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papatr: the US only has a few hundred million people. China has approximately 5 times as many people, and they are giving birth at a very high rate. India has approximately 4 times as many people, and are giving birth at a similarly high rate. Then there's africa, and south/central america, some of the other big population centers of the world.
First world nations don't have much population.
Even if every person in the US, and Europe, and Japan were to die off today, the world population would still explode.
And the reason first world nations don't have much population is pretty simple: reproductive choice has occurred. This is usually through two forces: educated, empowered women being pickier about mates (hence less sex at a young age) and educated men and women using birth control even when they start having sex (including when married).
If people didn't use birth control, this statistic would become what mattered: 85% of women having sex would become pregnant each year. If only two thirds of the women in the united states were having sex, that would be around eighty five million pregnancies every single year. That's eight hundred and fifty million kids born every ten years, more than enough to send the population of the US skyrocketing (even after taking off deaths).
Without birth control, or pretty much everybody just not having sex (including when married), the world is in dire straights.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
rivka. Sorry. I wasn't trying to be deliberately offensive. But I can see it would've come off that way.
quote:Bob, the rules of kashrut (keeping kosher) have little -- if anything -- to do with the safety of the food.
I'd heard that interpretation from a Jewish scholar so I thought it was a pretty common thing. Not that there isn't the over-riding consideration of showing respect for G_d, of course, but that there were good logical reasons for the dietary restrictions as well, if you thought about the lives they lived and the environment, etc.
Oh well.
As for picking and choosing...the Christian Old Testament causes me a lot of problems. It is taken by many sects to be the literal word of God. And then so is the New Testament. The two volumes disagree on many issues, so that's a problem.
But even if I were Jewish and thus had no New Testament to confuse me, I would be picking and choosing.
Again, sorry for saying such abrasive stuff earlier.
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fugu13, But my point is that it wont do any good for the world even if the US does totally depopulate.
Posts: 554 | Registered: Nov 2000
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I did not think you were being deliberately offensive, Bob, but thanks for the gracious apology.
Kashrut laws are in the classification of "chukot" -- laws for which we are deliberately given no explanation other than because God says so. (Kind of like the recurring conversation I have with my kids about why they have to clean up their rooms. ) That doesn't stop people with trying to come up with logical explanations of them, of course. The "for safety/health reasons" is one of several I have heard. But even if it's true (and it may well be ), it's very secondary.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Sorry I've been gone so long, and this is not my ultimiate post my interent has been down and right now I'm at a class and using on of my friends computers. I was just going to say that it looks as if we've strayed from the topic, however the current discussion is very interesting. Just wanted to know if you people wanted to close the book, or continue talking about Rev. Robinson. I do not want to beat a dead horse, so I won't post on it again if that is the general decision. I'll post again soon.
P.S. - Ralphie I really enjoyed the post on the blood transfusion, etc.
Posts: 43 | Registered: Aug 2003
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You forget that most of the Mormon population is not in the United States.
Also, I thought LDS members were required to be evangelical. *looks out window at missionaries*
If not, you're doing a darn good imitation of it .
If that is correct, it would not be an option for the US (entirely converted to LDS) to ignore the rest of the world; they'd have to try to convert 'em.
Not only that, but even ignoring the US, as pointed out the rest of the world would explode, and you can bet China (probably India too) will be at war for territory in a few decades, which will likely lead to war with the US.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
Regarding Christianity as an ever evolving community:
quote:For if God is a socially conscious political being whose views invariably correspond to our own prejudices on every essential point of doctrine, he demands of us no more than our politics require. Besides, if God is finite, progressive, and Pure Love, we may as well skip church next Sunday and go to the movies. For if we have nothing to fear from this all-loving, all-forbearing, all-forgiving God, how would our worship of him constitute more than self-congratulation for our own moral standards? As an atheist, I like this God. It is good to see him every morning while I am shaving... (Eugene D. Genovese, "Pilgrim's Progress," The New Republic, 11 May 1992, page 38
I want religion to stay it's ground, to be true to God.
Posts: 554 | Registered: Nov 2000
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quote:(Though I'm not of the "salvation by faith only" crowd and so do not view the remaining restrictions as merely a nod toward the Jews. Which is why I do not, as an example, accept blood transfusions.)
Hey, I'm not of the "salvation by faith only" crowd either, but I do believe that, more or less. (Idolatry being an obvious exception.)
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) That doesn't stop people with trying to come up with logical explanations of them, of course. The "for safety/health reasons" is one of several I have heard. But even if it's true (and it may well be ![[Dont Know]](graemlins/dontknow.gif)
), it's very secondary.
