| |
|
| |
NEWS &
EVENTS |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
FEATURES |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SOME HAVE
BABIES; OTHERS, REGRETS!
(Part 4)
-
Philip P. Eapen |
 |
|
Author's webpage:
http://philip.eapen.googlepages.com
In this series, Philip P.
Eapen examines the claim
that the world is over-populated in the
light of biblical, historical, and scientific
data
|
1.5. Understanding the Multiplication
of the Ungodly
The understanding of fertility as God’s blessing
might make it difficult for at least some people to
comprehend how ungodly people manage to multiply
themselves. David’s psalm may get cited to show how God
blesses even the wicked with children, who are fortunate
enough to inherit treasures from their parents.
Deliver my soul from the wicked
with Your sword, ...
From men of the world,
whose portion is in this life, 
And whose belly You fill with Your treasure;
They are satisfied with children, And leave their
abundance to their babes. Ps 17:13b-14
However, this verse is a difficult text for translators.
While a few versions render this verse as referring to
God’s decision to bless the wicked temporarily, a few
other versions find it difficult to tow that line. (The
New American Standard Bible, NJB, ASV and NKJV tend to
say that God blesses the wicked with his treasures
temporarily, just for this life. The translators of RSV,
NRSV and the NLT feel that the “treasure” in this verse
is no treasure but divine judgement. The NIV and Peter
C. Craigie feel that the “treasure” refers to God’s
favoured people; God’s blessings are not for the wicked
but for God’s favoured ones.) Among the latter group,
the RSV, the NRSV, and the NLT would render “treasure”
as God’s hidden judgement. However, one is left to
wonder how children can be “satisfied” with divine
judgement that is passed on to them.
Craigie renders this verse as follows:
Kill them by your hand, O Lord!
Kill them from the world,
their portion from among the living.
But your treasured ones!—you will fill their belly, sons
will be sated, and they will bequeath their surplus to
their children. (Craigie, Word Biblical Commentary,
Volume 19: Psa. 1-50)
This rendition, along with that of the NIV, is more in
line with the psalmist’s theme of vindication, and with
the general Old Testament understanding about divine
blessings for God’s people. (Gen. 12:2-3; Num. 6:23-27;
Deut. 28:1-14.)
God’s blessings related to fertility and multiplication
promised to His people do not, however, prevent those
outside the covenant from multiplying. One is reminded
of Jesus’ statement: “[God] causes His sun to rise on
the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous
and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:45b NASB). This general
rule does not necessarily contradict God’s just
decisions, from time to time, to withdraw rain from His
people in order to chastise them (“Furthermore, I
withheld the rain from you While there were still three
months until harvest. Then I would send rain on one city
And on another city I would not send rain; One part
would be rained on, While the part not rained on would
dry up.” Amos 4:7; Cf. Deut 28:24; 1 Kings 8:35; 2 Chron
7:13-14); neither does it stifle His sovereign will to
demonstrate His power through sending rain when it is
least expected. (1 Sam 12:17-18)
Similarly, it would be inappropriate to conclude that
every barren woman in the world is under God’s judgement—though
some may be rightly so. However, there is nothing that
should prevent them from deriving comfort and
encouragement from God’s promises or past acts of
helping barren women to be happy mothers.
1.6. Population Control Measures
Israelites valued their children greatly and they
zealously multiplied in number even while they were
under the most stressful conditions of slavery (“... the
more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied ...”
Exodus 1:12a). Their multiplication caused great alarm
among their Egyptian masters who eventually ordered the
killing of all male babies born to the Hebrews (Ex 1:7,
10, 12, 22). This probably was the earliest recorded
state-level concern, coloured by racism, over the growth
of a particular population. And, this probably was the
first state-sponsored murderous “population control”
measure and the only one of its kind recorded in the
Bible.
On the whole, the Bible reveals that the Israelites had
a positive outlook about human multiplication. Worry
about a growing population was probably the last thing
on their minds.
1.7. Anti-natalist Christian Thinkers
I ventured to find out whether any leader Church
leader or theologian was worried about human
multiplication and population growth. However, I did not
find many Christian thinkers of old who wrote about
population growth.
Tertullian, a Christian scholar who lived around AD 200,
considered the population of his time a burden for the
planet:
What most frequently meets our view (and occasions
complaint), is our teeming population: our numbers are
burdensome to the world, which can hardly supply us from
its natural elements; our wants grow more and more keen,
and our complaints more bitter in all mouths, whilst
Nature fails in affording us her usual sustenance. In
very deed, pestilence, and famine, and wars, and
earthquakes have to be regarded as a remedy for nations,
as the means of pruning the luxuriance of the human
race. (Tertullian, A Treatise on the Soul, trans. Peter
Holmes, Ante Nicene Fathers, vol. 3, Christian Classical
Ethereal Library [CD-ROM] (Illinois: Wheaton College,
1999). Cf. Creager uses this argument to promote
population control. Joan Creager, “Tertullian’s
Blessing,” The Reporter (Spring 2004) 10.)
Tertullian used the concept of human multiplication to
refute Pythagorean theories of reincarnation. His views
on human popu-lation are unfortunate, to say the least.
Even if it were in the context of refuting
re-incarnation, how could a Christian see part of
humanity as dispensable commodity? Would he have
declared natural calamities and war a blessing if he
were on his deathbed as a result of a famine or a
pestilence?
It is estimated that the world population during
Tertullian’s time was between 100 and 300 million – just
a fraction of today’s population (Peter H. Kostmayer,
“From the President,” The Reporter (Summer 2004) 1). And
yet, due to inadequate progress made by people of his
time, life was much more difficult then than now. The
easy way out for Tertullian was to blame “Nature” for
not yielding “her usual sustenance;” he surmised that
there were too many people around. What he should have
done was to admit that the people of his time had not
yet discovered creation’s hidden resources to make life
better for more people.
A modern reader would be surprised to learn that people
of the ancient world – Aristotle, Tertullian, the
Atrahasis epic of the Babylonians, Han Fei-Tzu –
complained about “overpopulation.” Compared to today’s
world population of over six billion, the ancient world
had a very small population. Do these complaints reveal
a human tendency to blame “overpopulation” for all human
ills – a tendency that has nothing to do with the size
of human population at any given time? The problem does
not seem to be caused by human population per se. There
appears to be a general inclination to blame others (in
other words, “over-population”) for one’s poverty and
lack of ingenuity—a general selfish tendency to see
fellow human beings as competitors who threaten one’s
well-being. Herein lay deeper spiritual roots of the
problem.
(To be Continued)
|
|
|
This page
is updated on Oct 6, 2009 |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
PRAISE THE ALMIGHTY
10 YEARS CELEBRATION
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
