Overpopulation in the "Paradise" Earth!

by Leolaia 61 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Leolaia
    Leolaia

    JW doctrine teaches that the 1,000 years of Christ corresponds to "Judgment Day," and everyone who has not already been judged will be resurrected from the dead. The exceptions would be those who died during the Flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and a few odd individuals. Compared to today's population and the total number of people who have lived, that's a negligible amount. Now, Watchtower illustrations typically depict beautiful park-like expanses in the future paradise, such as the following:

    But is that actually possible? Consider this: the total area of habitable land today is 49,000,000 square miles. According to JW doctrine, God will make the deserts bloom and make the entire world a paradise, so let us assume that the total area of habitable land will be 57,500,000 square miles, which corresponds to total area of land on the planet today. Now, how many people can fit into that land area?

    (1) The current population of the world is 6.2 billion people, which corresponds to a density of 108 people per square mile of land area. In other words, if the world's population were spread evenly over the entire land area, each person would have 258,000 square feet or 5.9 acres to themselves. If we assume people would live in families of an average 8-9 people, that would be about 50 acres per family. Not too bad, huh? But that's only the people living today. What about everyone else who would be resurrected?

    (2) According to the statistics published at the following website (http://www.prb.org/...Ever_Lived_on_Earth_.htm), approximately 9.8 billion people were born between 1900 and 2002. That means 3.6 billion people born after 1900 have already died and would have to be resurrected. So even if God kills everyone presently living during Armageddon, there would still be 3.6 billion born after 1900 that would have to be resurrected. Before 1900, we mostly have to rely on estimates of world population, but these are not wild guesses but based on known indicators of historical birth rates. Approximately 10.2 billion people were born between 1650 and 1900, and about 12.8 billion were born between 1200 and 1650. Are you starting to get the picture? Approximately 26.6 billion were born between 1 AD and 1200. About 11.5 billion were born between 2000 BC and 1 AD. This, of course, includes the enormous amount of people who died as infants or young children (who are, naturally, eligible to a resurrection according to JW doctrine). All told, that would amount to 64.7 billion people born after 2000 BC that would have to be resurrected. If everyone alive today manages to live before the so-called Armageddon comes, the number would have to be raised to 70.9 billion.

    What would it be like living in a "Paradise Earth" with that many people? (That is, before Satan gets loosed and God has another chance to decimate the population of the earth) Going with the latter figure, there would be 1,230 people per square mile over every inch of the earth. In other words, each person would have 22,700 square feet or HALF AN ACRE to themselves. Families of 8-9 people would have just 4.4 acres to sustain themselves, let alone allow for any other wild life. By any ecological model, this is an unsustainable population. Our present-day population, which the Watchtower regards as too large and a "sign" of the terrible conditions of the present "system of things", is estimated to be a scant 8.7% of the total born since 2000 BC. In other words, eleven times more people would have to be living on the "paradise earth" than alive today. Is that your idea of paradise?

    The article quoted earlier goes on to estimate the total number of people who have been born at 106.4 billion (and this is only going as far back as 50,000 BC). It would amount to 1,840 people per square mile, giving 15,100 square feet per person -- that is, a measly third of an acre per person. It takes 3-4 times that in farmland to feed the average person to meet basic dietary requirements.

  • FMZ
    FMZ

    Leo, out of interest, what are your thoughts on Jesus's "paradise"?

    FMZ

  • RunningMan
    RunningMan

    I can see it now - attendants walking around the globe with signs that say "please be seated" and "no reserving of fig trees", and taping brown paper over all of the fields and streams.

  • RunningMan
    RunningMan

    By the way, that's some mighty fine cipherin'.

  • Elsewhere
    Elsewhere

    When I was a kid I had a JW uncle who was absolutely certain that the world's population could survive on two acres per person.

    Something very odd about JWs is the way they try to be logical and make a technical analysis of the bible, but when they do the final calculations of what would happen under the circumstances they predict, they are forced to acknowledge that what they propose is impossible... it is at this point where they suddenly drop all logic and say: "Well, Jehover will find a way."

    So much for logic and study huh.

  • Terry
    Terry

    If you take the current population of Earth at present you could fit everybody into the State of Texas with the same population density as Paris, France.

    That leaves a little bit of room everywhere else.

    Personally, when they all move into Texas--that's when I move out!!

  • drwtsn32
    drwtsn32

    Leo, you're forgetting that the paradise will extend to Mars and Venus.

  • Nosferatu
    Nosferatu

    So, where are all the lions, tigers, elephants, rhinos, giraffes, wolves, bears, and every other animal going to live?

  • Leolaia
    Leolaia

    Yes, I can imagine a densely-packed Paris-like city the size of the continental United States (70.9 billion people is eleven times the present population, and eleven times the state of Texas is 2.9 million square miles which is the size of the continental U.S.), but I doubt such a monster city is my idea of paradise!

    The point is not so much how densely the population can be packed in, but whether the earth's resources can sustain 70.9 billion people.

    Maybe they'll be growing "Miracle Wheat" in the New System? Maybe those killed at Armageddon will make terrific fertilizer?

  • drwtsn32
    drwtsn32
    Maybe those killed at Armageddon will make terrific fertilizer?

    Or possibly soylent green?

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