Over Population, Under Population & Little Blessings

Good morning & HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!  I started typing this blog last night (but fell asleep while writing!). Now I'll finish, and what an appropriate day!! :)

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I never bought into the theory of over population--but I was especially convinced that the theory is totally bogus when we drove across our beautiful, mostly empty country 4 years ago.  That's right, mostly empty. 30 miles outside of New York City? Beautiful, empty, flowing land.  Over-population? Right.

I just read Doug Phillip's blog post about over population here. The gist of it is like this: our birth rates are so low these days that we are not replenishing the population. In fact, the population is consistently decreasing. To keep the population going at a steady rate, the average woman needs to have 2.1 children (I'm not sure how .1 works, let me know if you figure that out, k? :).  In 2006 our country's birth rate was exactly at 2.1, and it has been decreasing since then.

I might be understanding this wrong, but according to The CIA World Factbook, it looks like there were 14.8 births to every 1,000 people in the population for that year--and that the ratio of adults in child bearing age was 1:1 male/female. So that would be 14.8 babies per every 500 women of child bearing age--am I right?  

Europe has even less babies being born--they are consistently lower than the 2.1 birth rate, therefore not replacing their own population.  Why is this a problem? The society gets older--the median age is older--there are not enough young workers to support the older folks. This was a good Washington Post article about the topic.

Tonight at my tea party, a friend brought up Muslim birth rates in Europe.  This is from Wikipedia:

According to Omer Taspinar

Today, the Muslim birth rate in Europe is three times higher than the non-Muslim one. If current trends continue, the Muslim population of Europe will nearly double by 2015, while the non-Muslim population will shrink by 3.5 percent.^[17]

According to Esther Pan

By 2050, 1 in 5 Europeans will likely be Muslim.

and Wikipedia also quotes this on a page about so-called Eurabia:

According to the worst-case Eurabian predictions, by the end of the twenty-first century, most of Europe’s cities will be overrun with Arabic-speaking foreign immigrants, much of the continent will be living under Islamic Sharia law and Christianity will have ceased to exist or be reduced to a state of 'dhimmitude' [...] In the nightmare world of Eurabia, the future will become the past once again and Christians and Jews will become oppressed minorities in a sea of Islam; churches and cathedrals will be replaced by mosques and minarets, the call to prayer will echo from Paris to Rotterdam and London and the remnants of 'Judeo-Christian' Europe will have been reduced to small enclaves in a world of bearded Arabic-speakers and burka-clad women.

 At first instinct, Muslims "invading" all of these European countries and multiplying at a greater rate than the general population doesn't bug me--they're human beings, they have the right to live where they want to and reproduce where they want to and how ever much they want to. Cultures change--my friend mentioned that even in 10 years, Italy will no longer be mostly an Italian country. And while that matters in the sense that we'll lose a great culture, in the scheme of things--in light of everything, the culture part doesn't really matter....kind of, and yet, after taking the adoption class last week, I'm more and more aware that when people lose their culture and don't know where they fit any more, there can be much crises in their life....but besides that....

The biggest issue I see with so many Muslims taking over large masses of land is the political beliefs of Islam. This was a really good article:

What is the ultimate goal of the Islamists? 

There are four points. One is to unite Muslims, who are fragmented into different 

countries and faiths, as one political unit. Two is that they will be governed by a caliph— 

one political and religious ruler of the united Muslim world. Three, the area controlled by 

Muslims will be ruled by forms of extreme Shari'ah law. A fourth point, which certainly 

the terrorists share with some others, is that the reunited Muslim political grouping would 

organize to wage war, jihad, against the rest of the world to continue the expansion of 

Islam until it has conquered the whole world. 

But while all would like to export it, not all believe in trying to spread it by war. For the 

moment, they just want to control their own area, the places where they live, and try to 

make sure it's the form of Islam they feel is right. 

Is extremist Islam growing in Europe and North America? 

Certainly in Europe. One of the frightening things about Europe is that the second- and 

third-generation immigrants are much more radical than their parents. You're not getting 

assimilation; you're getting the opposite. In places such as England, the first generation of 

immigrants from Pakistan 30 or 40 years ago came in, got menial jobs, opened shops, and 

were sort of marginalized but relatively peaceful. They wanted to make a success of life. 

The radicals are their children and in some cases even their grandchildren. As time goes 

on in Europe, the Muslim populations are becoming more radical, and, of course, the total 

numbers of Muslims are increasing. This is a frightening phenomenon for Europeans. 

In the United States, the sociology of the Muslim population is very, very different. In 

Europe, many Muslim immigrants are low income, very poor, brought in to do menial 

jobs. In some ways within the society, they fill the slot that illegal immigrants fill in the 

United States. But in the U.S., our Muslim population tends to be highly educated. I think 

more than 60 percent have degrees, and, in general, they do not live in separate 

neighborhoods. Whether radicalism is growing, I don't know. There are indications it is 

among African Americans and in prison populations. 

How does extreme Shari'ah affect Christians when Islamists gain control? 

Almost immediately, there are restrictions on the building or repair of churches or the 

expansion of Christianity. You must stay where you are; you must stay in a subordinate 

position. Second, churches built without permits get destroyed. Third, Christians are 

often accused of blasphemy against Islam or of criticizing Islam. The pressure becomes 

very bad indeed. You get a community that is isolated and marginalized. Preaching the 

gospel to a Muslim is very strongly forbidden. That can get you killed. Or, if a Muslim 

decides to convert to Christianity or, indeed, to any other religion, there's a good chance 

that he or she will be killed as an apostate. 

And, a description of so-called "Moderate Muslims" can be found on this site and also here: 

And then there is the more fundamental fraud of using the 9/11 question as the measure of "who is a radical." Amazing as it sounds, according to Esposito and Mogahed, the proper term for a Muslim who hates America, wants to impose Sharia law, supports suicide bombing, and opposes equal rights for women but does not "completely" justify 9/11 is .  .  . "moderate."

My friend mentioned that she watched a video about this, and in it, a radical Muslim man said something like "we don't need to go to war with Europe. In 10 years we will be the majority in Europe." I am not sharing all of this or thinking about all of this so that we can sit around being afraid of Sharaiah-believing Muslims invading our world.  I am sharing all of this so that we can become aware. Hawaii just created a day when the entire state will celebrate Islam.  There are a lot of things entirely wrong with that, and I could write an entire blog about that subject alone!  I just think we all need to be more aware--2/3 of the mosques in the United States teach the laws of Sharia and 36% of these people believe that the 9/11 attacks were justified.  I think we forget that when one of our states creates a day to celebrate said religion.  The Sharia is not like the Old Testament, where it says to stone an adulterous woman and yet most Christians today don't believe it.  It's not like that.  It is a fundamental, core belief of Islam and is not to be taken lightly. 

So back to the population and how this all relates:

We have some seriously wrong attitudes in our country (in general) about children.  Seriously wrong. People--I would say the majority--believe that children are a burden.  Some believe that if they have children, it will ruin the environment.  Most who do have children have 1, 2, or maybe the accidental 3rd (or the justified 3rd, because they finally got the opposite gender), and then they will be finished, and call this "complete."  Many (SO many) are "waiting" to have children until they've lived life--earned money--gone on vacations--experienced things--only to find that the wife's eggs have died off and they can no longer have children...While I'm not writing to tell y'all how many kids to have, or to dictate how large or small a family should be, I do want to share some things that the Bible says.

Children's children are a crown to the aged, 
       and parents are the pride of their children. 

Proverbs 17:6

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

Genesis 1:28

and again:

"Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. ¹⁷ Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it."

Genesis 8:16

(God wouldn't say it twice if it wasn't important to Him)

What's that? He said it again?

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 

Genesis 9:1

and again?

As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it."

Genesis 9:7

and again?

And God said to him, "I am God Almighty ^{c]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[c]} ; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body.

Genesis 35:11

And just to be clear, we haven't "filled the earth" yet--remember the mostly empty country I mentioned?  That's just our country.  God's first command to His people was to multiply and fill the earth--how much do we believe it?  How much do we live it out?

Our children are like little weaponry against our enemies:

 

Sons are a heritage from the LORD, 
       children a reward from him.

 ⁴ Like arrows in the hands of a warrior 
       are sons born in one's youth.

 ⁵ Blessed is the man 
       whose quiver is full of them. 
       They will not be put to shame 
       when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

Psalm 127:3-5

The radical Muslims in Europe get this more than most Christians do...Christianity is declining steadily, while Islam is growing.

At the present rates of change, Islam will become the dominant religion in the world before 2050.

The LORD made his people very fruitful; 
       he made them too numerous for their foes,

Psalm 105:24

The rapid expansion of Islam worldwide, due primarily to the disparity between Muslim and Christian birth rates.

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine 
       within your house; 
       your sons will be like olive shoots 
       around your table.

Thus is the man blessed 
       who fears the LORD.

Psalm 128:3-4

Yes indeed, the man who fears the Lord and has a fruitful vine and olive shoots in his home is very, very, very blessed.

but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.

Exodus 1:7

Wouldn't it be wonderful if Exodus 1:7 was true of Believers today? But instead, the following verses are true for the Christian community:

¹⁰ " 'Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard
       planted by the water; 
       it was fruitful and full of branches 
       because of abundant water.

 ¹¹ Its branches were strong, 
       fit for a ruler's scepter. 
       It towered high 
       above the thick foliage, 
       conspicuous for its height 
       and for its many branches.

 ¹² But it was uprooted in fury 
       and thrown to the ground. 
       The east wind made it shrivel, 
       it was stripped of its fruit; 
       its strong branches withered 
       and fire consumed them.

 ¹³ Now it is planted in the desert, 
       in a dry and thirsty land.

 ¹⁴ Fire spread from one of its main ^{c]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[c]} branches 
       and consumed its fruit. 
       No strong branch is left on it 
       fit for a ruler's scepter.' 
      This is a lament and is to be used as a lament."

Ezekiel 19

Job 18:

He has no offspring or descendants among his people, 
       no survivor where once he lived.

 ²⁰ Men of the west are appalled at his fate; 
       men of the east are seized with horror.

 ²¹ Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man; 
       such is the place of one who knows not God."

Isaiah 48:

This is what the LORD says— 
       your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: 
       "I am the LORD your God, 
       who teaches you what is best for you, 
       who directs you in the way you should go.

 ¹⁸ If only you had paid attention to my commands, 
       your peace would have been like a river, 
       your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

 ¹⁹ Your descendants would have been like the sand, 
       your children like its numberless grains; 
       their name would never be cut off 
       nor destroyed from before me."

Our generation is a stubborn generation just like Israel when God was talking to them in those verses.  We think we have to make a lot of money to be fruitful. We don't trust that we have a God who gives and takes away.  We think that having more children will use up our water supply, and our land and that the quality of life will be diminished.  We forget that God told us to fill the earth.  

I love this quote:

"The Bible calls debt a curse and children a blessing. But in our culture we apply for a curse and reject blessings. Something is wrong with this picture." -Doug Phillips, Vision Forum

Now, as Isaac said to Jacob;

May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples.

Genesis 28:3

:)