Why are so many Christians saying we’re overpopulated?
If you’re a Christian, you know God said, “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and use it.”
Let’s be perfectly clear: the overpopulation narrative gaining momentum today is rebellion against God’s cultural mandate to multiply and fill the earth.[1] It’s also a false gospel of world salvation.
If we don’t speak out against the overpopulation narrative, then we will see increasing efforts to reduce population.
Christians want to obey God. Because of our sin nature, obedience doesn’t always happen, but ultimately, Christians do want to obey Him and we feel a sense of shame and regret when we don’t. This doesn’t mean each and every one of us must have children; but we ought to be alarmed when this or any worldly narrative runs counter to biblical wisdom.
Christians also know there’s an inherent tension between the forces of evil and good at work inside us that occurs in the world, too. A result of the original sin in the Garden of Eden, it’s a tension that began in the beginning of human history and continues to this day.
We also know Satan’s deceptive tactics include making us not only doubt what God says, but he often causes us to think the opposite of what God says is the real Good we ought to follow.
If you know this is true, then I implore you to consider how Satan is using the climate change narrative to entice us to rebel against God and have fewer children.
Climate Change Narrative and Resource Depletion
The climate change narrative goes like this:
Humanity’s production and consumption habits are causing catastrophic climate change and resource depletion.
The crisis is so critical, drastic action must be taken immediately.
Since humanity is the problem, one easy solution is to reduce world population in order to preserve resources for future generations.
See how the enemy deceives us? It sounds logical, doesn’t it? The problem is, it’s anti-biblical. The “climate change solution” is to reverse God’s command to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and use it.
God Controls our Climate and Resources
Whether it’s rain, drought, hail, or snow, the Bible is clear God controls our climate and resources.
When it comes to the preservation of the world’s resources, how is it so many Christians have easily forgotten the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand men plus women and children with only five loaves and two fish? How do they forget God provided manna and water for the Hebrews wandering in the wilderness for forty years? Do they not know one of God’s names is “Jehovah-Jireh,” meaning “The-Lord-Will-Provide?” How can we really call ourselves children of God if don’t know our own Heavenly Father?
Antinatalism- An Emerging Anti-biblical Philosophy
A recent NBC News article suggested “Science proves kids are bad for Earth. Morality suggests we stop having them.”[2]
This year, a group calling itself “Stop Having Kids” also suggests having children is morally deviant. The self-described “antinatalist” group explains:
Antinatalism is a philosophical and ethical stance against human reproduction, rooted in harm reduction and rational consideration for future life, with regard for the implications that procreation will have for other humans, other animals, and the natural world.[3]
Like the NBC article, Stop Having Kids claims on its website it seeks “to radically reduce suffering and environmental destruction in the world.”[4]
“We believe there are no reasons for having children that aren’t self-focused (besides through force) and that having children is unethical and irrational-despite the fact that birth is a natural process.”[5] It is a moral imperative that we strive to minimize and prevent (not through coercion, pressure, or force) as much new life as possible.”[6]
If you believe the Bible, you know God created the world and Christ sustains it.[7] Is it rational to think God created a world He can’t sustain? Maybe the real moral imperative is we need to stop and listen to what the Creator of the world says about having children and using the world’s resources.
[1] Genesis 1:28 says, “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
[2] https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/science-proves-kids-are-bad-earth-morality-suggests-we-stop-ncna820781 Accessed 23 June 2021.
[3] https://www.stophavingkids.org/antinatalism Accessed 23 June 2021.
[4] https://www.stophavingkids.org/antinatalism Accessed 23 June 2021.
[5] https://www.stophavingkids.org/ Accessed 23 June 2021.
[6] https://www.stophavingkids.org/who-we-are Accessed 23 June 2021.
[7] Hebrews 1:2-3 says, “but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word . . .”
Doug Carter 