I’d like to add a few thoughts to the opinion editor’s “Staying Alive (10/25)” Viewpoint column.
No one can predict the future. Just imagine the shape the world might be in if people adopted a “zero growth” mentality before the Black Death hit centuries ago.
What sort of world would it be today?
My point is we must be careful about future predictions like saying eight billion in 2025.
What if another epidemic hits the globe that wipes out half the world’s population?
If that seems a bit extreme, what if a bacteria comes along that seriously hinders a couple’s ability to become pregnant or even deliver a healthy child?
The answer is not, as the editor alludes, to throw responsibility willy-nilly to the wind.
We certainly need to carefully plan our families in consultation with the Lord, but the commandment to “multiply and replenish the earth” remains in force.
Consider the saying “necessity is the mother of invention.”
If earth begins bursting at the population seams, who’s to say we won’t be able to spread that population to other planets?
Who’s to say someone won’t come up with a way to feed the world more efficiently, or make it possible to acquire vitamins just by breathing the air?
My point is simple — where there is a need, brilliant minds come forth with great ideas.
Family planning is a very personal matter. Let’s not allow fear to rule the decisions we make.
Ralph Tobias
Spanish Fork
