Michelle Duggar of Tontitown, Arkansas is pregnant with her 18th child. Most kids have a tough time counting 10 siblings, even when adding stepbrothers and half-sisters. Yet, Michelle and her husband Jim Bob have produced, between just the two of them, 10 sons and seven daughters, and number 18 should be popping out sometime in September. Will this new baby be the last for Mrs. Duggar, now age 41? Maybe not. She says she and her husband will keep having children as long as God wills it.
Certain environmental groups, though, frown at large families like the Duggars. Followers of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEMT) are purposefully not having children. They dream of a day when Earth is human-free and the environment can breeze onward without any people-prints, green or otherwise. Large families like the Duggars set the VHEMT goal of human extinction back a few feet.
"We've already exceeded Earth's carrying capacity for humans by quite a bit," VHEMT spokesman Les U. Knight told WorldNetDaily. "We are using up our resources. The best way to stop it is by not breeding. It's really the best way because the people we don't create don't exist, and so there's no impact on them." Knight doesn't advocate abortion, only contraception.
VHEMT is not alone in the view that humans are pests on the planet. Many extreme environmentalist groups have dreamed of lowering the human population as a way to stop the pollution and the carbon emissions and cutting of trees that humans cause. The Bible teaches that God formed humans in His image, and made them stewards over the Earth, responsible for managing the other creatures (Gen 1:26). But, some environmentalists believe humans are more like the vermin of the Earth, and should be culled, if not wiped out. The domestic sheep and cattle and peacocks will just have to fend for themselves. Environmentally friendly wolves will keep the deer populations from overgrazing. The gypsy moths will be free to destroy oak trees across the world.
The human population is dropping in some countries, and it has caused problems. With fewer children to work and to pay into the system, the elderly are finding they are having financial problems that the Duggars will never face; there aren't enough children to take care of them.
The government of Japan reported earlier this month that its population of children is lower now than it has ever been since 1908. Japan's elderly are a significantly growing part of the population; those aged 65 and older now make up 21.5 percent of the pie chart. If current birth rates remain unchanged in Japan, the government estimates that by the 2050s, the 65+ age group will be a whopping 40 percent of the population.
These figures promise problems for Japan, from labor shortages to a strain on government resources. Successful businessmen might be able to plan for their retirements, but the aging poor will be a heavy burden for the government - a government pulling less money from a shrinking number of young people. The retirement age in Japan has been raised from 60 to 65, and may push to 70. The government is focusing on encouraging companies to hire the elderly.
Japan is not alone. Many European countries face a child shortage. In Italy, for instance, women wait longer to start families, and tend to keep their litters small. There are many reasons, but a major one is that Italy is an expensive place to live. Throughout Europe, from Ireland to Norway to France to Greece, the birth rate is less than 2 children per women. According to 2004 figures, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Greece all had less than a 1.4 birth rate. (The birth rate is likely only as high as it is because of the Muslims in those countries having large families.) To replace themselves, the current populations in Europe would need to maintain a 2.1 birth rate. Either the Europeans will need to start having more babies, or else protect themselves with excellent retirement savings plans.
In the meanwhile, the Duggars a very happy. They have a 7000 square foot house, and all the children chip in to help keep things running. They might have a lot of mouths to feed, but they also have each other. And their children and grandchildren may very well be the ones the future Japanese turn to when they have nobody to do the work that needs to be done.
"So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." - Genesis 1:27-28
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Chuck, I think these people are doing a good thing, they are NOT reproducing. God has a built in controls for sin. Homosexuals do NOT reproduce. Homosexuals have much greater disease and death from their behavior and they tend to keep themselves in check by their own behavior. It is sad that any mother would kill her own baby, but it is the mother that commits the hateful act that has no baby and the mother that shows love to her baby that reproduces. The wages of sin is death and so this death comes to the sinners by their own doing. The grace and mercy of God is available to any of these people who turn to Jesus Christ. If they choose life instead of death then they will be a blessing to the world instead of a curse. Lou Click here to reply to this post
Honoring the Creator by taking care of the creation
Posted On: 05/28/08 08:38:40 PM
Age 42, ID
Environmentalism that vilifies all humans is flat wrong. The "humans as disease or pestilance" on the face of the earth is not a new idea. But just as Neo in the Matrix wrestled with the proposition when Agent Smith spouted it off in all his mechanical reptilian glory, we must ourselves consider all of the implications of this meme.
We must first admit that we have done a pretty lousy job of managing and caretaking the creation entrusted to us. When God created it, He said, "It is Good". We have managed to kill off thousands of species that He found "good" in the pursuit of material goods. I know far too many Christians who espouse the idea that God is going to make a new earth anyway, so there is no problem in trashing it and making it uninhabitable. THAT IS A PROBLEM. Sometimes I see a glimpse of that old commercial with the Indian shedding a tear at all of the pollution and get the feeling that is how the Father feels.
The solution is not to commit genocide, wage wars and stop having babies though. The solution is to be fruitful and multiply and work together to be faithful husbandmen of this great big spherical garden we have been entrusted with by our Creator. Click here to reply to this post
I have the answer
Posted On: 05/28/08 03:43:18 PM
Age 50, MS
please hear me out, I believe I have the answer to this population problem.
Let's get rid of the people that love the creation more than the creator, the one's who rather save a sea lion, but are quick to murder a full term baby in his mother's womb. Or how about the lovers of trees who rather save the rain forrest than to go next door and give a few groceries to their poverty stricken neighbors? There are also a few other groups that should be removed, like the atheist, homosexuals,muslim jihadist, and satanist. Wow! this sounds too much like those who are trying to demand the limit of the children to be born in this country, why is that funny, because usually those who want to legalize abortion, and limit the family numbers, usually already have children themselves. It is easy for someone who has, to say to someone who does not, live without it! I have seen this family on t.v. and I must confess that I've never seen any family this size that loved each other so much, were so well organized, and so well mannered. We need to stop listening to the so called experts, and start obeying the word of God which will stand long after the experts die out. Click here to reply to this post
Population control
Posted On: 05/28/08 10:42:19 AM
Age 61, MO
The idea of Zero Population Growth (no more than two children per family) has been around for several decades. The idea is a slap in God's face, that He would not adequately provide for His creation. As the leaders of one world governance make strides toward their goal, it behooves them to have much less of a global population, because the smaller numbers of people will be much easier to micromanage. George Cancilla Click here to reply to this post
