Does World Population Growth Consume, Even Destroy the Earth’s Resources and Wealth? Are We Doomed?

   In short, the following statement is the consensus of past and contemporary liberal ‘doomsayers’:
“The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970’s the world will undergo famines – hundreds of millions of people are going (emphasis mine) to starve to death”
               -Paul Ehrlich’s The Population Bomb*, 1968
 
In 1972, George Fichter wrote the following to children:
“When man first began to farm, there were fewer than five million people on earth, and it took more than a million years for the population to reach that figure. But populations increase geometrically – that is they double (2,4,8,16,32, etc). Food supplies, in contrast, increase only arithmetically, a much slower process (2,4,6,8,10,12, etc)…. If the population continues to explode, many people will starve. About half of the world’s population is underfed now, with many approaching starvation.” **
 
In 2023, the now 90-year-old Dr. Ehrlich, not content with the failure of his former predictions, once again predicted: "The rate of extinction is extraordinarily high now and getting higher all the time," Ehrlich said. He explained, "Humanity is not sustainable. To maintain our lifestyle (yours and mine, basically) for the entire planet, you'd need five more Earths. Not clear where they're gonna come from."
   "I was alarmed. I am still alarmed. All of my colleagues are alarmed."***
 
There are two reasons these doomsayers are so very wrong. First, and most important is the Word of God. The Bible declares God created the earth “full”:
“The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.”                               -Ps24:1
   In other words, contrary to the ‘doomsayers’, the earth is neither running out, nor down, precisely because God created it to sustain as many people as obey God’s command to:
“…multiply and replenish the earth…” (Gen1:28)!!
​
   Along with the “fullness” of the earth, God breaks it down even further declaring that the sea is full (1Chron16:32). In addition, scripture declares God possesses “…treasures in darkness, and hidden riches in secret places” (Is45:3), which also can be used to provide for mankind; and is confirmed by Jeremiah 33:3* and 1Corinthians 2:9**.  
   And finally, even if it were possible for the earth to run out of resources, Philippians 4:19 declares God will provide for mankind using His “…riches in glory”!!!! The word “glory” transcends even the abundance God created in the earth!! Incredibly, the great provision inspired in scripture by God for man is rooted in His name El Shaddai(Gen17:1; Gen28:3), which describes His nature of “more than enough”!
 
  My second reason originates in the graphs I showed in my last tidbit, also known as General Revelation***. I added another graph from last week showing world population growth. This graph provides absolute proof that the number of people on the earth does not contribute to world starvation!!
   For example, look at the two graphs showing individual GDP and world population growth. First, if you look closely at the world population growth graph it reveals an explosion in population growth all over the world beginning around the early 20th century (1900). Now, if you look at the graph of the individual GDP, it also shows an upward explosion at the same time. I repeat, the rate of upward explosion for both world population and individual GDP occurred nearly exactly at the same time!
   If the ‘doomsayers’ were right, when the population exploded upward, assuming the same rate of food supply growth, the individual GDP of the world should have plummeted, and the world’s people should have experienced mass starvation!!! Yet, the exact opposite occurred!!!  Two of the greatest examples are China and India, whose people were starving even into the 1950’s and 60’s! What happened?  Innovation and technology! Simply, as the people of certain third-world nations became free, they created stuff!! Their creativity often resulted not only in stuff, but also in new ways to produce food from the nearly infinite resources of the earth that obviously and dramatically reduced starvation!!! In other words, just like God’s word declares, the earth is full and can and will produce for all its inhabitants!!
 
“Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof.”
                                    -Ps96:11
 
*Jer33:3- “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”
**1Cor 2:9- “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
***The knowledge God created in His creation.
 
 
QuoteBit
“If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the Pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it.”  
                                                                      -Charles Finney