The Overpopulation Myth

By Dr. John E. Russell

26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth" (Genesis 1:26-28, NASB).

Introduction

Some would have us believe that the human race is facing imminent extinction due to the overpopulation of "mother earth." The following chart shows world population growth in billions:

Date   Number
1650   0.550
1750   0.725
1850   1.175
1900   1.600
1950   2.556
1980   4.458
1995   5.734
2003   6.3 [CIA, The World Factbook]
[Robert Famighetti, ed., The World Almanac and Book of Facts. (Mahwah, NJ: Funk and Wagnalls Corp., 1996), p. 838].

The world is relatively empty. There are 52.5 million square miles of land in the world, excluding Antarctica. All the people of the world would fit within the city limits of Jacksonville, Florida! Jacksonville contains 841 square miles, or 23,445,734,400 square feet. With one person occupying 2.6 square feet, Jacksonville alone could hold over 9 billion people! This is about one-and-a-half times the present world population.

If divided equally, each person would have 259,269 square feet of space.

Some would object that the greater the population, the lower the standard of living. Japan has a greater population density than India, yet Japan has a much higher per capita national gross product than India. Germany's population density is also high, but they have a high standard of living.

Since the overpopulation talk is not true, could there be a hidden agenda of the radical left? This destructive myth is propagated in an attempt to justify abortion, eugenics, sterilization, infanticide and euthanasia!

1. Encourage increased homosexuality.
2. Modify tax policies [that would penalize marriage by instituting a] substantial marriage tax.
3. [Create] employment opportunities for women outside the home.
["700 Club Fact Sheet" (Virginia Beach: Christian Broadcasting Network, 3 August 1995).]

A more appropriate name for Planned Parenthood would be, "Planned unparenthood!" Many policies of this organization are anti-God, anti-family and antisocial.

The rejection of God and the Bible requires the acceptance of erroneous assumptions that when acted upon, produce disastrous results.

(This essay was based on the classic work of Bill Gothard.)

<><