Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently counseled young single adults to date more, marry earlier, and don’t delay having children.
A movement in South Korea has adopted the mantra “4B,” which translates to the “Four Nos:” no dating, no sex, no marriage and no child-rearing.
The Salt Lake Tribune has published articles about the world’s fertility rate. America’s current fertility rate is 1.64 children per woman. This is the lowest rate recorded since the 1930s and well below the “replacement-level fertility” of about 2.1. If this number falls below 2.1, then the size of the population starts to fall. Twenty-three countries are expecting their populations to fall to less than half their current population as early as 2050.
This will create enormous social change especially as the number of people aged 60 years and older outnumber children younger than 5 years. Many experts consider that replacing grade schools with nursing homes brings uniformly negative consequences of an inverted age structure.
Who pays tax in a massively aged world, pays for health care, gives care to and looks after the elderly?
In 1950, women were having an average of 4.7 children in their lifetime. It’s quite possible there was more Bible reading and heeding the scripture in Genesis 1:28: “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.”
Davis County School District (which has recently banned Bibles in some schools) take note: There are about 1600 pages in the Bible filled with many faith-promoting stories about valor, courage, bravery, heroism, and Jesus Christ. With a few references of violence and prurient behavior (without pictures), reading the Bible could very well be the key to more “begetting,” which would increase the number of young people in the world.
Janalee Tobias, South Jordan
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