The foundations of American society are shaking – and few statistics reflect the cultural decline of the United States more than fertility rates. The United States’ current fertility rate per male-female pair stands at 1.84, significantly below the replacement level of 2.1. Incredibly, this is better than most developed nations, where fertility rates are even worse. As Wilfred Reilly writes, young people in the West, “increasingly resemble captive panda bears, who have to be pushed into one another and bribed with delicacies to be persuaded to mate.”
Low birth rates are a telltale sign of a nation’s decline. An aging population leads to fewer working people, which makes it harder for the economy to grow. This puts pressure on the financial stability of public programs like Social Security and can slow down the steady rise in living standards, as seen in average income levels.
Why are Americans not having children? While many factors contribute to this trend, for a deeper understanding of the issue, there’s no better guide than the Bible.
In cryptic language begging explanation, the Bible describes a strange conversation between Lemech, a descendant of Cain, and his two wives:
At this early stage in human history, there seems to be a crisis. Lemech’s wives refuse to listen to their husband, and Lemech appears to have killed a man and a child. What is going on here?
The sages tell a fascinating backstory. Lemech, who was blind, went hunting with his son, Tubal-cain. Tubal-cain spotted his ancestor Cain, who was hunched over and appeared to him as an animal. He told his father to draw the bow, and Lemech shot and killed Cain. But when Lemech realized that he had accidentally killed his great-grandfather Cain, he clapped his hands together in anguish – accidentally clapping his son’s head between them, killing him.
After this tragic story unfolded, Lemech’s wives separated from him, and so he attempted to appease them, saying “incline your ears to my words.” His wives refused to listen, and so Lemech came to Adam and complained that his wives had separated from him. Adam said to them, “Return to your husband and fulfill your obligation [to be fruitful and multiply].” Lemech’s wives responded to Adam: “Correct yourself first. Haven’t you separated from your wife for 130 years since death was decreed because of you?” Immediately, Adam reunited with Eve and Eve bore another son, Seth.
This is a strange story, but it is one that speaks directly to our generation. After Cain murdered his brother Abel, human society, unsurprisingly, began to spiral downwards. For seven generations, from Cain to Lemech, human beings followed Cain’s example, building a society characterized by selfishness, murder and theft. Like Cain, their attitude towards God was purely functional; they offered sacrifices with the crass hope that God would bless them with riches and prosperity. Humanity became nihilistic, with no purpose other than satisfying its own desires. People lived for nothing more than themselves. In such a setting, human life becomes worthless. Lemech’s animalistic and senseless murder of Cain and Tubal-Cain was the end result of an empty and meaningless society.
Seeing this, Adah and Zillah separated from Lemech and refused to give birth to any more children. If life is about nothing more than satisfying our base desires, what is the point of having children in the first place? Why invest the effort to raise another generation that has nothing to live for?
Western society finds itself in a very similar situation today. With the decline of religion, our culture has devolved into egocentric meaninglessness. Why bother having children? They are expensive and require never-ending amounts of attention and hard work! Without God, without a mission and a higher purpose here on earth, there is no compelling reason to raise another generation to follow in our footsteps.
When society has fallen this far, what can be done? The answer is found in the continuation of the Bible’s story:
Adam understood the fundamental problem – that the people of the world, the descendants of Cain, were spiritually lost. And so he returned to Eve and brought a new line into the world: Seth and his descendants.
Seth was a new kind of man – the ancestor of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the people of Israel. Seth’s life mission, and that of his descendants, was to educate humanity, the descendants of Cain – to teach them about God and how to live a life of meaning. Seth is referred to as the “seed” of Adam, for with him is born the seed of the future Messiah. “A light is sown for the righteous, and for the upright of heart, joy” (Psalm 97:11).
To save the West from nihilistic self-destruction, to give people a reason to have children, humanity must rediscover its purpose. This is why God set aside the people of Israel, the descendants of Seth: to teach the nations of the world about God and guide them on how to build a culture of meaning.
Today, even under the constant threat of war, the State of Israel is growing ever stronger and more vibrant. Jewish families average more than three children per family, and thousands make Aliyah each year, drawn to a culture of purpose and meaning. Though God’s people are far from perfect, Israel has created a society filled with purpose and hope for the future – a society that must serve as a model for all of humanity.
Many Jews throughout history sought to evade the heavy responsibility God placed upon them and deny their heritage as descendants of Seth. In abandoning their mission to guide the nations and prevent them from collapsing in self-destruction, they forget that a shepherd without a flock has lost all justification for his own existence.
At the same time, the nations have not always been willing students, preferring to view the people of Israel not as the children of Seth but rather the descendants of Abel – that is, better off dead. But where would the world be today had God never chosen the children of Jacob? I suspect they would have stopped having children long ago.
The hope of the West lies in Israel. The question is, will the West wake up before it’s too late?
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