| Highlights of Dawn | March 1949 |
The Divine Plan for Survival
STRANGE paradoxes combine these days to help fill the hearts of the people with fear. Since the possibility of racial destruction by the misuse of atomic energy has loomed on the horizon, scientists, philosophers, statesmen, politicians, and militarists have all continued to warn the nations of the terrible loss of human life that will surely result from the outbreak of another global war. These warnings not only are based upon the threat of the atomic bomb, but also on the yet untried use of disease germs in total war.
But now comes a warning that modern civilization is sure to perish unless something is done to prevent the human race from increasing in size—that unless something drastic is done, and done soon, there will not be enough agricultural land to keep the people from starving; and that even the United States cannot be excluded from this dark picture of a hungry future. The stark reality of this menacing world outlook has recently been clearly and dramatically set forth in a book entitled, “Road to Survival,” written by William Vogt, Chief of the Conservation Section of the Pan American Union. In a review of this book which appeared in the New York Times, R.C. Cook said, “‘Road to Survival’ will shock you, and it may infuriate you, but it is a preview of things to come as seen by a courageous, honest, competent scientist.” A brief of “Road to Survival” was published in The Reader’s Digest.
The author explains that there are already too many people for the earth’s limited resources to provide all of them with a high standard of living. Through the use of machines, and undue exploitation of the earth’s resources, we have put off the evil day when this fact has to be faced. “But,” writes Mr. Vogt, “The handwriting on the walls of five continents now tells us that the Day of Judgment is at hand.”
One of the facts set forth in “Road to Survival” is that 50,000 additional stomachs are being added to the world’s population every twenty-four hours, and that there is not enough available untilled land to provide for this increasing need. What does an increase of 50,000 in the earth’s population every day really mean? Perhaps we can grasp the idea better if we think of it as 365 cities of 50,000 each coming into being every year; or, of two cities of 9,000,000, each of which would be larger than New York.
To make the critical situation in the world’s supply of food even worse, there is the tragic fact of soil deterioration. Dr. Hugh H. Bennett, testifying before a Congressional committee in 1939, said,
“In the short life of this country we have essentially destroyed 282 million acres of land. We are losing every day as the result of erosion, the equivalent of two 140-acre farms.”
As reported in “Road to Survival,” soil erosion is almost universal in Latin America. The greater part of Mexico will be a desert within 100 years, and Chile in less time.
“Unless we are willing,” writes Mr. Vogt, “to place 50 million pairs of British feet beneath our American dining table, we may well see famine once more stalking the streets of London.” All over Europe the situation is as bad, and in most places, worse. Despite the war, and despite German massacres and the high death rate due to malnutrition, the population of Europe, excluding Russia, increased by 11 million people between 1936 and 1946. It is expected to reach 404 million by 1955. Nutritionists claim that it requires at least two and one-half acres of land to support one person. At the present time in Europe there is less than nine-tenths of an acre of land for each person and that proportion is becoming constantly smaller through increasing population and soil destruction.
In China, Japan, and India, the outlook is even darker, both from the standpoint of soil deterioration and increasing populations. Mr. Vogt asserts that we literally have no choice but to continue extending aid to the rest of the world, for, says he, an international WPA is better than an atomic war. In China, for example, where, it is estimated, 100 million people have starved to death during the past century, there is now less than one-half acre of arable land for each person, and this is constantly being reduced by a rapidly increasing population.
India, which at the present time is increasing her population at the rate of 14,000 a day, is capable of providing only 1,400 calories a day for but seventy-five percent of her people. India’s rapid increase in population is despite the fact that forty-five percent of her population die before they are ten years old; and sixty-five percent before they reach thirty. And the productivity of India’s land is rapidly falling. Summing up the global situation, “Road to Survival” states,
“Freedom from want was the carrot held before the noses of less prosperous peoples, to enlist their support during the war. What a monstrous deception this was, of ourselves and them, should be clear to anyone who thinks in terms of the carrying capacity of the world’s lands.”
Here, then, is the tragic situation that faces the perplexed world of today. In the long-range view it is a problem that quite supersedes that of spreading communism. What’s happening behind the iron curtain is not nearly so important to the human race as the question of how it will keep men from starving to death in view of the rapidly shrinking agricultural land surface of the earth, and the rapidly increasing population. With nearly every country in the world already living on near starvation rations, and looking to the United States to keep them from utterly starving, what will the situation be ten, twenty-five, or fifty years from now?
Two global wars in a generation have undoubtedly helped to bring about this crisis somewhat earlier than it would otherwise have developed. But now it is here, and despite what is happening behind the iron curtain, the developments in Palestine, or Berlin, or Indonesia, or China, or Greece, or Rome, will remain to vex the human race until a solution appears. And what will that solution be?
The author of “Road to Survival” urges that serious consideration be given to the training of scientists to study land conservation and productivity, and that these be sent to all parts of the world to help the people produce more food. But he adds,
“All possible conservation methods are futile unless human breeding is checked. It is obvious that fifty years hence the world cannot support three billion people at any but coolie standards—for most of them. One-third of an acre cannot decently feed a man, let alone clothe him. When numbers mount, land abuse mounts with them. Unless population increases can be stopped, we might as well give up the struggle.”
There will be many to disagree with “Road to Survival” on this point. The Catholic Church, for example, will look with disfavor upon any suggestion to curtail the birth of children in order to solve even a major world problem. Is this indeed the only solution?
From the standpoint of what is taught in the Bible, the problem presented in “Road to Survival” should be very stimulating to faith. In the prophecy of Isaiah (45:18) the Lord tells us that he created the earth, not in vain, but formed it to be inhabited. This is quite in keeping with the Genesis account of creation where we learn that when our first parents were created they were commanded to multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it. It is clear, therefore, that the Creator designed that the earth should be fully populated; and despite famines, plagues, starvation, and war, this divine purpose is certainly being accomplished.
And the Bible presents another side to the subject, which is, that all who have died, from the very beginning of human existence on this earth, are to be restored to life by divine power. These also are to live on the earth, and live here forever. Does this seem incredulous in view of the fear that another hundred years will see the earth over-populated without anyone being raised from the dead? It may, until we take into consideration all the facts involved.
The Bible does not as a rule, present many details of the manner in which God’s purposes are to be carried out, but in this case it does give us suggestions from which we may reason to a satisfactory conclusion. For example, the command to our first parents was that they were to multiply and fill the earth. The implication here is that when the earth became properly filled, procreation would cease. The Scriptures do not say how this will be brought about; it is enough for us to know that God placed a limit on his command that called for filling the earth with human creatures.
When the Sadducees of Jesus’ day, thinking to trap him, outlined a hypothetical case of a woman who had had seven husbands, and then asked whose wife she would be in the resurrection, Jesus replied that in the resurrection the people would neither marry nor be given in marriage. (Matt. 22:30) Here again, and by the authority of Jesus, we have more than a hint that eventually human procreation is to cease.
Time and again we have called attention to the fact that according to the prophecies of the Bible we have come to the time in human experience when the kingdom of Christ will take over the rulership of the world. In the plan of God, Christ’s thousand-year reign is shown also to be the period during which the dead are to be raised. If procreation is to cease with the beginning of the resurrection, then we are at the very threshold of the time when this great change is to occur. This means, in turn, that the Creator’s design concerning the earth’s being populated, or filled, is nearing full accomplishment.
To look at the matter from another standpoint, the population problem, so dramatically set forth in “Road to Survival,” becomes one of the strongest proofs that the time has come when we can expect divine intervention in the affairs of men, in fulfillment of God’s many promises. Certainly the Creator has timed the outworking of his plan accurately, and it is only because the author of “Road to Survival” does not understand the divine plan that he is so fearful.
But some may wonder if the earth is not already over-populated, in view of God’s promise to restore the dead to life. The answer to this question is found through faith in the biblical account of creation, which puts the beginning of human life on the earth only a little more than 6,000 years ago, starting with a single pair. On the other hand, the acute population problem of today should stimulate faith in the Bible’s account of creation, for, if evolutionists’ theories are correct that man has been on the earth for millions of years, somebody would have had to write “Road to Survival” long before this.
If we figure the increase of population over a period of 6,000 years, beginning with two people, we reach approximately the number of the earth’s population as of today; and this is one of the strongest proofs that the biblical account of creation is true. And it is also true that if all who have died were restored to life, there would still be room enough on the earth, with plenty of land to support them.
God’s solution provides for a restoration of the land. His promise is that even the desert shall blossom as the rose. (Isa. 35:1,2) The One who created the earth, surely can instruct mankind how to make its waste lands produce. Think of the great deserts of America, and Africa, and other parts of the earth. These can, and will, be made to produce. Perhaps, in the divine economy, God is already putting it into the minds of men to begin a study of this problem, for he performs what we call miracles only when it is necessary. Perhaps his command to subdue the earth, as well as to fill it, implies that men themselves will learn how to make even the deserts produce far beyond anything we have known before. Let us thank God that we are so near the time when man will be shown a better way of life, and when even those who have died will have an opportunity to participate in the provision of everlasting life which he has made through Christ.
| Highlights of Dawn |
Missionary Work in Communist China
WITH China coming more and more under the control of the communists, the question naturally arises how will the missionaries in that country be affected. At a conference of missionary workers held recently in Buck Hill Falls, Pennsylvania, the outlook was discussed. According to a report in Time magazine, it was found that no denomination intended to order its missionaries to leave China. In all cases the decision is to be left to the missionaries themselves. It seems that the communists are proving generally to be more lenient than anyone had expected. Dr. Lloyd S. Ruland, China secretary for the Northern Presbyterians, reported that communist soldiers attend Presbyterian missionaries’ lectures, and express surprise that Christianity teaches brotherly love and the brotherhood of man.
Why should communists be surprised that Christianity teaches brotherly love? We know, of course, the tremendous power of propaganda, and we know that the communists are doing all they can to discredit Christianity in the eyes of their people. But is it not true that denominational Christianity has placed powerful weapons in the hands of the communists, both by their teachings and by their practices? It would be surprising if the communists have not taken the opportunity to tell about the horrible tortures that were inflicted upon so-called heretics during the Dark Ages, in the name of Christianity. Nor would it be surprising if they have emphasized that the god who is described in the creeds of most denominations is himself a torment deity, ready to torment forever all who displease him. Should we, then, be amazed to learn that communists are surprised when they learn that Christianity is a religion of brotherly love?
One of the best ways to fight atheistic communism is to come out boldly and tell the whole truth about Christianity. This, in the very nature of things,, would call for the confession of many wrongs. Why do not the Protestants, at least, in a world-wide intelligence service, tell the people of all nations that the church-state systems of Europe, which fostered wars, and kept the people ignorant and in slavery, were not Christian—that they represented a mistaken and distorted conception of Christianity.
Why don’t the Protestants also, and on an equally world-wide and impressive scale, tell the people that the God of the Bible is not a torment deity, that the grotesque theory that he created a burning hell of fire in which to torment unbelievers forever, is all wrong, and a terrible blot of disgrace on the history of Christianity. At the same time they should emphasize that the God of the Bible is a God of love and mercy, and that he wants his people to be like him and practice brotherly love among themselves, and toward all men. Such a world-wide campaign, aimed at correcting some of the grosser faults of denominational Christianity, would take some of the most effective weapons out of the hands of the communists.
Perhaps we do not stop to consider as we should just how revolting is the theory of eternal torture for the wicked. Some weeks ago there was a serious airplane accident at one of Seattle’s airports. Eleven students of Yale University, home for the year-end vacation, were burned to death in their plane when it crashed into one of the hangars on the field. One of the news accounts, reporting the accident, said, “Women spectators, relatives, and friends of the students, turned their faces away. Guards sought to restrain fathers and brothers, some of whom leaped over the airport fence and raced for the burning plane. A fire truck went into action, and stretchers were hurried to the scene.”
We admire and honor those who so frantically tried to rescue the victims of this accident from the burning flames; yet, according to the creeds of most of our churches, God will torture, in flames far hotter than those in the burning plane, all who do not accept Jesus before they die. Should not this terrible blot against the good name of God be removed, effectively and officially by all the denominations?