I’m reviewing Sleeth’s latest book (The Gospel), and find your insights very helpful. Excellent work.

I haven’t committed adultery or murdered anyone — does this mean the Ten Commandments are now null and void?

Excellent point.

In a nutshell, Sleeth seems to grant a greater value to scenic views than he does to full quivers.

You hit the nail on the head there.

I see several possible tendencies in Sleeth’s article that could lead to huge mistakes if they grow in importance in his mind:

* Valuing “nature” just as much as we value people.
There are–on the earth and in the oceans and in space–still huge reserves of resources, land, energy, and ingenuity. (In fact, the more people we have, the more ingenuity we have.) Given God’s command to be fruitful and multiply, can there be a better way to invest those resources than in more people? Do we like people or not?

* Valuing “quality of life” more than we value people.
“Quality of life” is used to justify abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia. I know a great way to eliminate human suffering and death forever–kill everybody now. We’ll save future billions from the hospital bed and the grave–and heaven.

* Spiritual pacifism–valuing our own man-made purity over the eternal destinies of other people.
To refuse to have children is to limit our involvement with the world. It’s a refusal to evangelize in a very important way. Look at me: the hands of everyone in my rapidly shrinking clan are so clean! Meanwhile, burgeoning numbers of my neighbors are never hearing the Gospel.

I’m not saying that Sleeth has these ideas–just that, if he’s not careful, these ideas may grow out of what he’s got.