Save the Trees and Kill the Children

Today in society class, we were talking about China's One Child, One Family policy, and the song While you Were Sleeping, by a christian band, called Casting Crowns.  The song in general speaks to all Americans (I'm sure it includes Canada, China, Europe, and other developed countries) about the devastating state if our society.  It begins by talking about how the town of Bethlehem was sleeping (literally) and missed the magnificent birth of Jesus Christ.  The lyrics say that Bethlehem will go down in history as a city with no room for its king.

          Next, Jerusalem is criticized because that is where Jesus was crucified, and many turned a blind eye to it.Again, Jerusalem is chastised for being a city with no room for it's king.  They were sleeping (a metaphor for turning a blind eye to what was happening) while the man who came to save them was crucified upon their cross.
         By this point in the song, modern society must feel pretty self-righteous because we haven't made the same colossal mistakes that these biblical cities have.  However, the next couple of verses are dedicated to exposing the deep flaws in our society - letting us know that we aren't as perfect as we'd like to think.  The narrator predicts that our society "will be sleeping" when Jesus comes back for the Rapture.  They believe we will be so caught up in our superficial society that most of us will be devastated and left behind when Jesus comes back to save his believers from this tainted world.
          The line that relates to the One Child, One Family policy in China is when the narrator is referring to modern day society and says "while we're sung to sleep by philosophies of 'save the trees, and kill the children.' Will we be sleeping?"  This line hit me hard the first time I heard it because it's disgusting, but it's so true that we care more about the environment than valuable lives that we forfeit for our own convenience.  However, when I was listening to some statistic today in society class, the meaning of the lyrics escalated.
          A couple of years ago, China's government instituted a rule where families could only have one child to bring down the population.  Because of this, abortion rates skyrocketed.  Some women were even tortured and forced to abort their children.  Also, boys are more productive than girls, so if a couple bears a female child, it is not uncommon for them to kill the baby.  In some cases, the babies' sculls are even crushed after birth as a "humane" way of killing them.  So, what are the perceived benefits of these horrific means of population reduction?  Well, they hope the environment will be less stressed with less people and they believe that if there aren't as many children, then each individual child will get more attention in school; thus, China can raise smarter kids.

          This government policy sums up Casting Crowns' accusation on today's society.  We are truly being sung to sleep by philosophies of "save the trees and kill the children."  It's true that God values the environment, but he made man in his own image, and would never compromise his children for his land.  Luke 12:7 says, "Indeed, the very hairs on your head are numbered.  So don't  afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."  I can't seem to recall a verse that talks about God knowing about every leaf on every tree, and the verse even says that humans are more important than any animal, so this verse makes it clear that he loves us more than the environment.    Unfortunately, even in Canada, our society eats up the lines that politicians feed to us about abortion being okay, causing us to turn a blind eye to the fact that our actions are hurting our creator.  Perhaps we will be sleeping when Jesus swoops down again to take his believers home.