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I was edified by Tim Stafford's overview of the population debate ["Are People the Problem?" CT Institute, Oct. 3]. Several of my myths were debunked. Yet, in the end, I was uneasy with some of the explicit and implied conclusions. My concern is that Stafford has accepted some conclusions of the population movement without fully examining them in the light of an evangelical focus on Jesus.

For example, Stafford describes scenes where Indians have internalized the population-control message, the implication being that this was achieved largely through improved mortality rates for children. This is wonderful material for a secular conference on population control. I found myself wondering about the state of the soul of the people he described. My concern is that by defining marginal progress against the symptoms of an underlying spiritual malaise as a success story, we might lose our focus on transformation through redemption.

While Stafford's conclusion that family planning belongs to families is certainly a valid restatement of the emerging consensus of the population movement, it seems marginally relevant to evangelical concerns. With the U.S. government contributing hundreds of millions to supporting population-control efforts while U.S. evangelicals are devoting much less than that to reaching unreached peoples, our priorities should be clear. Support for family-planning efforts can certainly be a byproduct of our central mission; it should never be a focus.

But Stafford finishes well: "The certainty of God's triumph and of his judgment must control how we concern ourselves with population." In the final analysis, population-control programs remain the purview of a population movement that reflects a secular world-view. The focus is on creating the kingdom without the King. While the benefit of such programs is tangentially related to evangelical goals, our focus should remain fixed on the Great Commission.

-Robert B. Monical

Colorado Springs, Colo.

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The answer to the question of overpopulation was answered for me years ago in a tenth-grade biology class. We grew bacteria in a petri dish filled with nutrient agar. For weeks we watched the bacteria multiply into colonies, until they completely covered the dish. Then a funny thing happened: they started to die. Eventually there were no live bacteria left. You see, the bacteria fed on the nutrient agar and excreted waste. Eventually the bacteria's own excrement exceeded the available nutrient agar. The end.

To presume that human beings will fare differently is certainly arrogant. We may, as Julian Simon says, be able to create our own nutrients - at least for a while. But what are the resource limits of the elements from which that agar will be made? And, except for very modest recycling efforts, the excrement side of the equation is barely being addressed. Can God have patience much longer with a people as presumptuous and wasteful as us?

-Wendy J. Steinberg

Wynantskill, N.Y.

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Stafford writes, "Contraception can be understood as part of this pattern [of God's providence] - a provision of God." Psalm 127:3 reads, "Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him." I believe in absolutes. Would you be so kind as to tell me which one of these statements is absolutely true? Can they both be?

-Charles Kelly

Scobey, Mont.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

The Gary Thomas article, "Wise Christians Clip Obituaries," provided a great deal of food for profitable thought [Oct. 3]. It reminded me of John Donne's "Ask not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee" and of William Cullen Bryant's "Thanatopsis." Thanks to Gary Thomas for making us think about a distasteful subject.

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December 12 1994, Vol. 38, No. 14