On Fri, 23 May 2008, Christine Smith wrote:
> So: how to achieve this sustainable population without
> resorting to a China-type control strategy is a tough
> question? Certainly, as Christians, we hear the
> command to "be fruitful and multiply" and we don't
> want the government to be telling us otherwise.
> Reproduction is, if you will, the first "right" ever
> given to God's creatures. Nevertheless, as with other
> "rights", perhaps this "right" is not absolute in the
> legal sense that we are free to reproduce as long as
> it does not infringe on someone else's right to
> reproduce. Perhaps this type of ethic, in which we
> weigh, in a voluntary manner, our right to reproduce
> versus the right of other's to reproduce and to have
> for their children what we would want for our own, is
> the key here. Do we consider that perhaps, as I
> believe Rich said?, humanity has already fulfilled
> God's command, and then some? Alas, voluntary
> assessments that sometimes call for self-sacrifice for
> the sake of others rarely work though. So, do we then
> resort to government intervention?...do we let the
> inevitable happen whenever resources become
> scare--conflict and disease--to "naturally" reduce and
> control our population size? Do we hope to avoid the
> question through God's return and judgment? Do we seek
> to postpone the question by colonizing space? I don't
> think any of those represent good answers to the
> question of population and sustainability.
By the time that Genesis was written the readers would have understood
that man had already filled the earth. Genesis affirmed that this was a
blessing from God (Gen. 1:28) just as was also said of the creatures that
filled the sea and flew in the air (Gen. 1:22).
Gordon Brown (ASA member)
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Received on Sun May 25 22:04:40 2008
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