Populating the earth

[Hadron]

I love being accused for being a " great academecians" (in a negative form for some reason).

Gosh, some people are so full of themselves. Who said I even had *you* in mind?

 

[Blackmarch]

Since God commanded humans to "populate the earth" shouldn't we do whatever is possible to achieve this? Christians use this to justify birth control being immoral and masturbation being immoral (Catholics at least). But if we are to adhere to the maxim that the purpose of sex is procreation shouldn't we only have sex if we can procreate? Once a woman becomes pregnant should she refrain from sex? Should Christians donate sperm to maximize the number of children born? Should Christian girls get "knocked up" at as young of an age as possible so they can have as many children as possible?

What is your opinion and what is the official opinion of the church?

Like others have said, within marriage. Yes we are instruments to bring Gods children to this world, however there should be (and there si) an order in doing so, which lies within the responsibility of a family (with a mother and father at the head of it).

there is still lots of room on the planet.

 

[wagsbags]

Yes there's lots of room but that doesn't matter when there's only so much food. You understand that there are limits to how far you can push farmland don't you? I always think it's humorous that random people on forums feel confident that they know better than academians who study this subject many, many hours a week. The truth is that they know better than we do and they estimate that we are quickly approaching the carrying capacity of the earth (given our current technology for sustaining ourselves).

 

[Hadron]

Yes there's lots of room but that doesn't matter when there's only so much food. You understand that there are limits to how far you can push farmland don't you? I always think it's humorous that random people on forums feel confident that they know better than academians who study this subject many, many hours a week. The truth is that they know better than we do and they estimate that we are quickly approaching the carrying capacity of the earth (given our current technology for sustaining ourselves).

There is only so much food because your beloved liberal government pays farmers to NOT grow it, thereby artificially inflating food prices and keeping people poor.

 

[wagsbags]

Ok that's ONE country in ONE part of the world. Yes in the US we can afford to have population growth and we do (counting immigration) but look at Africa, they already have more people than they can support.

 

[constance]

The commandment was "Go forth and multiply". We did that. We quit at two - and we will adopt a child if God wills us to have another. I would like to adopt an older african-american or hispanic child - someone who would be a little harder to place in the US.

God also said "Go ye therefore into all nations and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit - and teach them". We have a LONG WAY TO GO on this one. People are starving, people are dying, and we're churning out enough kids to make a soccer team and driving them around in SUVs saying "God doesn't want us to use birth control".

Yet for the cost of one of these SUVs we could save a town full of beautiful children in Africa - and we're too busy to even send a missionary.

We've got a foster system brimming with garbage children that nobody wants - yet God doesn't want us to use birth control?

God forgive us.

Constance

 

[Hadron]

Ok that's ONE country in ONE part of the world. Yes in the US we can afford to have population growth and we do (counting immigration) but look at Africa, they already have more people than they can support.

The entire population of the world can fit snuggly into the state of Texas with room to spare, so don't give me that bull.

There is so much waste and ineffeciency in third world countries that you cannot use them as an example of overpopulation with a clear conscience.

 

[constance]

The entire population of the world can fit snuggly into the state of Texas with room to spare, so don't give me that bull.

Cite your source, please

There is so much waste and ineffeciency in third world countries that you cannot use them as an example of overpopulation with a clear conscience.

Cite some examples, please. I have only been to Latin American third world countries but the people there were very efficient and not at all wasteful compared to you and me. I am having a hard time following your logic.

Constance

 

[wagsbags]

He means physically fit. Like if everyone were standing up next to each other. Anyway this isn't really the point. The point is 3rd world countries are inefficient and therefore they don't have enough food to feed their booming population.

I'm inclined to think you'll be hard pressed to find many published papers claiming the world has no population limit. So I'm curious, what makes you think this? Just because it enables you to claim birth control is always wrong? But then again your other posts seem to imply you don't feel we need a larger world population.

 

[Salubri]

there is still lots of room on the planet.

YEah...if we kill off animal populations, make species go extinct and destroy valuable ecosystems then yes, we do.


I feel this world is overly populated...we need to slow this rate of production.


That being said...I am also in favor of selectively culling the population

 

[Hadron]

Cite your source, please


Cite some examples, please. I have only been to Latin American third world countries but the people there were very efficient and not at all wasteful compared to you and me. I am having a hard time following your logic.

Constance

If you didn't read the OP, it is an OPINION thread. I see no other sources being posted here, either.

 

[Hadron]

Just because it enables you to claim birth control is always wrong? But then again your other posts seem to imply you don't feel we need a larger world population.

How easily you put words into my mouth. I have no opinion one way or the other about birth control, except for abortion, which I believe is killing innocent children.

 

[Hadron]

Land area of Texas = 268,601 square miles = 7,488,166,118,400 square feet
Using est. 6.5 billion people, each person would get 1152 square feet living space. Now consider how many of those people live together, including families, how many large living structures can be built, etc. I'd think I have a fairly sound argument and I believe enough food can be grown in the rest of the US to support it. That leaves the rest of the world completely open.
Take your blinders off... the world is bigger than you think.

 

[constance]

Land area of Texas = 268,601 square miles = 7,488,166,118,400 square feet
Using est. 6.5 billion people, each person would get 1152 square feet living space. Now consider how many of those people live together, including families, how many large living structures can be built, etc. I'd think I have a fairly sound argument and I believe enough food can be grown in the rest of the US to support it. That leaves the rest of the world completely open.
Take your blinders off... the world is bigger than you think.

My goodness. Who would pay for such a project? Who would design it? Why? Maybe we could just wait for the Little Green Men to show us the way - or we could let things get so bad that the rapture would happen.

I don't think I'm the one with blinders on, darling -- but then, as you point out, this is an opinion thread, and that is just my opinion.

Cosntance

 

[Hadron]

My goodness. Who would pay for such a project? Who would design it? Why? Maybe we could just wait for the Little Green Men to show us the way - or we could let things get so bad that the rapture would happen.

You're funny. But not really.
This is not an actual project, but merely an illustration to show that the world is actually a lot bigger than foolish academia chooses to believe.

 

[Electra]

The mother earth is already overpopulated, why put more pressure on the resources than needed. More people are alive today then have ever lived before.

 

[Hadron]

The mother earth is already overpopulated, why put more pressure on the resources than needed. More people are alive today then have ever lived before.

The earth is not my mother, nor is it overpopulated. And yes, more people are alive today than have ever lived before, thank goodness.

 

[wagsbags]

I was going to cite some articles on the internet saying overpopulation is a problem but then a quick google revealed that there really isn't any disagreement about it. The only website I found saying overpopulation wasn't a problem was written by a catholic priest (or bishop don't remember).

I'm not saying it's not possible for the earth to hold more people. But you have to realize that if you don't cycle crops you ruin the farmland, if you make more deforestation becomes a problem. The world population could increase significantly if crops were cycled and whatnot but this doesn't address the fact that people in Africa are starving because they can't afford to feed all of their kids. And when they do become industrialized like the rest of the world so they can feed their children they'll start contributing to pollution more as well. Do you know how bad global warming would get how quickly if the CO2 production per capita were the same worldwide as in the US?

 

[Electra]

The earth is not my mother, nor is it overpopulated. And yes, more people are alive today than have ever lived before, thank goodness.

The earth is your inhabitation and as that deserves a tad little respect. And it is very overpopulated. Perhaps reading a thing or two on it would do no harm for a start

http://www.overpopulation.org/impact.html

 

[Hydra009]

My opinion is that the earth is pretty well populated.

The mother earth is already overpopulated, why put more pressure on the resources than needed.

I agree with both posts. There are plenty of people already and breeding like rabbits is a surefire way to societal suicide when combined with a low death rate.

I'm not advocating any immoral way to get there, but a world population of 2-3 billion would be really nice.