded my effort at showing the other side of the debate. I am a Christian, and I would assume by some a "fundamentalist". Is that what discredits me in this debate? Do you have any other suggestions for resources that might help me? This isn't merely a debate in a class, but a debate that seems to permeate within my entire family. My husband and I have two lovely children, and we have experienced the loss of three through miscarriage. We are not taking any steps to "control" our fertility by means of contraceptives; we are simply allowing nature (God) to takes its course. We are considered to be fanatical in this regard, because why in the world would we actually desire more children than the two we have? Each time this subject comes up, the book Population Bomb is thrown back at me as proof or evidence that over population is a crisis we are facing. Are there other resources that I can look into that might help me with this topic? It seems the local library only has books that support over population...which is why I went ahead and ordered a few books, including yours.
I am sure at this point you might be wondering why this crazy lady is emailing you. After seeing your interview in 'Demographic Winter', especially at the very end, we realize that you weren't someone who was pushing some religious agenda, which in our opinion made you more credible. Not sure that makes sense, but to us it does. Any suggestions or help you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Either way my husband and I are grateful for the work you do.”
Mr. Longman responded to my email very quickly.Here is how he answered my questions:
“Dear Crystal: Thank you for your inquiry. I think you will find in the first pages of Empty Cradle one answer, which is that in day to day life most people experience the world as becoming ever more crowded: traffic gets worse, jobs lines grow, college admissions become more competitive, etc. From this experience, people find themselves thinking, oh, wouldn’t be nice if there just fewer people getting in my way all the time, forgetting that is those other people who collectively provide the goods, services, ideas and company without which we would be hopelessly lonely, materially and spiritually impoverished, and ultimately abandoned. Even people in countries that are already in absolute population decline are susceptible to this feeling, often because, even when number of people fall, the number cars, for examples, grows while jobs become more scarce.
Focusing on over-population also allows people an excuse for the pollution and environmental degradation they create. Instead of concentrating on how they may need to change their own lives to benefit the planet and future generations, they concentrate on how other people are having “too many” children. In debate, even Paul Erhlich agreed with me that it is the population of cars, not people, that is the world’s greatest environmental threat.
Finally, the over-population meme strengthens social causes to which many are attached, specifically, feminism, gay rights, environmentalism and personal liberation generally. It does so by weakening the social pressures that have long coerced people into traditional marriage and family formation. The fear is that in a world of declining human population, society would become much more socially and religiously conservative and intolerant of “non-breeders.” This is why they push back.
After this discourse with Mr. Longman I went on to complete my research paper on the subject of, “Human Population: Is Fertility Decline Harmful to Human Population?” I will include it at the end of this blog.It is 16 pages long, so this will be the longest blog I have ever posted.(Please bear with me a little while longer because I need to do this particular claim justice.)
Mr. Phillip Longman addresses this subject again in his article “The Return of PATRIARCHY”.
“Across the globe, people are choosing to have fewer children or none at all. Governments are desperate to halt the trend, but their influence seems to stop at the bedroom door. Are some societies destined to become extinct? Hardly. It’s more likely that the conservatives will inherit the Earth. Like it or not, a growing proportion of the next generation will be born to families who believe that father knows best” (Longman, 2006).
He also says “Falling fertility is also responsible for many financial and economic problems that dominate today’s headlines” (Longman, 2006).Notice the date; 2006, and now our financial and economic status are even worse some 4 years after this article was published.As the years go on, even the U.S. Census Bureau is reporting a steady decline in fertility rates.Americans are barely holding on to the replacement ratio of 2.1.All around the world fertility rates are already dangerously too low.“One of the largest threats to Russia and its long-term potential is the rapid decrease in the country’s population” (Dolan, 2009).The majority of Russia’s fertility decline is due to abortion and STDs. (Dolan, 2009)I found it pretty telling when I read, “Since 2003, USAID has partnered with regional health authorities under Maternal and Child Health Initiative to DECREASE abortion rates…and improve reproductive health services” (Dolan, 2009, emphasis mine). As of last year, “the number of deaths outstrips the number of births in the country…” (Dolan, 2009).Our government is HELPING Russia increase their population!(You can read the article here.)
China is facing the same fate.Some three decades ago, China instituted their “one-couple, one-child family” and the effects of such a policy have been detrimental to modern day China.So much so, China is taking steps to do away with this policy in hopes up increasing fertility rates.I explain more of this in my research paper.Would you like to know why there are such problems with female trafficking in China?Read my research paper.
In Don Feder’s summary of “Demographic Winter” he says,
“What the world faces in the 21st century is another type of demographic crisis, but one that is painfully real: falling fertility rates and aging populations which could ultimately endanger civilization.
The average woman has to have 2.1 children during her lifetime – just to replace current population. [Meaning she and her male counterpart]
In less than 40 years, fertility rates have fallen by over 50% worldwide. In 1970, the average woman had 6 children during her lifetime. Today, the global average is 2.9. The United Nations Population Division predicts a further decline to 2.05 by 2050.
In much of the industrialized world, the crisis can be discerned even now:
-Europe might as well hang a “Going Out of Business” sign on its door. The average birth rate for the European Union is 1.5, well below replacement (2.1). In Italy, it’s 1.2.
- Russia has a birth rate of 1.17, down from 2.4 in 1990. There are now almost as many abortions as births in the Russian Federation. The nation is losing roughly 750,000 people a year. Its current population (143 million) is expected to decline to 112 million by 2050. In a desperate effort to stave off demographic winter, the government is offering a baby bonus of 250,000 rubles (the equivalent of $9,200) for every child a family has after the first.
- Worldwide, there are 6 million fewer children (6 years of age and younger) today than there were in 1990. This is an initial tremor of a coming earthquake. If current trends continue, by 2050, the world will hold 248 million fewer children under 5 than it does today.
- The industrialized world will soon face severe labor shortages. The European Union estimates a shortfall of 20 million workers by 2030” (Feder, 2008).
One thing is clear, “Throughout the course of history, there is NO instance of economic growth accompanied by population decline” (Feder, 2008, emphasis mine).
So what does this mean?It means that Biblical Patriarchy and the Adamic Commission to “be fruitful and multiply” will in the end, prove yet again, God has a standard and He demands and commands we live by it in order to preserve HIS people.Research by Demographers has proven time and time again, that Thomas Malthus was grossly incorrect, along with Paul Erlich, the author of “The Population Bomb”.That one book caused a panic in the 1970s that has most definitely impacted how we view children, even within the Church.
God designed mankind to have children, a family; one that would leave a Godly, Biblical legacy for future generations.The only way to rid the world of pagan, ungodly cultures and ideologies is to breed them out.God makes this quite clear all throughout His word.We are not going to appoint leaders to legislate biblical morality.The buck stops with dad and mom, trusting God with their fertility, and raising the children God gives them in HIS ways, leaving a multi-generational BIBLICAL and GODLY faithfulness and legacy.This means whether God gives us one child, two children, a dozen children, or 40 children.It is not about just the number of children, it is about the “kind” of children we raise up.If we raise up children who devalue life and children, then we can bet they won’t have children of their own, which means the legacy ends with that generation.
We as a culture, even within Christendom have bought the lies that have been perpetuated by men like Thomas Malthus, Charles Darwin and women like Margret Sanger.We see it in our churches because if a woman walks in with two little ones on her hip, and 6 others trailing behind her, we all look at her like she has grown a third eye in the middle of her forehead.Not only that, we actually begin to pity her!When that same woman is at the check-out counter in the store, we treat her like she is a circus freak, and question her motives for having so many children.Her motives MUST be less than honorable or intelligent to subject herself with the misery of having so many children.Some would even argue that the government needs to step in and force her to be sterilized, or force her to have abortions with each subsequent pregnancy.Even worse, there are many who follow, Margret Sanger, Charles Darwin and Thomas Mathus’ idea of euthanasia.ALL of these ideas have infiltrated the church in one form or another.
My parent’s generation and their parents were all under the belief that we need to limit population growth because we are becoming increasingly overcrowded and resources are running out. This has never been proven through demographic or scientific evidences.They all bought the lie pushed by the government and others who are propionates of “population control”.Now we are beginning to feel the effects of our parents and grandparents buying into that lie.Not enough young people to support our ever growing older population who are now transitioning into retirement.
There is not, and has never been a “human overpopulation problem”.To use that as an excuse not to have children or to limit the number of children a family has is not only unbiblical, but it is based on false information.I suggest those who make erroneous claims that having too many children is harmful to the earth, actually research the subject and take a look at the facts, not popular news media propaganda or other social agendas that seeks to destroy the “traditional family”, which was designed for GOD’s purposes.
And now, I leave you with my research paper which will include all of the citations for what I cited above.Enjoy!
***aldo, I hope this answers your comment, and that you will take the time to honestly look at the evidence of “overpopulation” that has been done by actual Demographers, not just parrot what the media says.***
Serving God and My Family,
Crystal <>< (SAHM)
Human Population: Is Fertility Decline Harmful to Human Population?
Crystal M. Sewell
SCI 207
Professor Duyen-Nguyen-Gauthier
6 October 2009
Human Population: Is Fertility Decline Harmful to Human Population?
Introduction
“People experience the world as becoming ever more crowded: traffic gets worse, job lines grow, college admissions become more competitive, etc.” (P. Longman, personal communication, September 15, 2009).With this experience people tend to naturally assume that the world is becoming absurdly overpopulated and that resources are becoming scarce.Not only do people worry about resources, but environmentalists frequently inundate the culture with concerns that too many people reeks havoc on Mother Earth.Many of these same people, disgruntled by how cramped their city is, feel that if there were fewer people getting in their way life would be a much more pleasant place, “forgetting that [it] is those other people who collectively provide the goods, services, ideas and company without which we would be hopelessly lonely, materially and spiritually impoverished, and ultimately abandoned” (P. Longman, personal communication, September 15, 2009). The effects of falling birth rates initially appear to be beneficial to the human population, however, a closer look at the demographics and long term effects of falling birth rates pose to be detrimental to the human population.
Human Overpopulation
Demographers all over the world are on a quest to determine if declining birthrates pose a threat to human population (Easton, 2009). Demographers and researchers who seek to prove that the human population is growing to a size that the Earth cannot support, find their initial premise in Thomas Malthus’ Essay on the Principle of Population, first published in 1798.Thomas Malthus essay was revised several times between the years 1798 and 1826. (Foster, 1998)Malthus initial arguments shifts in the later editions, but the changes in subsequent texts are considered minor. (Foster, 1998)
Malthus’ first essay “title [An Essay on the Principles as it Effects the Future Improvements of Society] indicates…an attempt to intervene in a debate on the question of the future improvement of society” (Foster, 1998).This controversial debate was initiated by Robert Wallace in his “work entitled Various Prospects for mankind, Nature, and Providence” (Foster, 1998).Robert Wallace argued “that human population if unchecked tended to increase exponentially, doubling every few decades…leaving earth “overstocked…and unable to support its inhabitants” (Foster, 1998).Mr. Godwin countered Robert Wallace by arguing that human population is regulated by the condition of society. (Foster, 1998)Godwin also believed that there were many acceptable methods of keeping the population in check such as infanticide “by the exposing of children, as among the ancients, and, at this day, in China; by the art of procuring abortion,…by a systematical abstinence…” (Foster, 1998)Thomas Malthus approached the debate quite differently, and sought to counter Godwin’s argument by insisting “that there was a constant tendency toward equilibrium between population and food supply”, but also argued that if the human population were left to increase naturally that it would “increase at a geometrical rate (1, 2, 4, 8, 16), while food supply increased…in an arithmetical rate (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)” (Foster, 1998).Malthus believed that human population should be regulated in an effort to create that equilibrium between humans and the food supply.He also argued that human population was also reducible by “vise and misery, taking such forms as promiscuity before marriage, which limited fecundity (a common assumption in Malthus’ time), sickness, plagues,…the dreaded scourge of famine” (Foster, 1998).While Godwin and other thinkers believed that these vises were necessary for the improvement of society which would keep the population in line with the food supply, Malthus believed it to be impossible. (Foster, 1998)
Thomas Malthus’s revised essay of 1803, in which he changed the title to: An Essay on the Principle of Population; or a View of its Past and Present Effects on Human Happiness; with an Inquiry into our Prospects Respecting the Future Removal of Mitigation of the Evils which it Occasions, contained a in it “the most notorious passages [in regards] to illegitimate children” (Foster, 1998).Malthus believed “that the poor were not entitled to the smallest portion of relief…”, stating that “we cannot, in the nature of things assist the poor, in any way, without enabling them to rear up to manhood a greater number of their children”(Foster, 1998).This passage was removed from later editions of Malthus’s Essay; however, Karl Marx made the observation in 1844, from Thomas Malthus’ writings “that charity…itself fostered social evils” (Foster, 1998).The arguments that Malthus posed in later essays were an attempt at “attacking the English Poor Laws.Limiting the poor people from increasing in population would keep the human population as a whole down, thus creating equilibrium between human population and food supplies.Malthus felt that we have a “moral [obligation to not] increase too fast” (Malthus, 1803, p.131).Thomas Malthus was successful at converting “most economists of the day from believing that high fertility increased gross domestic output to believing that per capita output actually fell with rapidly rising population” (Cunningham and Cunningham, 2009, p. 78).
The Population Bomb
Dr. Paul Ehrlich author of the 1968 bestseller, The Population Bomb, describes a world of “Too Many People [and] Too Little Food” (Ehrlich, 1968, p. 3 and p. 18).Dr. Ehrlich’s book brought back Thomas Malthus’ prospective on the need to control human population.Dr. Ehrlich illustrates; in his book The Population Bomb, how the world is becoming overpopulated by what he and his family experienced in Delhi,
“My wife and daughter and I were returning to our hotel in an ancient taxi. The seats were hopping with fleas. The only functional gear was third. As we crawled through the city, we entered a crowded slum area. The temperature was well over 100, and the air was a haze of dust and smoke. The streets seemed alive with people. People eating, people washing, people sleeping. People visiting, arguing, and screaming. People thrusting their hands through the taxi window, begging. People defecating and urinating. People clinging to buses. People herding animals. People, people, people, people”.(p.1)
Dr. Ehrlich proceeds with addressing the social implications of a human population growing out of control when he states that “Indeed, social and environmental problems not only increase with growing population and urbanization, they tend to increase at an even faster rate” (Ehrlich, 1968, p. 9).He then goes on to contend that with the increase in human population on any given “area increases the damage done by each individual [and that] doubling the population normally much more than doubles the environmental deterioration” (Ehrlich, 1968, p.9). According to Dr. Ehrlich (1968) the problem of human overpopulation is based on the critical “relationship between birth rate[s] and death rate[s]” (p.11). Dr. Paul Ehrlich predicted that another baby boom would occur around the year 2000 when children under the age of 15 during the late 60’s would move into reproductive ages. (Ehrlich, 1968)He believed that generation would be “the gunpowder for the population explosion” (Ehrlich, 1968, p. 12).He believed that the reason for this crisis could be found within “the process of natural selection, the development of culture, and man’s swollen head” (Ehrlich, 1968, p. 12).According to Dr. Ehrlich (1968), the urge to breed is inherently within us because of “billions of years of evolution” (p. 13). During mankind’s billions of years through the evolutionary process, the birth rate and death rate were nearly the same, hence the reason that this urge to reproduce works in mankind’s favor. (Ehrlich, 1968)However, mankind has evolved over the past few thousand years to a time when mortality rates are low in infants due to modern medicine and better hygiene practices. The art of agriculture has been gained which means there is no longer a need to hunt food for survivability, people can now settle down and grow their own food. (Ehrlich, 1968)
Environmental Concerns
There are many researchers who argue that human overpopulation brings with it many social and environmental problems; such as an increase in crime, poverty, and an overhaul on the environment with the need for more homes and food to sustain a growing population.If human population could be regulated “this might reduce that awful sense of competitiveness that is a relatively recent feature of cultural life, for jobs, places at school or university, or entry to prized social institutions or niches” (Easton, 2009, p. 253).Population decline would reduce fossil fuel emissions and save land for plants and animals. (Easton, 2009)“These fears often lead to demands for immediate, worldwide birth-control programs to reduce fertility rates and to eventually stabilize or even shrink the total number of humans” (Cunningham and Cunningham, 2009, p.76).The belief that planet Earth is reaching its “carrying capacity”: the balance (or lack of it) between a physical environment and the numbers it can support” has many researchers concerned for the future of mankind (Easton, 2009, p.253). “Entomologist David Pimental, [from Cornell University], for example, has said: “By 2100, if current trends continue, twelve billion miserable humans will suffer a difficult life on Earth” (Cunningham and Cunningham, 2009, p.78).There are differing views on what causes an overgrowth of human population.Thomas Malthus would argue that the lack of “moral restraint” was a major factor, while Karl Marx believed it was due to poverty. (Cunningham and Cunningham, 2009, p.78)
There are many measures that can be taken to decrease fertility and combat human overpopulation.Thomas Malthus and those who also ascribe to an overpopulation crisis would suggest individuals be educated on birth-control techniques or possible government regulations on fertility, such as in China.China instituted the one-child-per-family law which has aided in controlling their population.The legalization of abortion has also been used to decrease the growth of human population.Social reforms have been made to educate women and give them more options for their lives and control over their fertility which has helped to control the growth of the human population. Dr. Paul Ehrlich argues “We must have population control at home, hopefully though a system of incentives and penalties, but by compulsion if voluntary methods fail” (McLerran and Stout, 2009).However, there are researchers who reject that there is an overpopulation crisis, and would argue that that fertility rates have declined at a rate that mankind may be heading towards an opposite crisis.
Effects of Declining Birth Rates
“There is a problem with [human] population and that is a demographic imbalance caused by culture and policies that are reactions to Malthusian ideology” (Reference to Week 2 Initial Discussion Board Post). Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1992, Dr. Gary Becker from the University of Chicago claims, “Any economy who doesn’t have substantial investments in its peoples human capital it won’t become…a rich economy” (McLerran and Stout, 2009). The UN has reported “a slowing of growth [in human population], to be followed by an actual decline in population” (Easton, 2009, p.245).The human population has grown since the time of Malthus, and is expected to continue to grow to 9.2 billion by the year 2050, according to the UN’s World Population Prospects: The 2006 Revision. (Easton, 2009, p.245)However, the number just mentioned appears to be misleading, as it has been reported that “Fertility rates have dropped by half since 1972, from six children per woman to 2.9…and they’re still falling, faster than ever” (Easton, 2009, p.246).While the human population globally will continue to increase peaking at approximately 9 billion by 2050, it is predicted to drastically decline after this. (Easton, 2009, p.246)These declines in population or fertility are already evident in many parts of the world and under developed nations are not free from its effects.What has happened mainly is a shift in demographics leaving far too many older people (65 years of age and older) and too few young people (children under the age of 5).The crisis in this is that there will not be enough people of working age to support a growing population of retirees.The U.S. Census Bureau in a report released August 14, 2008, estimates that in the year 2010 the percentage of children under the age of five will account for 6.8% of the population, while 12.97% account for the population representing those who are 65 years and older. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008)By 2050 the U.S. Census Bureau estimates these percentages will drastically change to 6.41% of the population will be children under the age of five, while 20.17% are the 65 years and older generation. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008)These are the predictions for the United States only.The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, is referring to the fertility and population decline in his country as a “national crisis” (Easton, 2009, p.247).Russia’s population “is shrinking by 700,000 every year…and by 2050, some experts predict that the country’s population could be as low as 120 million” (Yassman, 2006).For Russia the causes of this dramatic depopulation is due to “a very low birth rate, very high mortality rate, short life expectancy, and a growing number of deaths from “unnatural causes” (Yassman, 2006).Dr. Nicholas Eberstadt declares Russia’s depopulation “a relentless, unremitting, and perhaps [an] unstoppable depopulation” (Eberstadt, 2009).Russia has gone through stages of depopulation in its past, mainly caused by social and political instability.“Russia’s population plummeted by more than 13 million through the cataclysms and catastrophes of World War II” (Eberstadt, 2009).Dr. Eberstadt concludes that “Terror and war are not the engines for the depopulation Russia is experiencing today, as they have been in the past” (2009).The United Nations Population Division (UNPD) and the U.S. Bureau of the Census, project a “continuing downward course for the Russian Federation’s population over the generation ahead” (Eberstadt, 2009).According to Dr. Eberstadt; “Russian leadership will have to acknowledge that these daunting long-term developments are shrinking their country’s social and political potential” (2009).
Fertility Replacement Ratio and Causes of Fertility Decline
“To reproduce itself, a society’s women must each year bear 2.1 children”, in reality however, many nations are not even close to meeting the sub-replacement ratio (Easton, 2009, p.246).“In 20 [less developed countries] (LDCs), fertility rates are already below replacement levels or soon will be, including Iran, Mexico, and Brazil” (Cohen, 2005).China is the poster child for a decline in the total fertility rate of its citizens, which “fell from 6.06 between 1960 and 1965 to around 1.8…due largely to China’s coercive one-child policy” (Cohen, 2005).While China’s birth rates are well below sub-replacement levels, “Russia has a birth rate of 1.17, down from 2.4 in 1990 [and it is reported that there are] almost as many abortions as births in the Russian Federation” (Feder, 2008).The decline in fertility is seen throughout Europe as the “average birth rate for the European Union is 1.5” with Italy coming in at 1.2; dangerously below the replacement ratio (Feder, 2008).Many countries are offering incentives to families in an effort to encourage them to have more children.Russia, in an attempt to bring fertility rates up, “is offering a baby bonus of 250,000 rubles (the equivalent of $9,200) for every child a family has after the first” (Feder, 2008).China is attempting to find ways to move past the one-child-per-family policy, while countries like Singapore are making efforts to raise their fertility rate by sponsoring “speed dating” (Longman, 2006).However, all of these incentives and initiatives do not “cause people to have any more children than they otherwise would” (Longman, 2006).The problem facing mankind with fertility rates well below replacement is that they will inevitably bring a demographic imbalance of far too many elderly and not enough babies being born who will grow up and support the aging population.
According to McLerran and Stout (2008), within our society discussions concerning the possible causes for the decline in fertility is often avoided in an effort to not offend others. The causes of worldwide fertility decline according to the research contained in the documentary Demographic Winter are prosperity, the sexual revolution, women’s liberation, the divorce revolution, and inaccurate assumptions. (McLerran and Stout, 2009).All of these causes spark much controversy amongst political groups who have invested their life’s work into securing certain social reforms.History proves that when certain social reforms were secured, and there were drastic changes in beliefs and values, fertility rates began to decline.One major social change was that of feminism ushered in by Margret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, when she began making efforts to make birth control available to women.It would appear that with the availability of birth control the sexual revolution made its entrance into the world.With the rise in women using birth control methods, came with it the postponing of marriage, and following close behind was the increased rate of divorce and the breakdown of the human family.
The breakdown of the human family has been caused by major social movements.Demographer Philip Longman, author of The Empty cradle, explains that doing away with traditional fundamentalist value systems that include patriarchy have much to do with the breakdown of the human family which inevitably causes fertility decline. (Longman, 2006)Longman argues that those incorporate a patriarchal system tend to increase “their power, whereas those that didn’t were either overrun or absorbed” (Longman, 2006).In a patriarchal family the mother is allowed to invest more into her children, than a mother who works outside of the home, forcing someone else to invest in her child. Dr. Eberstadt suggests that social science data gives a good explanation for fertility levels based on women who were surveyed on their desired family size. (McLerran and Stout, 2009)One of the biggest causes of fertility decline is from the use of the birth control pill which eliminates 70% of the unwanted pregnancies of married women. (McLerran and Stout, 2009)More and more couples are postponing marriage, which increases the rate of premarital cohabitation, and causes fertility decline because most of these couples use some form of birth control to prevent pregnancy.Dr. Viktor Medkov, Professor of Sociology at State University in Russia states, “If trends continue as they are, families will cease to exist, and so will children, things that we have valued so dear. Some are optimistic, and say, that we can fabricate children. We don’t need families” (McLerran and Stout, 2009).Still many scholars will argue that Earth simply cannot supply enough food for a growing population.In the 20th century the human population quadrupled, making it “the greatest population growth in human history” and yet the food supply became less expensive and more abundant than ever before (McLerran and Stout, 2009).Environmentalist will argue that with more people, the more strain it puts on the Earth by way of an increased carbon footprint.Phillip Longman rejects this buy showing that in China, as the family size decreases the “per capita carbon emissions” increases (Longman, PBS, 2009).When the tradition family unit is broken due to divorce, carbon emissions will increase because the family has gone from a single family home, to now needing two separate homes.It requires double the amount of energy for electricity and water supplies.There are more houses than ever before due to single people living alone, or divided families, which is the reason for an increase in environmental pollutions, not overpopulation of people.
Have We Been Here Before?
History can be an accurate predictor of the future.Mankind has experienced a crisis of fertility decline before.Secular ideologies plagued Imperial Rome and caused them to eventually die off along with their “ancestor’s idea of Rome” (Longman, 2006).Rome did remain populated only the demographics of its population had changed, ushering in a new patriarchal age, where secular ideologies were discarded for a faith that taught be fruitful and multiply or serve in a monastery. (Longman, 2006)Greece also became familiar with the effects of incorporating a secular worldview and straying from traditional family values.Polybius circa 140 B.C., lamented over the plight of his people when he said, “In our time all Greece was visited by a dearth of children and general decay of population…This evil grew upon us rapidly, and without attracting attention, by our men becoming perverted to a passion for the show and money and the pleasures of an idle life” (McLerran and Stout, 2009).If history is a good indicator of future events, those who reject the traditional views of children and family, may end up extinct bringing with them their ideologies which will have no chance of being passed down through a multigenerational family legacy.
Conclusion
It does appear from comparing and contrasting both sides of the debate over “Do Falling Birth rates pose a threat to human population”, that the debate has not been settled between the two camps.In fact, a new threat to humanity has arisen because of falling fertility rates, and it has been coined a “Demographic Winter” (McLerran and Stout, 2009).Many, who continue to declare the threat of overpopulation, use it as a means to propagate their political or social agendas. “Instead of concentrating on how they may need to change their own lives to benefit the planet and future generations, they concentrate on how other people are having “too many” children” (P. Longman, personal communication, September 15, 2009).While declining birthrates may appear to be a convenient way to push political or social agendas, the long term effects to mankind may prove to be detrimental to the same political or social agendas, in that there will not be future generations to carry them on.
Resources
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Malthus, T. (1976). An Essay on the Principle of Population. In P. Appleman (Eds.), An Essayon the Principle of Population (pp. 130-139). New York: W.W. Norton & Company
McLerran, B. & Stout, R. (Producers). (2008). Demographic Winter: the decline of the human family. [Motion Picture]. United States: Acuity Productions
Yassman, V. (2006). Russia: Health Ministry Considers Solutions To Population Decline. Radio Free Europe. Retrieved 6 September 2009, from http://www.rferl.org/articleprintview/1066227.html
I am a Christian wife and mother who seeks to honor the Lord by being the keeper of my home. I enjoy sharing my journey in the hopes that it will encourage others and bring glory to the Lord. Soli Deo Gloria!
