Troublesome Topic: Population Control Is an Affront to God

Some people argue that we need abortion because it is the single biggest factor in keeping the population from growing too fast. Others claim our world is overpopulated already and we should take action to reduce its population.

I will respond with a practical answer and a theological answer.

My Practical Answers to Population Control

As a human race, we don’t need to kill off lots of people; we need to be more careful about how we utilize God’s gift of sexuality. If we were to eliminate a high percentage of the people on earth, that would not stop the number of unwanted pregnancies, if fact they may increase.

In response to the claim of food shortages I say this: If we used a larger portion of the world’s land for agriculture, this earth is capable of supporting many more humans than it contains at this time. There are numerous unused tracts of land that are arable (here I use the word “arable” in the general sense of “capable of being tilled”). What is lacking is the people willing to work those lands. Most people want to live in the large cities because they think they will get better wages there and have a better life. Only sometimes does that better life materialize. Meanwhile few people want to live in the country and work the land because it is hard work and the results are unpredictable. They are right about it being hard work. But no one should assume that our world cannot support more people. Our planet is not the problem, we are.

We do not have a lack of harvestable water. If you look at images of the earth at night you will see lots of lights in places where there is no land. These lights are fishing boats. It is now common to fish at night with powerful lights that draw the fish toward the boat. There are so many fishing boats on the water in the orient that they light up the water, sometimes making it look like a large city at night. Yet there are still fish in the ocean.

The orient also utilizes many sea farms where they allow marine life to grow in enclosed cages suspended in the water so they can be easily harvested. Satellite images of the earth during the day show many bays in the orient that have rectangular or circular structures visible in the water of the bay. This is aquaculture and it is growing.

Hydroponics is another option that does not require arable land.

Honestly, the biggest problem we face is probably the issue of water supply and its inability to meet our water consumption. There are many places that are pushing the limits of their current water supply. However, even that does not warrant killing off a bunch of people. We need to find ways to utilize our water supply more wisely, bring water from other places, and desalinate ocean water more cheaply. Desalination has been around for a long time, but it is expensive. If it becomes more necessary to desalinate ocean water, you can be sure that people will find more effective ways to do it. I repeat that even the problems we are seeing with water shortages do not condone killing millions or billions of people.

Don’t let people fool you into thinking that we need to start eliminating people or pre-born babies because our planet cannot sustain more people.

My Theological Answers to Population Control

Only God can give life; only He can take it away. God, the giver of life, hates the killing of the innocent. Any action to reduce the world population by killing people is wrong because the principle of life overrules all other issues. Even if they go about it by advocating abortion or by creating new and deadlier viruses, killing people is always wrong!

We need to do things God’s way. He has tried to teach us to respect life. If I don’t respect the lives of others, how can I expect people to respect my life.

When God does take someone’s life, He has justified reasons for doing so. He has the authority to punish the wicked with death; He has the freedom to call his faithful ones to His side through death. Governments have been granted authority by God to use the death penalty when appropriate, and they will be judged if they use it incorrectly.

When we fail to do things God’s way and we end up with consequences we don’t like; violating even more of God’s standards will not fix things. Let me say it more clearly. When a culture violates God’s standards about sex by glorifying sex outside of marriage, it will inevitably end up with high numbers of girls and women getting pregnant who do not want to have a baby; violating even more of God’s standards by killing those babies in the womb, will not fix anything. In reality it creates deep wounds, regrets, guilt and questions that are impossible to answer. Abortion is not a solution to any problem; it is like throwing gasoline on a fire.

We need to do things God’s way. God’s teaching about sexual activity and about respecting life go together to bring about a situation which is good for everyone. It would not require the killing of any pre-born babies or a situation that would see so many women dying from unsafe abortions.

Allow me to make a cringeworthy statement that no one is willing to say, but it is the logical conclusion of the advocates of population control. In the abortion debate, everyone is concerned about the life of the mother in cases of medical risk. Likewise everyone wants to see more effective treatments for cancer, heart disease, etc. etc. But why? As unthinkable as it sounds, those who see abortion as a means for lowering the population of the world should be glad when a mother dies due to a botched abortion! Those who want the population of the world to be drastically reduced should be happy when lots of people die of cancer or heart disease! That is the logical conclusion of their perspective. 

The next lesson in the full series on Covenants is A Population Control Advocate’s Own Words Show What He Truly Believes