By John Ensor

 About 40 years ago John Paul II wrote a book called The Gospel of Life in which he popularized the language of the culture of death. Some years later a scholar by the name of James Burnham wrote a book called The Suicide of the West that explained some of the pathologies of modern day liberalism and how it becomes a death culture. We see that even right now in the Democratic National Convention, where they were celebrating the offer of free abortions and vasectomies to all those who attended, which is just a shocking demonstration of the culture of death at work. Neil Postman wrote a book some years ago called Amusing Ourselves to Death, in which he described our current culture as one that is just filled with empty entertainment and that it’s destroying us because the most important things in life are being set aside for the trivial things in life.

I continue to see signs of this culture of death expanding around the world and one way that you all can see it is by looking at total fertility rates (TFR). Total fertility rates refers to, in a particular part of the world, the number of children that they’re having that in effect sustain the population and thereby extend the economy and produce prosperity over a period of time. I have a map of global fertility rates around the world produced by the World Bank. All the pink areas on that map are parts of the world that are not having enough children to replace the current population, so they are slowly dying. The map shows that most of Asia, Russia, Europe, and all of North America are not replacing themselves with the future generations. Now in the United States our fertility rate is somewhat dealt with by the increase of immigrants. But nonetheless, in many parts of the world including the U.S., we have a very low fertility rate. The only parts of the world that are still welcoming children is Africa, which is largely dominated by much of the Christian culture in Africa today. The growing Christian movement in Africa continues to promote a value that affirms and treasures children and family, both by tribal traditions and by the influence of Christianity. The other area is in the Muslim Middle East area where they also welcome children. And then there are a few red spots on this map that show the dire consequence of having a fertility rate that is below 1.0.

Well those numbers don’t mean much so I decided that I would draw a little map for you. So here’s my simple map that says that to have a sustaining population, you need to have every couple have two children. And since men cannot have children, the woman needs to have one for herself and one for him. In other words, if you want to keep the population even, every woman needs to have two children. But the reality is that some women don’t get married, can’t have children, or in some cases they suffer the loss of a child. So really for every woman, the fertility rate is 2.1; in other words, they need to have a little bit more than their immediate replacement value of 2.1 which is the minimum that a country needs to just sustain its population and not see it increase or decrease. Right now in places like China, not only do they not have a 2.1, they don’t even have a 1.2. They’re right now currently at about 1.02. The United States is at 1.6, which means that we are committing a kind of a voluntary genocide as a culture of people in this generation.

So I stand in stark contrast to the trends of our time that keep saying that children are too costly. And that maybe we shouldn’t, because of climate issues, even have children. The biblical, moral vision is that there is a blessing in the promotion of family and children that comes out of Genesis chapter 1, verse 28, which is the cultural mandate that says God has blessed us through the having of children. If you want to know all that the Bible has to say about children and family, here’s a very good summary of it written by Andreas Kostenberger, he writes this: “The esteem in which children are held in ancient Israel can be attributed to several factors and convictions. Number one, the belief that every human being is created in the image of God, which is why we don’t throw them away, even if they’re broken in some way. And number two, the view that children ensure the perpetuation of humanity and the fulfillment of the divine mandate to subdue and cultivate the earth. This is the blessing of God: to go out and be fruitful, to marry and to bear children. Number three, the notion that the conception of children was ultimately a product of divine action and hence a sign of God’s favor. Even though we sometimes ascribe the birth of children to the mere intimacy between a man and a woman, the reality is only God can create a child. So every child is a miracle of a man, a woman, and Almighty God who is blessing that moment of intimacy and awarding them with a child.
Number four, the value of children as an important economic asset. The truth of the matter is, without a growing population, you can’t have a growing economy. Just stop and think, this is what I teach around the world sometimes in the most simple way. I said, if you sell apples for a living, do you want fewer and fewer people in the village every year or more and more?
Well, you want more and more. The more people, the more apples are bought, the more you earn, the more you buy things from other people who are starting businesses, and you grow an economy through a growing family, through a growing culture and population. And number five, the belief that in a sense parents live on in and through their children. Hence, the worst fate was to have your seed cut off in the Bible. That was seen as a curse.”

So all of this is to remind us that when the Bible says that there’s a blessing in our families, that is a profound truth. As our culture around the world becomes more and more a culture of death and more and more a participant in a voluntary genocide, we want to stand in utter contrast to that reality and have the courage to believe God’s word that there is a blessing, there’s a prosperity, there’s a faithfulness in welcoming every child that God would grant to us if we desire to have children. I just want to assure you that, as bad as things are, there’s still always a blessing in growing our family here and encouraging that around the world.