Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rice!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: cadence!stevep@uunet.uu.net (Steve Peterson) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: The End of the World!! Message-ID: Date: 9 Mar 91 03:55:37 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Cadence Design Systems, Inc. Lines: 73 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article smaanian@swift.cs.tcd.ie writes: >[I part of a response on JW beliefs, Steve Peterson said >> Must a person go to heaven to have a truly happy future? >> Psa 37:11 will possess the earth and have exquisite delight in the >> abundance of peace >> Rev 21:1-4 in this new earth - no tears, mourning, pain, or death >> Mic 4:3,4 no war, complete security >--clh] > >You say that on earth there will no be death. What will happen with >overpopulation? Or the people on earth will not have children anymore? > >I say "you say" because this is your interpretation, giving literal meaning to >a quotation. > >Thank you. > >Socrates Maanian [smaanian@cs.tcd.ie] Hi Socrates! Thank-you for reading and responding to my previous post. On the subject of Death: ------------------------- At Isaiah 25:8 the prophetic promise is make that God "will actually swallow up death for ever, and the Sovereign Lord Jehovah will certainly wipe the tears from all faces." The sting producing death is sin (1Cor 15:56), and thus all having sin and its accompanying imperfection have death working in their bodies. (Ro 7:13, 23, 24) The abolition of death, therefore, would require the abolition of that which produces death: sin. By the removal of the last trace of sin from obedient mankind, the authority of death will be abolished and death itself will be destroyed, and this is to be accomplished during the riegn of Christ. (1Co 15:24-26) Thereby death, brought upon the human reace by Adam's transgression, "will be no more." (Ro 5:12; Re 21:3, 4) Its destruction is figuratively likened to its being hurled into a "lake of fire." Re 20:14 On the subject of over-population. ---------------------------------- Wouldn't the end of death cause over population? God's command to Adam & Eve was to multiply and fill the earth. (Gen 1:28). We see that God's desire was to *fill* the earth, not *over-fill* the earth. As an illustration, if God were to tell someone to fill a glass with water, it is obvious that he wouldn't mean to continue filling the glass until it over-fills causing a big mess. Likewise, it isn't God's desire to overfill the earth causing a big mess. In this "new earth", when the time comes that the earth would become overfilled, there would be some mechanism to prohibit overpopulation. The Bible doesn't give the specifics to what this would be. I have heard some persons *speculate* that perhaps fertility could drop off, or that some persons may travel to other planets. But this is *speculation* since the Bible doesn't explicitly say. How many people could the earth accomodate? Currently there are about 5 Billion persons living on the earth. It has been estimated that over the last 6,016 years since Adam was created there have been a total of about 15 Billion persons that have ever lived. There is about 30 Billion acres of available land here on earth. This is 2 acres per person. But some might say: You are neglecting the fact that much of the land is unusable, being desert. The Bible describes the time when this unusable land will blossom. (Isa 35:1) I hope that this brief answer helps with your questions. It certainly isn't everything that could be presented on this topic. Best Regards...... Steve Peterson ---- stevep@cadence.com or ...!uunet!cadence!stevep