Do Ideas Have Consequences?
Thomas Malthus theorized that as the world’s population increases, the amount of resources available for each person decreases. Charles Darwin expanded Malthusian theory and proposed that natural selection (survival of the fittest) occurs when the weak in body or mind are eliminated due to defect or to an inability to access the resources needed to survive and reproduce.
While in Miami last month, some friends took me to see the documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, with Ben Stein. Expelled contends that those who champion the subtle views of Malthus and Darwin supply the building blocks for horrific applications of hereditary improvement by genetic control. Stein illustrates how opponents of an “Intelligent Designer” court a dangerous worldview that diminishes the sanctity of life.
The 869-page, Written in Blood: The Story of the Haitian People 1492-1995, by Robert, Nancy and Michael Heinl, is arguably the most complete history of Haiti in print. In the introduction, the authors state, “Besides having too many people, too little land and few roads, Haiti has practically no natural resources.” Among those who visit and assess Haiti, this is the simple definition of the problem and the majority view.
Why is this significant? If Malthus and Darwin prevail, Haiti appears to be on the losing side of their hypotheses. If the Heinl critique is true, Haiti is left with little hope.
Proverbs 25:2 says, “The glory of God is to conceal a thing, but the glory of the king is to find it out.” In other words, God’s creation contains within it material and conceptual resources yet to be discovered, understood, and developed. Consider electricity and gasoline, aerodynamics, laser surgery, microchips and wireless devices. These resources and technologies, once anonymous in the deeps recesses of the past, have emerged to become leading contributors in our world today. Solomon seems to indicate that discovery and invention are glorious endeavors of exploration in the far reaches of God’s infinite splendor. I am inclined to believe that for Solomon, if the people were too many and the resources were too few, he would have searched for alternative solutions—rather than who to get rid of.
The underdeveloped world today is in a quandary. Overpopulation and poor environmental factors do make life excruciatingly difficult, and unjust power brokers and policymakers compound matters further. But it seems to me that God has bestowed upon his creation everything necessary to face all of life’s troubles, if we only choose to believe him.