Be Fruitful and Multiply

[Mungling]

I apologize in advance if this is not in the right forum.

Before I start this topic, I want to stress what this topic is not. It is not an attempt to justify abortion or contraception. These acts are wrong no matter the surrounding context. Furthermore, this is not an attempt to say that the planet is currently overpopulated.

As a Catholic, I often hear that we are commanded to be fruitful and multiply owing to Genesis 1:28. However, if we accept that people consume resources, and that the Earth has a limited amount of resources, then isn’t the logical conclusion that we’ll eventually run out of resources on our little planet?

I’m sure the Church has a good explanation or reasoning for why this will not be the case. I would really like to know know what those reason are.

 

[1ke]

However, if we accept that people consume resources, and that the Earth has a limited amount of resources, then isn’t the logical conclusion that we’ll eventually run out of resources on our little planet?.

But the Earth does not have limited resources. The Earth has renewable and expansive resources, combined with human ingenuity.

Take copper for example. In the Simon-Ehrlich wager, Ehrlich wrongly predicted copper would become scarce due to use in telecommunications and other uses. Enter fiberoptics. We won’t be running out of sand. Human innovation.

I’m sure the Church has a good explanation or reasoning for why this will not be the case. I would really like to know know what those reason are.

The Church has no teaching on the topic as it does not pertain to faith and morals.

 

[karebear92]

This is just my opinion, but I don’t think we are running out of resources because of our large population; we are running out of resources because we are abusing what God gave us. God gave us land, but not necessarily to cover in roads, homes, businesses and pollution. God gave us food, but not to eat to the point of obesity. I am not saying that I don’t drive a car or ever indulge in food, I am probably equally to blame, but the point still remains that we are not running out of resources because of the amount of people; we are running out of resources because of how the people use them.

We are logical creatures. A wolf doesn’t understand that if they eat too much deer, they will eventually run out of food. Humans are knowledgeable enough to understand that, and yet, we do nothing about it.

 

[Seatuck]

We aren’t running out of resources at all. What we have is a failure to use our resources properly as a people due to cultural and political differences. As well as the sinfulness of mankind.

 

[karebear92]

We aren’t running out of resources at all. What we have is a failure to use our resources properly as a people due to cultural and political differences. As well as the sinfulness of mankind.

Good point. I agree.

 

[Mungling]

Hello everyone and thank you for the replies.

But the Earth does not have limited resources. The Earth has renewable and expansive resources, combined with human ingenuity.

Take copper for example. In the Simon-Ehrlich wager, Ehrlich wrongly predicted copper would become scarce due to use in telecommunications and other uses. Enter fiberoptics. We won’t be running out of sand. Human innovation.

The Church has no teaching on the topic as it does not pertain to faith and morals.

Well the Earth does have limited resources, in the sense that there Earth is a closed system and there is only so much matter there. Now I have considered the technology hypothesis (resource consumption behaving asymptotically with available resources). I’m skeptical of this. Let’s take, for example, the Green Revolution. The Green Revolution has been responsible for Earth’s ability to produce the amount of food that it is at the moment. In this sense it is a success. With that said, the Green Revolution is entirely dependent on petroleum (a non renewable resource) and is severely damaging arable land in the process. Consequently, sometime in the future the Green Revolution will fail, and unless we’re able to innovate in other ways we’re going to have a significant amount of starving people. Further innovation is, of course, possible but not guaranteed. Unless it is thought that God will directly inspire development when human minds begin to fail I do not believe that there are any guarantees.

I would also like to point out that even continued human innovation there will be some point when the Earth cannot support more people. To take the argument to an absurd level, let us hypothesize that human kind will continue to breed until there is literally standing room only on the Earth. No amount of human innovation could support a population of that size. Now, obviously, this isn’t something that will ever occur. But the fact remains that at some point the Earth will cease to be able to support more life.

This is just my opinion, but I don’t think we are running out of resources because of our large population; we are running out of resources because we are abusing what God gave us. God gave us land, but not necessarily to cover in roads, homes, businesses and pollution. God gave us food, but not to eat to the point of obesity. I am not saying that I don’t drive a car or ever indulge in food, I am probably equally to blame, but the point still remains that we are not running out of resources because of the amount of people; we are running out of resources because of how the people use them.

We are logical creatures. A wolf doesn’t understand that if they eat too much deer, they will eventually run out of food. Humans are knowledgeable enough to understand that, and yet, we do nothing about it.

I whole heartily agree that, at the moment, resource scarcity is due to greed and politics rather than any real lack. I’m thinking in the (far) future. Moderating consumption and properly stewarding the Earth can sustained the continued growth of human civilization for quite some time. However, it cannot do so indefinitely.

We aren’t running out of resources at all. What we have is a failure to use our resources properly as a people due to cultural and political differences. As well as the sinfulness of mankind.

As I stated above, I completely agree. We aren’t running out of resources - yet. But eventually we will.

Thank you for the responses, keep them coming if possible.

 

[merne9]

you are right about contraception. but what is allowed and many people use is the natural family planning method. idk why people don’t talk about this. many have the perception that we are suppose to multiply like bunnies and we don’t have a choice to when or how many kids to have. there is also a misconception that this method does not work and it really does.