What do you think...?

I don't think all of this machinery can keep up with curbing over-population. Disease can kill millions by spreading. A plane crash kills those who were there.

Obviously nobody knows for sure how it's all working, but I don't think God is directly controlling how many of us die or in what ways. I honestly believe he is letting us be our own demise; in the garden of Eden Adam and Eve wanted to do for themselves instead of listening to him. So he pretty much said "Ok, so you think you don't need me? Let's see how that works out for you." So far we're not doing a very good job and would eventually bring ourselves to the point of extinction if he didn't step in first.

I dont think Medicine and Machinery have anything to do with one another or God,s plan. God,s plan is going to be, with or without medicine, with or without machinery.
He gave us brains to think with, I think he would be very dissapointed in us if we just stood still and never used our brains for anything but a hat rack and remained in the middle ages. Even in Jesus day they had went from Adam and Eve with nothing after leaving the garden of Eden. To having great palaces and chariots.

I don't think God does any of that part. God loves us, and is not willing that any should parish, but that all should come to him. Man has made his own choices, and these things have been created by man, and are used by our own choice. If ill's befall somebody, it isn't God's fault. It has to do with the choices people make, and that can be people past, or even long past that can cause it. God has a plan to save as many as he can that will come to him of their own free will. Evil is the only one the rejoices in the demise of any especially any who have not come to God. I don't think the population has anything to do with it. That is another thing that comes under choice. Man and Satan create their own imbalance. The return of Christ will see the return of balance.

Maybe it's not God performing "population control", it's us coming up with new ways to save AND kill ourselves, which I guess would fall under "God allowing us" to perform our own population control.

I think what's going to be the worst effect on the population is the fallout from what we're doing to the environment and all of that catching up to us.

Is that God? Or nature? I don't know. Sometimes I see the earth as a living organism and we're killing it. Just like our body attacks a virus or bacteria when we are ill, I fear we are about to see the effects of our years of neglect and abuse of our planet.

Is it in God's power to prevent it? Absolutely. But perhaps humanity needs another lesson. God promised Noah never to create another catastrophe of that magnitude, but he didn't say anything about letting about saving us from ourselves.

It's an interesting theory but I agree with the previous comments.

I believe that when it is our time, it is our time. God has our lives planned out before we are even born. I do not think that medicine, doctors, or machines can alter His plan. I believe that God does work miracles of healing through medicine, doctors, and machines when it is His will to do so.

I believe tha God gave us free will and the machines and medicine may be part of that. God has given people gifts to build and to heal. God gives us the tools, but its the people who decide how to use those tools. I believe whether we have machinery and medicine to prolong lives doesnt really matter to God. He chooses our time to die thgough our free will can alter that plan. I believe God just wants us to have faith in him; to believe in Him as our one and only savior. The rest of it doesn't matter.

Guess I think God makes us free, for better or worse. We make good things, and we misuse them. He cares, like a parent who cares about their kids riding bikes carefully, and hugs them when they fall off.

I think God helps those who help themselves. In other words, people who aren't doing stupid things, and people who use medicine to help them. Of course, I don't really know the answer as such, but that's how I live my life. Try to do the best I can and hope if I make a goofball mistake that I learn from it, and that it doesn't kill me. heh.

I believe God is love and kindness and gives us choices. I also believe God intends for us to use common sense and reasonablility.

I agree with Mary H.

Interesting question. Personally, I believe that yes, God gave us the intelligence to use science to find cures for diseases and allieviate suffering and also for the machines to make our lives more enjoyable. But to say that He uses these as part of his plan to control the population, no. No matter what good our breakthroughs can bring us, there are always, always those who need to push the envelope and see how far they can take this knowledge and use it for evil or become careless and abuse said knowledge. Therein is the free will.

I think, when our time comes, no matter what technology we have invented to prolong life, we will go, one way or the other. Would you want to outlive everyone you have ever known or loved? I wouldn't. You know, scientist say that we only use one thrid of our brain power, what do we do with the rest? Hummmm, I wonder? Maybe save it for the next time?

I may not have known when all of this came about but I agree with you, and as there gets to be more humans we lose more animals Becuse people encourage everyone to get thare pets spade and neutered which makes less animals. I think satan is the reason we are killing our selfs and the animals with these machines and God is the there is technology to save us and them.

Hi Nicholas, I think, as my father was dying from cancer, that God gave us medicine for a reason- to be used in a responsible and appropriate manner.

God created the balance, and we are constantly doing things to thwart that balance, but in the end the balance compensates, but I think things get really messed up for a while...we get fools taking positions of power, young people dying for all the wrong reasons, whole species becoming extinct, things getting very ugly all over the planet, youth killing themselves with harmful drugs, even music becoming hateful. We have been attemping to affect the balance for so long, the results we achieve are usually unrecognizable, and all we can understand is that things are not as they should be. If we findways to extend life one way, never fear...the herd will be culled...just not the way we expected.

My answer is pretty simple. God would not have given man a brain like he has, had God not meant for us to use it. We have used it to both enhance and destroy, that part He left up to us.

Since all things are created by God, then God created our ability to think for ourselves and improve our world. We are in control of our destiny, that's why God gave us advanced brain power....so we're actually thwarting God's plan when we don't vaccinate our children or take them to the doctor when they need medicine.
Remember--it was God who gave us brains--- then we made the machines and did other things to destroy or improve our world. Don't lay our inadequacies on God, he gave us all the tools we need and if we bungle it, it's not because it's his plan, it's our problem.

Its called free choice. Satan pulls and pushes, makes evil look good. But God always gives us free will. He lets you decide to love him or not. He doesnt try to control our lives.

I think its all a crap shoot.

hmmm - "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction" - thats my best answer ~ great debate ~j

Let God handle things he knows what he is doing

There is always a balance. When we come up with ways to cure one ailment, a new one either changes or arises. So, though we humans can find medicines and surgical technics to keep us alive longer, between AIDS, Cancer, drunk driving, (yes I put that in there due to the amount of people a year that are killed, nevermind injured) smoking, tornados & Hurricanes caused by global warming, and war, Death's job remains balanced, (though there are quite a few more of us than 300 years ago), besides, when was the last time we had a real good plauge?
Aren't we due for one?

There are some interesting theories here.

Very interesting article, thanks for sharing

People control. That is pretty funny. I never thought of that way. I don't think God does either but than again who knows what he really thinks but he is a nice guy. I don't think he kills us off to make room for others.

We may be living longer, but most of our medical care is going for people who are LONG done breeding. So technically, I'd say the entertainment machinery is probably winning. Of course, we don't need fancy machinery to destroy ourselves. We're doing just fine with plain old drugs and violence, thank you very much.

I remember having this discussion in a college class I took called Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. The discussion boiled down to the immense responsibility that is given to us as we implement the knowledge which is ultimately given to us by God. I believe that He made us & thus made us able to come up with all of these incredible ways to preserve human life. It makes me sad though to think of all of this knowledge & ability being used to do things that would go against His will. I just have to keep faith that He's got a plan...

Why anyone would want to prolong their life when they are hooked up to every medical gadget there is, has always been a mystery to me. I believe in Quality of life not Quantity. How anyone, any parent can watch over a child that is suffering do to brain injury is beyond comprehension but then again, it has never happened to me. I cannot help think of the saga of Karen Quinlin. I thought it was inhuman to allow this girl to live and finally die the way she did. No one will convince me that she would have wanted this and this is why having a Living Will is so very important in this time and age.