No 26

(The Population of the Earth)

At present, the population of the earth is 6,406,565,600; of course this figure is constantly changing and the prediction for the year 2050 is that the world’s population will be 9,190,252,532. There are some interesting analyses to be considered about the population of the world; let’s look at a few.

1) The world is overpopulated. This one of the most blatant misconceptions of our time. We hear about this often; deforestation, loss of habitat are reasons that people use to justify this. Did you know that the whole population of the world could fit in one large North American city. You say what? Get out of here!! Let’s use Montreal as an example. We must understand of course, that we couldn’t live in this space but if we allow 3 square feet per person; they all fit, you do the math. The world is not over populated; it is mis-managed.

2) If the earth is billions of years old, where are all the bones? This is not really a misconception but more of a mathematical problem. The earth’s population is increasing at an average rate of 1.5% per year. Even if the population increased only ½ % per year, in a million years, there should be trillions and trillions (or to be more exact, 10²¹⁰⁰) of remains of humans but yet the fossil record shows only a fraction of that amount. In fact, there are so few people, you wonder why the palaeontologists and the demographers have not seen what is so obvious; this brings us to our last analysis…..

3) How long would it take to go to zero population if we went in reverse? By using the same average rate of increase (1.5%), how long would it take to go, in reverse to zero population on earth? Or putting it another way, how long would it take for 8 people (4 women and 4 men) to get to the population of the earth as it is today? I didn’t do the math on this one; someone else did and do know what? It would take approximately 4000 years. What catastrophic event occurred that could’ve wiped out the population of the world about 4000 years ago? You got it!! The flood of Noah’s time. Genesis 6:17, 18 says “17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. 18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.”

These are things we can use to strike up a conversation with someone about the God of the Bible and His plan for humanity.