Having To Admit I'm Old

For the past couple weeks I've been unable to blog. Something was blocking me and I was not sure what it was. Each time I thought about writing I couldn't go forward. Finally I came upon what I believe has been bothering me. Its that—this is hard to say—I'm having to admit that I'm . . . well, that I'm old !

For the past six months, ever since I turned 80 on the second day of October, I've struggled with a whole host of questions having to do with old age and the end of life on this planet. Its not that I'm afraid of death. I'm not. I'm actually more curious than afraid. I'm quite confident that God's judgment upon my sinful life has long ago been satisfied in my Lord Jesus' life, death and resurrection. And now I'm very interested in what comes after this life. What stands before me—on the "other side of the river"? What amazing reality awaits? And this time it won't merely be speculation.

OK, having gotten that out of the way, I'm still here. HERE! And I don't know for how long. And I'm, well yes, old! What does that mean?

There is no general agreement about the age at which a person becomes old. We commonly use calendar age to mark the threshold of old age and assume that a person my age is old. Back in the '30's when the social security act was established it was assumed that one didn't live very much longer than 65 here in America. So if you reached the age of 65 you wouldn't be drawing on your social security very long. You were old and death was near. But now, of course, that's all changed. Make it to 65 and you probably will make it to 80. Make it to 80 and statistically you'll make it past 90. And so forth. Right now the talk is that 120 is the upper limit. 

Strangely enough the culture from which I spring, and others as well, used to think that women aged more rapidly than men. Now we know that the opposite is true. We men die off and the women keep on. Check out any retirement or nursing home if you doubt it. But little by little that too is changing—at least for some men. In my own case, the doctors have repaired my heart with a number of bypasses and put in a new aortic valve that supposedly will keep on operating for more than a decade. So am I getting old? Is the number of complaints the way by which I am to mark old age? If so, I'm getting older day by day. This arthritis is quite painful at times. 

Enough speculation. Join me as I explore what the Bible has to say about old age. 

Before the great flood we read about some preposterous ages. People lived for hundreds and hundreds of years. 

• All the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. 
• All the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died. 
• All the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died. 
• All the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died. 
• Enoch was 65 when he fathered Methuselah. He lived for another 365 before God "took him". 
• All the days of Methuselah, Noah's grandpa, were 969 years, and he died (Gen. 5:27). No one has lived as long since then. 
• Noah lived for 500 years before he fathered Shem, Ham and Japheth. The text doesn't say how old Mrs. Noah was. It only goes on to say that "the earth was corrupt in God's sign and filled with violence" (Gen. 6:11). And God decided to make an end to all flesh—except for Noah and his family and all the living things that were preserved on the ark Noah built (Gen. 6:17-22). 

What changed? What was it about the flood that changed how long we now live? There has been much speculation about that among us Christians. What caused Moses to write what he did in Psalm 90? 

The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. - Psa 90:10 ESV

The site Creation.com discusses the question of living 900+ years before the flood and the fact that the race was reduced to eight people immediately after possibly being the partial explanation for such a radically shortened lifespan. The site concludes:

Recently, laboratory results based on an enzyme that is involved with the replication of the telomere, have caused much excitement. Modified human cell lines have divided many times past their limit. Some speculate that such manipulations could cause people to live to much longer ages, providing they do not succumb to disease or accident in the meantime. Aging is certain to be much more complex than these simplified discussions, based on preliminary findings, might lead us to think. However, the evidence so far strongly suggests that genetics plays a major part.

I'll pick this up, together with some more Biblical data next time. Join me—if you're not too old yet.