Jeremiah 18:9-10 ESV
And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.
As of 2024, the US fertility rate hit 1.6%.
“Americans would need to have an average of 2.1 children over their lifetimes to maintain the current U.S. population levels through births alone.”
https://www.newsweek.com/map-shows-21-states-where-deaths-now-outnumber-births-2092400
A growing problem that is a detrimental hurdle for any advanced civilization. At some point, the same factors of a dying civilization contribute to the decline in fertility rates.
The baby boomer generation being the largest in number is now reaching the elderly stages in life that are no longer able to sustain the growing demands of the economy and workforce. Being a large part of the age range the elderly who generally are now living longer also forces higher premiums on health insurance.
Add in the average American diet, exposure to harmful environmental factors, dangerous lifestyles that increase disease and mental health issues all add to the rise in healthcare.
If unaddressed we either we pay higher taxes for poorer quality health care or we pay higher premiums to still have access to higher quality healthcare.
Younger millennials and younger generations have been taught to either prolong starting a family for college, career, or to be content without the responsibility of children.
Pushing the family on average starting in their late 20s to late 30s.
Women are most fertile in their late teens to late 20s. Fertility starts to decline in their 30s. And the rise in pregnancy complications begins to increase as well.
Men start to decline in their 40s.
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/age-and-fertility
Other factors like inflation, abortion, contraceptives, and poor government incentives all contribute to the decline in birth rates.
An increase in elderly demands an increase in population to take over where they retired or are now in need of assistance.
In the book Sex and Culture by J D Unwin, he provides evidence for the decline.
“If a rationalistic cultural stratum retains its energy for about one generation (the records do not justify a more definite statement), its cultural tradition seems to be augmented by an element I have called human entropy. Just as the second law of thermodynamics, or the Law of Entropy, appears to reveal the Direction of the Universal Process, so this new element appears to reveal the Direction of the Cultural Process (hence its name); and so long as the stratum continues to display great energy its cultural behaviour changes in the Direction of the Cultural Process. If, however, its energy decreases, its behaviour changes away from the Direction.” Page 201 Kindle edition.
Unwin after investigating many different ancient civilizations he found a common trend. A prosperous community demands great energy for its cultural behaviour to change in the direction of the cultural process.
If, however, its energy decreases, its behaviour changes away from that direction.
So what contributed to this great energy? Healthy families. Strict monogamous heterosexual marriages. Their energy faded away as soon as a modified monogamy became part of the inherited tradition of the whole society.
“Generally speaking, in the past when they began to display great energy (as opposed to the lesser energy of uncivilized peoples), human societies were absolutely monogamous. There is only one example of a polygamous society displaying productive social energy, that of the Moors; but in their case the women whom the men took to wife had been reared in an absolutely monogamous tradition. The energy of the Moors faded away when the mothers spent their early childhood in a less rigorous tradition. With this exception, the energy of the most developed civilized societies, or that of any group within them, was exhibited for so long as they preserved their austere regulations. Their energy faded away as soon as a modified monogamy became part of the inherited tradition of the whole society.” Page 345 Kindle Edition
The family is the foundation of any nation. Any nation that tries to eliminate the family has faded away in human history.
A nation's sin of abortion, unbiblical marriage, sexual immorality, greed, power, attacks on parental rights, and corruption have degraded the family. Personal sin and corrupt politicians have contributed to the problems and the illogical solutions to fix them.
The government in the past has relied on immigration. But immigration with poor vetting and assimilation has detrimentally damaged the American identity and sovereignty. Shariah law doesn't work with American law. Communism doesn't work with a Constitutional Republic. Socialism doesn't work with capitalism. Our laws built on certain moral precepts do not always match a 3rd world country's view of morality.
The only solution forward is to focus on raising healthy American-loving families that want to have 2 or more children.
Marriage as God ordained between one man and one woman despite humans attempt to degrade this will always be the greatest energy for human flourishing.
Historical accounts of Rome show the importance of fertility in a country and in the case of Rome, a sad and desperate attempt that early Rome committed in order to save their country.
It has been called the abduction or rape of the Sabine women. Roman historian Livy explained that the population mostly consisted of men and Romulus feared that the growing population would not be sustainable for longer than one generation.
Historical accounts share how at first they went to the surrounding populations and politically tried to make deals for intermarriages which ultimately failed. So Romulus went to extreme measures and had his men kidnap the Sabine women and forced them to marry his men.
A sad and tragic story that shows the importance of fertility and ancient means to try and preserve a country.
Today we see 20,000+ Ukrainian children abducted by Russia during the Ukrainian-Russian conflict. Most believe they have had their identities erased and forced to assimilate to unfortunately replace the population dying in the war.
https://www.jpost.com/international/internationalrussia-ukraine-war/article-835511
We see China trying to recover from its “one child” often male policy.
“The Chinese government has launched a year-long campaign to stem trafficking of women and children. The decision was prompted by a public uproar over its longstanding failure to tackle bride trafficking.”
https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/07/chained-woman-has-become-face-bride-trafficking-china
“Families in Greece with four or more children will not pay income tax on certain income brackets starting in 2026, as part of a new tax reform aimed at alleviating the financial burden on larger families. This measure is part of a broader effort to address the country's demographic crisis and support families.”
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1280234/greece-unveils-sweeping-tax-cuts-relief-measures/
Obviously, America isn't the only country experiencing a decline in fertility rates and for most industrialized countries we have seen the decline in birth rates. Some scientists point to pollution in the air, water, or our food but I believe the biggest problem is in the heart.
New research has discovered that the heart is more like a second brain.
“Scientists have discovered that these neurons allow the heart to sense, learn, and even remember, leading some researchers to nickname the heart an emotional brain.”
“heart rhythms influence emotional processing and cognitive performance”.
https://sciencesensei.com/scientist...in-in-your-heart-and-it-remembers-everything/
Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
Psalm 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
The mind if not equipped with emotion or passion for what is good, will not have the energy to sustain what is good. God foretold us the importance of the heart and for generations, it was always taken as metaphorical for emotion. But science has now revealed the connection.
Until the heart of the nation turns back to God, we will stay in decline. Our sins will only bring death. Let us with holy awe fear the Lord who brings both prosperity and curses on a nation.
Jeremiah 5:23-25
But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away. They do not say in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.’ Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you.
