[1] Dan Brown, Inferno, Doubleday, 2013
See also:
Laurence O’Bryan, “The Dangerous Lie in Dan Brown’s Inferno,” 5/21/2013, .
RPM Note: Please read this web page from another thriller/conspiracy novel writer about the overpopulation myths promoted in Dan Brown’s latest book “Inferno.” It is now being made into a motion picture starring Tom Hanks and directed by Ron Howard, slated to be released on December 18, 2015 . Remember “The China Syndrome” movie in 1979 about a nuclear power plant accident that helped extreme environmentalists to stop all new nuclear plants from being started or even brought online.
Laurence O’Bryan’s books include “The Istanbul Puzzle,” “The Jerusalem Puzzle,” and the upcoming new release “The Manhattan Puzzle.”
“Please don’t read this if your mind is closed to new ideas or if you dislike debate. You’ll simply be wasting your time and you may upset yourself. And I do know Inferno is fiction, too, but that doesn’t mean I’m not allowed express an opinion. … I am simply reviewing Inferno and putting forward a counter argument, which I believe Robert Langdon could have used in Inferno.”
“On page 215 of my hardback edition a character says; …our current path (population growth) is a pretty simple formula for destruction…the end will arrive very abruptly…it will be more like driving off a cliff.’ The main character, Robert Langdon, simply exhales in response as he tries to take in what he has heard. Then, near the end, a character asks is the villain of the book an evil man, or someone who loved mankind so much that he was willing to contemplate infecting humans in a way that would sterilize one third of us. The response given is that the end justifies the means.
“I believe that Inferno supports the idea that humanity is heading for disaster, because of population growth.
And that is a lie. The idea that world population is either too high already or heading that way is dangerous. Very dangerous.”
See also:
“Population 101: The Making of a Myth“
“Population 101: 2.1 Kids: A Stable Population,” Why the developed world is heading toward extinction via underpopulation.
“Population 101: Food there’s lots of it,”
RPMNote: I strongly recommend looking at the web site of pro-life sociologist Steven Mosher who is President of the Population Research Institute: www.pop.org . This site contains several short videos that explain these issues very well. https://overpopulationisamyth.com/ . The three referenced above are in this list of six great videos.
“Steven W. Mosher is an internationally recognized authority on China and population issues, as well as an acclaimed author and speaker. He has worked tirelessly since 1979 to fight coercive population control programs and has helped hundreds of thousands of women and families worldwide over the years. In 1979, Steven was the first American social scientist to visit mainland China. He was invited there by the Chinese government, where he had access to government documents and actually witnessed women being forced to have abortions under the new one-child policy.’ Mr. Mosher was a pro-choice atheist at the time, but witnessing these traumatic abortions led him to reconsider his convictions and to eventually become a practicing, pro-life Roman Catholic.”
[2] Circles of the underworld depiction, Infernopedia, .
“Into the blind world we must now descend,” – Virgil
[3] United Nations Economic and Social Affairs: Population Division, “World Population in 2300,” Proceeding os the United Nations Expert Meeting on world Population in 2300, United Nations Headquarters, New York, March 24, 2004, . [emphasis added to all quotes below in bold]
“The Population Division prepared five scenarios for long-range population projections.
All projection scenarios share the assumption that mortality will decline steadily after 2050. In addition, in all scenarios net international migration is assumed to be zero after 2050. In terms of fertility, the medium scenario assumes that the total fertility of each country will reach below replacement levels and remain at those levels for about 100 years, after which it will return to replacement level and remain there until 2300. In the high scenario total fertility after 2050 is assumed to be a quarter of a child higher than in the medium scenario and to remain constant at2.35 children per woman when the medium scenario stabilizes at replacement level. Similarly, in the low scenario total fertility is assumed to be 0.25 of a child lower than in the medium scenario and to remain constant at 1.85 children per woman when the medium scenario settles at replacement level.
The zero-growth scenario maintains the same fertility levels as the medium scenario until about 50 years after the latter reaches replacement level and from there on the zero-growth scenario has fertility levels that ensure that the number of births matches the number of deaths in each population, thus ensuring zero-growth. Lastly, the constant-fertility scenario maintains fertilit y constant during 2000-2300 at the level estimated for 1995-2000.”
“According to the medium scenario, world population rises from 6.1 billion persons in 2000 to a maximum of 9.2 billion persons in 2075 and declines thereafter to reach 8.3 billion in 2175. After 2175, a return to replacement fertility coupled with increasing longevity produces a steadily increasing population that reaches 9 billion by 2300. Most of the projection population increase between 2000 and 2300 occurs in the less developed regions, whose population rises from 4.9 billion in 2000 to 7.7 billion in 2300. Although the population of more developed regions also increases, the change is considerably less (from 1.2 billion in 2000 to 1.3 billion in 2300). All scenarios result in significant shifts in the geographical distribution of the world population.”
“The low scenario results in a declining population that reaches 2.3 billion in 2300 and the high scenario leads to a growing population that rises to 36.4 billion by 2300.”
“Life expectancy is projected to increase steadily in all countries after 2050. No limit is set on the increase of life expectancy. As a result some countries reach very high levels of survivorship by 2300. The country with the highest projected life expectancies at this time [for 2300] isJapan, with life expectancy of 108 years for females and 104 years for males. “
“At the world level, the median age is projected to rise from 26 years in 2000 to 48 years in 2300 [RPM Note: unimaginably high median age for a stable society] in the medium scenario. The proportion of those aged 80 or over, which was just 1.1 per cent at the world in 2000, is projected in the medium scenario to reach 17 per cent in 2300.”
“Most of the discussion of the Expert Group was devoted to the results of the long-range projections and their implication for the understanding of future population trends.Participants expressed varying views about the range of total population in 2300, from 2 billion in the low scenario to 36 billion in the high scenario.
Some felt that the range was too large to be useful, while others felt that even such a wide range did not capture the true uncertainty about population that far into the future.”
RPM Note: Just a 0.25 difference up or down in the average fertility rate and the estimates vary for 2100 from 9.1 billion in the medium most likely scenario, 5.5 billion with 0.25 lower, and 14.0 billion with 0.25 higher. Plagues, wars, calamities-none of these things are included in these estimates. The judgments of God for forcing evil upon the world in the name of avoiding population explosion calamity-those are not included either. The low scenario is certainly likely in my opinion because with the mismatch in population age groups, the society can collapse and make the fertility rate even lower. The destruction of the family cannot be easily undone and without a strong family, children don’t come to earth and have a stable life. Just follow the case of Japan and think of ways except Nephite/Lamanite-like repentance that can turn around the powerful slow forces of population demographic decisions made fifty or more years ago. I don’t think that anything else will be successful. Thus, the medium scenario for Japan still never makes the fertility rate higher than 1.85, not enough to slow the societal collapse due to underpopulation. Even a huge baby boom in Japan right now would take years before it could help reverse the collapse. The more likely “low scenario” for Japan ends up in 2050 with children 0-14 going from 35% of the population to only 9%, working population 15-65 going from 60% to 44%, and 65 and older going from 5% to a catastrophic 47% of the population.
See Table 1 (page 9) for data for this population graph using the medium scenario. “EVOLUTION OF THE POPULATION OF THE WORLD AND THE MAJOR DEVELOPMENT GROUPS ACCORDING TO THE DIFFERENT SCENARIOS, 2000-2300”
“… consequently, whereas in 2000 the majority of the countries of the world have an increasing population, by 2100 the majority would have a decreasing population according to the medium scenario, and just three-Niger, Uganda and Yemen-would account for over half of the positive contribution to population growth at that time. Concomitantly, China and India alone are projected to account for nearly 48 per cent of the population losses [RPM Note: amazing projection but in line with current trends] projected to occur in 2100. Net population losses are still projected to occur in some countries around 2200 but by 2300, all countries would be experiencing population increases in the medium scenario.”
RPM Note: With the policies that they are implementing and encouraging countries to adopt and the effects of those policies on the life and death of millions and billions, note that these experts admit that there is much uncertainty about the whole area of predicting populations in the future. With it being far from a science and knowing that much of what they do to cause population contraction encourages breaking God’s laws, I would recommend instead the virtue of believing the words of the prophets of God.
[4] Karl Zinsmeister, “Supply-side Demography,” PRI Preview, 1993,.
“For more than two decades, population control groups have waged a powerful political and philosophical campaign to advance the proposition that a continued rise in human numbers is one of the world’s gravest problems. Professor Paul Ehrlich wrote a best-selling book in which he described population growth as a “bomb,” and claimed that during the 1970s it would “explode,” causing hundreds of millions of deaths, leading to war and violence, and destroying the planet’s ability to support life.”[The predictions didn’t come to pass.]
“Research by economists, demographers and social historians has show that much of the alleged harm from population growth has turned out to be nonexistent and that population change has often been used as a scapegoat for problems that actually have other sources.”
“Paul Ehrlich wrote in 1968 that it was a fantasy’ to think that India – which he cites as a paradigm of overpopulation – could feed itself anytime in the near future, if ever.’ One participant at the Second International Conference on the War on Hunger in 1968 argued that India’s 1967-68 grain production of approximately 95 million tons represented the maximum possible level. Yet today India’s annual grain production is over 150 million tons, and the country has become a net exporter of food.”
RPM Note: The predictions of these population explosion experts do not come to pass and yet we still consider them as experts. Why not hold them accountable?
See also: Jerry Taylor, “The Growing Abundance of natural Resources,” Cato Institute, .
“If we examine the earth’s resource base using those three yardsticks [“proven reserves, price data, and ultimately recoverable stock”], we do indeed come to a jarring conclusion: At the very time that the conservation lobby was convincing millions of Americans and legislatures everywhere that resource shortages were lurking just around the corner, the global economy witnessed the greatest explosion of resource abundance in the history of mankind.” [emphasis added]
“If there are indeed physical limits to the sources of materials and energy that sustain the human population and the economy, as is contended in Beyond the Limits, it appears that those limits are so far beyond the human horizon that they are for all intents and purposes nonexistent.”
“N.D. Historical Wheat Production,” North Dakota Wheat Commission,
Just look at the first few lines of this report and you can understand the tremendous revolution in agriculture that took place during these years after world war II.
Average yield per acre: 1941-50: 15.4 bushels, 1951-60: 15.2, 1961-70: 24, and 1971-80: 26, 1981: 31.5, 1991: 31.0, 2001: 32.2, 2013: 39.9. 15.4 to 39.9 bushels per acre, what an amazing increase!
RPM Note: Jeremiah had harsh words for false prophets in his day who claimed that the wickedness of the people would not have disastrous consequences that resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and being taken into captivity into Babylon.
Jeremiah 14:13-15:
“Then said I … behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.Then the Lord said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of naught, and the deceit of their heart. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.”
RPM Note: When these population explosion prophets of doom make off-the-charts predictions that do not come true, why do we continue to give them credence? Why not this standard of righteous judgment: “Wherefore by their fruits shall ye know them.” (Matthew 7:20)
[5] Margaret Eby, “The Coming Population Crash: The overpopulation myth,” April 19, 2010,
“So these worries about overpopulation are unfounded?
“When Paul Ehrlich wrote his famous book [“The Population Bomb”], women were having an average around the world of five or six children; now they’re having an average of 2.
6. Fertility rates around the world have halved. That’s not just true in Europe and North America; they’re way below replacement levels in most of East Asia now. Not just China but Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Burma have replacement rates of fertility or below. Around the world, fertility rates have been coming down really sharply. So the population bomb as we’ve conceived it before really isn’t there. There’s still population growth going on, but that’s going to stabilize.”
“Should we be discouraging women in high-poverty, high-population areas from having children?
“In short, no. It won’t work and will end up being coercive. By and large, women want to have fewer children, even in high-poverty areas, and provided some basic conditions are met – access to contraception, obviously – they will do it. There are numerous examples. They don’t need persuading. The holdouts are generally communities with perceived serious “survival issues” like Palestinians in Gaza and ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem, or those where it is in their interests to have more children, like in parts of rural Africa, or where there are overbearing patriarchies that prevent access to contraception. Conversely, encouraging women in low-fertility countries to have more children won’t work without draconian measures. For proof of that, see the failure of the Catholic Church: It ends up encouraging patriarchal social norms that push women toward ultra-low fertility, such as in Italy.”
“So, you think the crash is probably going to be a good thing?
“Yes, I think declining population can be a good thing so long as it isn’t too precipitate. Current fertility rates in parts of Europe could see whole populations basically shrivel up and die. That could be too disruptive. [RPMNote: “Disruptive?!” What an understatement for those that will “shrivel up and die.”] But a “soft landing” could be good.” [emphasis added, and just how from her discussion do you get that “soft landing?”]
RPM Note: This article is written by a feminist who is basically pleased with the direction and at least realizes the real trends. With an underpopulation implosion coming, I see nothing in the population control experts’ predictions or recommendations that can stop it. Instead, books like inferno will double down on more overpopulation control and propaganda, making it worse.
“The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is the largest and most influential family planning organization in the world. Since it was founded in Bombay in 1952, the IPPF has grown from the nine original national affiliates to 140 family planning associations (FPAs), and exerts unparalleled influence on national policymaking regarding population issues.”
“… No other organization has done more to spread abortion throughout the world than the International Planned Parenthood Federation. Not satisfied to rest on its laurels, the IPPF has forcefully and repeatedly stated its intention to assist in the legalization of abortion in every country of the world, regardless of the means used, and has also voiced its willingness to set up and equip abortion centers and provide the expertise required to perform abortions on a massive scale.
“This report uses IPPF and other documents to show, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that IPPF fully intends to aggressively agitate for the legalization of abortion in every country of the world, regardless of local customs, laws, beliefs or attitudes.”
[7] Steven W. Mosher, “China’s one-child policy itself leads to forced abortions,” The Lancet, Volume 380, Issue 9853, page 1558, November 3, 2012.
Steven Mosher website note on publication: “From the beginning of the one-child policy, the Chinese Party-state has tried to blame the myriad cruelties of this barbaric policy on out-of-control local officials.’ This is nonsense, of course, since local officials are only following orders on pain of punishment. So it was that when Chinese academic Yan Li tried out this excuse in an article The Lancet, the world’s leading medical journal, I had to respond.”
“In 1979, I was given the honour of being the first Western social scientist allowed to do extensive field research in China since the Communist revolution. From my vantage point, I was able to observe first-hand how the newly introduced one-child policy was being implemented.
“The draconian campaign that I witnessed began by ordering young mothers to have abortions, arresting them when they refused, and incarcerating them under conditions of extreme psychological pressure. Those who still refused were physically dragged into the local medical clinic, where they were held down on the operating table while they were aborted and sterilized. Many of these women were in the third trimester of pregnancy. Indeed, some were already in labour.
“The forced abortions so poignantly described by Yan Li (Sept 1, p 804) are not just an aberration of recent years’, in other words, but have rather been an integral part of the enforcement mechanism of the policy since its inception. It is difficult to say how many women have been aborted under duress but, given that the Chinese Government claims that 400 million births have been averted by its policy, it is safe to say that the number is not trivial.”
[8] VerLynn Brink, “My view: Some questions about Common Core,” Deseret News, August 23, 2013,
Speaking of government sponsored propaganda that fits the population control agenda, here is a sample question inserted into the official school “Common Core” curricula:
“Consider this question on a Core test (from my grandson’s practice tests while studying for the exam):
“What is the cause of poverty in third world countries?
A) Large families and large farms
B) Large families and small farms
C) Large families and no farms
“How does one answer a question like that? Is it learning or propaganda?
What kind of attitude is a child supposed to take away from this?”
RPM Note: This school propaganda example reinforces my perception that we are heading to the “low” scenario of the population estimate instead of a steady state replacement “medium” level. And that “low” option gives the whole world an even more severe underpopulation implosion, not anything close to a population explosion. We should be hitting the brakes on the overpopulation propaganda because populations are decreasing as we speak. Yet, because that does not fit the philosophy of our day, ant- religion and anti-family, instead they double down and speed up the “runaway train” heading toward a terrifying “train wreck.”
[9] Megan Willett, “14 Pictures that Show the World is too Crowded,” Business Insider, Jun 21, 2013,
[10] “World Population Prospects: the 2012 Revision,” United Nations, Department of Economic and social Affairs, Population Division, Poulation Estimates and Projects Section, 2012,
Graphs for this article are mostly generated from data derived from this web site where the historical and predicted data can be accessed using different variables, assumptions, countries, groups or the whole world together.
The medium variant is the default and assumed to be the most useful for predictions.
[11] op. cit. “World Population Prospects: the 2012 Revision,”
[12] Wikipedia commons area, From “John Ford” article, picture of “the Searchers” from trailer,
If you would like to try a great wallpaper picture, look at this monument valley picture.
“Wild West Monument Valley, Utah-Arizona-cowboy on his horse,” social wallpapering,
[13] op. cit. “World Population Prospects: the 2012 Revision,”
[14] “Runaway train,” Joblo’s Movie Posters,
[15] “1985 Movie Runaway Train,” Alaskarails.org, .
See also: Thomas Purifoy, “Why You and Your Kids Need to Understand Economics; Government Spending,” Compass classroom, July 30, 1013,
[16] Gabriele Vogt, “Demographic Development in Japan,” Berlin-Institut, November 2010,
“All three demographic variables – fertility rate, life expectancy and migration flows (Figures 1 to 3) – show extreme figures for Japan: The birth rate of 1.29 children per woman is one of the lowest worldwide, whilst life expectancy for men (79 years) and women (86 years) is among the highest in the world.”
RPM Note: I use several charts from this report.
[17] Amy Oliver, “Falling birth rates mean Japan won’t have any children under 15 by 3011,” Dailymail.co.uk, May 13, 2012, .
“Japan’s people could become extinct in 1,000 years because of declining birth rates, academics say. The population of Japanese children aged up to 14, currently stands at 16.6million in the country but is shrinking at a rate of one every 100 seconds, researchers in Sendai said. They warned that at the current rate, Japan would have no children left within a millennium.”
RPM Note: A bit tongue in cheek about completely disappearing children, but this is a horrendous problem and cannot easily be reversed. A bit of “humpty dumpty” to stop wholesale breaking of commandments and putting the traditional family back together again in time to stop the collapse.
[18] op. cit., “World Population in 2300”
RPM Note: Life expectancy in Japan continues to climb in predictions up to the year 2300. But with hardly any children or working-aged people to support them, what kind of wonderful golden years will they be?
“Life expectancy is projected to increase steadily in all countries after 2050. No limit is set on the increase of life expectancy. As a result some countries reach very high levels of survivorship by 2300. The country with the highest projected life expectancies at this time [for 2300] is
Japan, with life expectancy of 108 years for females and 104 years for males.”[emphasis added]
[19] Gregg Muragishi, “Japan’s population: Longevous, ageing, shrinking,” lingualift.com, February 2012,..
“A recent article from Thomson Reuters claims that Japan’s population will fall 30%-to below 90 million-by 2060! Why is this? Is there a new disease that is causing the Japanese to die young?
“Actually, it is quite the opposite. Japan has one of the longest life expectancies in the world, and by 2060, it is estimated that the average life expectancy will rise by more than four years (84.19 for men / 90.93 for women). With the increase of people 65 or older, the government must support those elderly through their social security program. However, the cost of social security is rising by 1 trillion yen a year, causing a major financial burden.
“Another cause for the decline of population is the low birth rate. The accepted fertility rate that is needed to sustain the population is 2.08 children born per couple. In 2010, Japan’s fertility rate was 1.39 and is expected to fall to 1.35 by 2060. The number of children 14 years old or younger is estimated to decline more than half to 7.91 million.”
[20] Y. Funatsu, “Future Population of Japan (2000-2050),” Meisei University, Tokyo.
RPM Note: The “all wise” “religion mocking” social engineers, after having weakened or destroyed the family unit to reduce the population, believe that they can then get the population fertility rate back to replacement levels and have a stable society. Like trying to turn a battleship, it is not so easily done. Once the stability of a righteous, committed family with two faithful parents, with strong religious underpinnings, is disrupted, it is most likely that the low replacement rate and high abortion rate will continue which leads to underpopulation collapse. Also, any improvement in fertility rate would take years to have an effect while the huge long-living retired population will overbalance the boat as it were, also causing a societal collapse.
[21] “Fertility Rate World Map,” Wikipedia commons, 2006, CIA World Factbook, ..
“List of sovereign states and dependent territories by fertility rate,” Wikipedia.org, CIA World Factbook, 2013,
[22] op.cit. , “World Population Prospects: the 2012 Revision,”
[23] op.cit. , “World Population Prospects: the 2012 Revision,”
[24] op.cit. , “World Population Prospects: the 2012 Revision,”
[25] Number of people = 7,000,000,000
Number per family = 4
Number of households = 1,750,000,000
Number of square miles in Texas = 268,800
Number of square miles in US = 3,794,000
Number of square feet in a square mile = 27,878,400
Square feet in Texas = 7,493,713,920,000
Square feet available for each household = 4,282
Size of lot available per household = 65 feet square
Square feet in an acre = 43,560
Size of 65×65 lot in acres = 0.1 = 1/10th of an acre
Texas is only about 7% of the size of the US. The key statistic to memorize is that there are seven billion people and seven trillion square feet in Texas, enough to have a thousand square feet per person.
“The earth is full, there is enough and to spare.” (D&C 104:17)
[26] “Texas Map Collection,” Geology.com, .
See also:
“Episode 1: Overpopulation: The Making of a Myth,” overpopulationisamyth.
com,
[27] “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” 1995, .
[28] Spencer W. Kimball, Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, Bookcraft, 1982 , p 331.
Included at link: www.josephsmithforum.org/research/faqs/02-overpopulation-is-the-earth-overpopulated-is-there-enough-food-and-resources-to-support-our-population/
[29] Ezra Taft Benson, God, Family, Country: Our Three Great Loyalties, Deseret Book, 1974, p. 257.
RPM Note: President Benson was the US Secretary of Agriculture under President Eisenhower. So his comments on food supplies and famines are his professional expertise. He knows what he is talking about in more ways than one, professionally and as an inspired Apostle.
See also: John A. Widtsoe, Understandable Religion: A Series of Radio Addresses, Kessinger Publishing, 2010, p. 161-164.
“Not the least of the evils resulting from birth control is the failure to maintain the population of the land. The birthrate in the United States is on a steady decline. Per thousand of population it has fallen from 25 in 1915 to 17 in 1939, and appears to be still declining. In 1941 the reproduction rate in the United States was below the death rate. Such a condition weakens the race. The nations that will possess power in the future, will be those who maintain a normal birthrate.
“The Latter-day Saints, true to their teachings, have maintained a high birthrate, at present nearly twice that of the United States. Children continue to be welcomed in Mormon households.”
[30] Russell M. Nelson, “Reverence for Life,” Ensign, April 1985, .
RPM Note: This talk is so powerful that one would have to be very hard hearted to not be affected and persuaded as to the Lord’s point of view on these issues. This talk was given immediately after Bruce R. McConkie’s last talk “The Purifying Power of Gethsemane” in April Conference, 1985. Please read, listen to and ponder this talk. How could abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, forced sterilization and destruction of religion and the traditional family possibly be a solution for the so called problem of overpopulation. Breaking God’s laws and destroying his innocent ones and substituting tyranny and propaganda for freedom will not turn out well. Look at the book of Revelation and see if the current population control methods will give us peace and prosperity and a stable population or rather bring upon us the judgments of God for wickedness.
Russell M. Nelson, “Abortion: An Assault on the Defenseless,” Ensign, October, 2008,
Additional quotes:
“As sons and daughters of God, we cherish life as a gift from Him. His eternal plan provides opportunities for His children to obtain physical bodies, to gain earthly experiences, and to realize their divine destinies as heirs of eternal life.”
“This matters greatly to us because the Lord has repeatedly declared this divine imperative: Thou shalt not kill.’ Then He added, Nor do anything like unto it. Even before the fullness of the gospel was restored, enlightened individuals understood the sanctity of human life. John Calvin, a sixteenth-century reformer, wrote, If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field, … it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a ftus in the womb before it has come to light.’
“Man-made rules have now legalized that which has been forbidden by God from the dawn of time! Human reasoning has twisted and transformed absolute truth into sound-bite slogans that promote a practice that is consummately wrong.”
“Some argue for abortion because of fear that a child may have a congenital malformation. Surely the harmful effects of certain infectious or toxic agents in the first trimester of pregnancy are real, but caution is needed in considering the termination of a pregnancy. Life has great value for all, including those born with disabilities. Furthermore, the outcome may not be as serious as postulated.”
“When the controversies about abortion are debated, “individual right of choice” is invoked as though it were the one supreme virtue. That could only be true if but one person were involved. The rights of any one individual do not allow the rights of another individual to be abused. In or out of marriage, abortion is not solely an individual matter. Terminating the life of a developing baby involves two individuals with separate bodies, brains, and hearts. A woman’s choice for her own body does not include the right to deprive her baby of life-and a lifetime of choices that her child would make.
“As Latter-day Saints, we should stand up for choice-the right choice-not simply for choice as a method.”
RPM Note: Hopefully these words of Nephi and Jacob as they marveled at man’s ability to ignore the powerful testimony of the prophets and apostles will further motivate us to find out and gain a testimony of the Lord’s view on these issues. I don’t know a better antidote to the false doctrine in the population control area than to read and ponder prayerfully these two talks of Elder Russell M. Nelson.
2 Nephi 32:7
“And now I, Nephi, cannot say more; the Spirit stoppeth mine utterance, and I am left to mourn because of the unbelief, and the wickedness, and the ignorance, and the stiffneckedness of men; for they will not search knowledge, nor understand great knowledge, when it is given unto them in plainness, even as plain as word can be.” [emphasis added]
2 Nephi 33:4-5
“And I know that the Lord God will consecrate my prayers for the gain of my people. And the words which I have written in weakness will be made strong unto them; for it persuadeth them to do good; it maketh known unto them of their fathers; and it speaketh of Jesus, and persuadeth them to believe in him, and to endure to the end, which is life eternal. And it speaketh harshly against sin, according to the plainness of the truth;”
Jacob 6:12
“O be wise; what can I say more?”
RPM Note: Elder Nelson points out examples of great people in history that probably would not be here if abortion were widely available in their time such as Ludwig Van Beethoven. A few more to point out: Thomas Edison, the seventh child of Samuel and Nancy Edison, Benjamin Franklin, the eight child of Josiah and Abiah Franklin, and, in a world where there are governments with “one-child policies” or in a day when you can get fired for having a third child (India), Louis Pasteur, the third child of Jean-Joseph and Jeanne Pasteur.
[31] James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, 1922, Sixth edition, Gutenberg project, . Chapter 8, page 100, “Flight Into Egypt”
See also: Chapter 8, Note 3:
“The mortal end of the tyrant and multi-murderer is thus treated by Farrar in his Life of Christ, pp.54, 55:-It must have been very shortly after the murder of the innocents that Herod died.Only five days before his death he had made a frantic attempt at suicide, and had ordered the execution of his eldest son Antipater.
His death-bed, which once more reminds us of Henry VIII., was accompanied by circumstances of peculiar horror; and it has been asserted that he died of a loathsome disease, which is hardly mentioned in history, except in the case of men who have been rendered infamous by an atrocity of persecuting zeal. On his bed of intolerable anguish, in that splendid and luxurious palace which he had built for himself, under the palms of Jericho, swollen with disease and scorched by thirst, ulcerated externally and glowing inwardly with a ‘soft slow fire,’ surrounded by plotting sons and plundering slaves, detesting all and detested by all, longing for death as a release from his tortures yet dreading it as the beginning of worse terrors, stung by remorse yet still unslaked with murder, a horror to all around[Pg 108] him yet in his guilty conscience a worse terror to himself, devoured by the premature corruption of an anticipated grave, eaten of worms as though visibly smitten by the finger of God’s wrath after seventy years of successful villainy, the wretched old man, whom men had called the Great, lay in savage frenzy awaiting his last hour. As he knew that none would shed one tear for him, he determined that they should shed many for themselves, and issued an order that, under pain of death, the principal families of the kingdom and the chiefs of the tribes should come to Jericho. They came, and then, shutting them in the hippodrome, he secretly commanded his sister Salome that at the moment of his death they should all be massacred. And so, choking as it were with blood, devising massacres in its very delirium, the soul of Herod passed forth into the night.'”
[32] “Massacre of Innocents by Matteo di Giovanni,” Wikipedia commons area, .