A church committee has asked the General Synod of Australia’s Anglican Church to adopt a statement calling for citizens to have fewer children, recommending that the government cut childbirth incentives to new parents and instead offer incentives for parents to have fewer children. The country is on track for overpopulation, the church warned, which could break the eighth commandment by stealing resources from future generations. Do Christians have a special responsibility to have children?
Read the entire article from Christianity Today.
How might you answer these types of social issues in light of the command for the followers of God to “multiple and fill the earth.”
First, people have thought, wrongly, overpopulation problems have been imminent for over 200 years. It is largely because they hold the production of resources stable and increase the population in their models. Unfortunately for the proponents, capitalism encourages the development of better methods of developing, distributing, and delivering resources. So the premise is flawed.
However, I don’t think the command to “multiply and fill the earth” is a command for each specific follower of God, but for all of humanity collectively. From the passage in Genesis it seems a blessing for being created in the image of God. So, while I wouldn’t say this denomination is sinning; I would say they are severely misguided.