God created a universe with infinite possibilities for life with ecosystems and habitats to accommodate each of those life forms. Each ecosystem has limits to the life it can support and God’s design has checks and balances built into those ecosystems to keep life within those limits. Throughout most of human history God has kept global human population under one billion people. It is only within the past one thousand years that we have learned enough to challenge God and overpopulate this planet. In one thousand AD the world population was still under one billion people. We know the approximate population because most of the world was performing censuses, levying taxes, and recording population count. Now our global population is over seven billion people and we are becoming the masters of our own destruction.
Throughout human history God has kept our population in check through miscarriages (spontaneous abortions), birthing deaths, infant mortality, disease, natural disasters, and physical injuries that lead to early death. God’s methods are random, spontaneous abortions take the wanted as well as the unwanted child, Disease, natural disaster, and accidents take the young and healthy along with the aged and infirm. We have made great progress in challenging God’s methods, but we are ignoring the limits of His design. As we move forward increased knowledge and technical ability will allow us to raise those natural limits, but there will always be a limit on the amount of life any ecosystem can support. We have simply moved to fast and overpopulated our planet putting all life at risk. Reducing pain and suffering is morally and ethically correct and I believe it is what God intends. However, as we advance, we must keep our population within the limits that God has imposed on our ecosystem or we will destroy our environment and we will destroy ourselves.
In terms of survival of our species, what should our priorities be in challenging God’s methods. Global warming, declining resources, pollution, and even the current pandemic are simply byproducts of human overpopulation. If we are to survive as a species, we must recognize the fact that we are one species with one destiny living in an ecosystem that has very real limits on the amount of life it can support. We must also recognize the fact that all life within this ecosystem has a purpose and the interaction between the different life forms is complicated and interdependent. The natural balance between species, their habitats and the smaller ecosystems must be maintained.
As a species we have overpopulated our ecosystem, disrupted the natural balance of God’s design, and put the overall ecosystem of this planet at risk. First and foremost we must acknowledge the limits God has placed on our ecosystem and slowly reduce the overpopulation of the human race in order to end the global warming and bring the overall ecosystem back into balance.
All forms of life and all species have an equal right to life and a place within God’s design. If we consider God’s design and God’s methods, it is clear that life begins at birth, no matter what that birthing process may be. From the seed that falls to the ground, to the fertilized egg, to the live birthing process of the human race, life begins when the seed sprouts and grows, the egg is hatched, or the new baby is born. God has made it clear that the right to life has nothing to do with the unborn if it did God wouldn’t be performing over 1300 spontaneous abortions in the United States every day. In God’s universe the right to life is a right of the living, but God’s design has clearly placed a limit on that right as well for without a limit to life the ecosystem God has provided for us would soon be overwhelmed by life itself and the system would collapse. Birth, life, death is an essential to the balance within and survival of any ecosystem. In challenging God’s methods we must stay within the limits of God’s design with a priority on the survival of the species and protection of the overall ecosystem God has provided for us.
The wanted child is a blessing and we should do everything we can to protect that unborn child and bring it into this world. The unwanted child is another story. From the 1600 per year that die of abuse and neglect to the 500 a year that are murdered by their parent or parents to the thousands in foster homes, children’s homes, and institutions the plight of the unwanted child is a life turmoil and misery. Once born, the right to life applies and we should do everything possible to protect that life and prepare that life for a productive future in our society. However, the reality is that no one wants to adopt and raise the unwanted child with fetal alcohol spectrum, drug addiction, or birth defects. No one wants to adopt and raise the child that has been physically and emotionally crippled by child abuse and neglect. There are a great many reasons and conditions which contribute to a child being unwanted. The only person who knows the conditions under which the child was conceived, the environment that child will be born into, is the mother. The decision to carry that fetus to term and give it life or abort the fetus and prevent the suffering of the unwanted child is an ominous decision indeed, but the only person qualified to make that decision is the mother herself. Reducing the birth rate of the human race is essential to our survival. Family planning and planned parenthood are not an options, they are a necessity.
I am currently seventy three years old. My life and my contribution to the survival of our species is in the past. What has really been lost if I get sick and died from our current pandemic? What is really gained from a few more years of life. My children have families of their own and jobs to go to in order to support and raise those families. That makes my children a part of the current contribution to and future of the human race and its survival. My grandchildren are still growing and learning. They are the future and they are the ones that will make the future decisions and determine the destiny of the human race. Birth, life, and death are a part of God’s design and the natural world. As a species we put far to much emphasis on birth and dying and far to little consideration to the quality of life in the middle of that cycle.
In terms of God’s methods, where should the priorities lie during a pandemic? If we consider how this pandemic has played out it is clear that God’s methods and God’s design takes the elderly and infirm first which reduces long term pain and suffering and reduces risk and exposure for the young and healthy. We have given priority to those we consider the most vulnerable, telling the working mom’s and dad’s and the young not to worry, this only gets bad if your old and feeble, immune compromised, or have a major medical issue. Whenever we set medical priorities we are challenging God and deciding who lives and who dies. By placing priority on the dying we have created a breeding ground for the virus and opportunity for it to mutate. As a result we are now killing the young and healthy.