{"id":357,"date":"2008-02-12T22:12:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-12T22:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/2008\/02\/old-wisdom.html"},"modified":"2008-02-12T22:12:00","modified_gmt":"2008-02-12T22:12:00","slug":"old-wisdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/02\/old-wisdom.html","title":{"rendered":"Old Wisdom"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_MCBNSn1DlAU\/R7JhjQB20MI\/AAAAAAAAAd0\/ox7uesXYghE\/s1600-h\/op2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;float: left;cursor: pointer\" src=\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_MCBNSn1DlAU\/R7JhjQB20MI\/AAAAAAAAAd0\/ox7uesXYghE\/s400\/op2.jpg\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"EC_MsoNormal\"><span class=\"EC_apple-style-span\"><span style=\"font-family:Comic Sans MS;font-size:130%;color:blue\"><span style=\"background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%;font-family:'Comic Sans MS';font-size:14;color:blue\">Just  before the funeral services, the undertaker came up to the very elderly widow  and asked, &#8220;How old was your husband?&#8221; &#8220;98,&#8221; she replied. &#8220;Two years older than  me.&#8221; &#8220;So you&#8217;re 96,&#8221; the undertaker commented. She responded, &#8220;Hardly worth  going home, is it?<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family:Comic Sans MS;font-size:130%;color:red\"><span style=\"background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%;font-family:'Comic Sans MS';font-size:14;color:red\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"EC_apple-style-span\">Reporters interviewing a 104-year-old woman: &#8220;And what  do you think is the best thing about being 104?&#8221; the reporter asked. She simply  replied, &#8220;No peer pressure.&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family:Comic Sans MS;font-size:130%;color:teal\"><span style=\"background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%;font-family:'Comic Sans MS';font-size:14;color:teal\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"EC_apple-style-span\">The nice thing about being senile is you can hide your  own Easter eggs<\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"EC_apple-style-span\"><span style=\"font-family:Comic Sans MS;font-size:130%;color:black\"><span style=\"background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%;font-family:'Comic Sans MS';font-size:14;color:black\">.<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family:Comic Sans MS;font-size:130%;color:red\"><span style=\"background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%;font-family:'Comic Sans MS';font-size:14;color:red\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"EC_apple-style-span\">I&#8217;ve sure gotten old! I&#8217;ve had two bypass surgeries, a  hip replacement, new knees Fought prostate cancer and diabetes. I&#8217;m half blind,  can&#8217;t hear anything quieter than a jet engine, take 40 different medications  that make me dizzy, winded, and subject to blackouts. Have bouts with dementia.  Have poor circulation; hardly feel my hands and feet anymore. Can&#8217;t remember if  I&#8217;m 85 or 92. Have lost all my friends. But, thank God, I still have my driver&#8217;s  license.<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family:Comic Sans MS;font-size:130%;color:blue\"><span style=\"background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%;font-family:'Comic Sans MS';font-size:14;color:blue\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"EC_apple-style-span\">I feel like my body has gotten totally out of shape,  so I got my doctor&#8217;s permission to join a fitness club and start exercising. I  decided to take an aerobics class for seniors. I bent, twisted, gyrated, jumped  up and down, and perspired for an hour. But, by the time I got my leotards on,  the class was over.<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family:Tahoma;font-size:130%;color:purple\"><span style=\"background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%;font-family:Tahoma;font-size:14;color:purple\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"EC_apple-style-span\">An elderly woman decided to prepare her will and told  her preacher she had two final requests. First, she wanted to be cremated, and  second, she wanted her ashes scattered over Wal-Mart. &#8220;Wal-Mart?&#8221; the preacher  exclaimed. &#8220;Why Wal-Mart?&#8221; &#8220;Then I&#8217;ll be sure my daughters visit me twice a  week<\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"EC_apple-style-span\"><span style=\"font-family:Comic Sans MS;font-size:130%;color:black\"><span style=\"background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%;font-family:'Comic Sans MS';font-size:14;color:black\">  &#8220;<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family:Comic Sans MS;font-size:130%;color:green\"><span style=\"background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%;font-family:'Comic Sans MS';font-size:14;color:green\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"EC_apple-style-span\">My memory&#8217;s not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my  memory&#8217;s not as sharp as it used to be.<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family:Comic Sans MS;font-size:130%;color:blue\"><span style=\"background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%;font-family:'Comic Sans MS';font-size:14;color:blue\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"EC_apple-style-span\">Know how to prevent sagging? Just eat till the  wrinkles fill out.<\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"EC_apple-style-span\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;font-size:78%;color:black\"><span style=\"background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%;font-family:Arial;font-size:6;color:black\">  <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family:Arial;color:black\"><span style=\"background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%;font-family:Arial;color:black\"><br \/><\/span><\/span><b><span style=\"font-family:Comic Sans MS;font-size:130%;color:purple\"><span style=\"background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%;font-weight: bold;font-family:'Comic Sans MS';font-size:14;color:purple\"><br \/><span class=\"EC_apple-style-span\">It&#8217;s scary when you start making the same noises as  your coffee maker.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/b><span class=\"EC_apple-style-span\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;font-size:78%;color:black\"><span style=\"background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%;font-family:Arial;font-size:6;color:black\">  <\/span><\/span><\/span><b><span style=\"font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;color:black\"><span style=\"background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%;font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:14;color:black\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"EC_apple-style-span\">These days about half the stuff in my shopping cart  says, &#8220;For fast relief.&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/b><b><span style=\"font-family:Comic Sans MS;font-size:130%;color:blue\"><span style=\"background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%;font-weight: bold;font-family:'Comic Sans MS';font-size:14;color:blue\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"EC_apple-style-span\">Remember: You don&#8217;t stop laughing because you grow  old, You grow old because you stop laughing.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/b><b><span style=\"font-family:Comic Sans MS;font-size:130%;color:red\"><span style=\"background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%;font-weight: bold;font-family:'Comic Sans MS';font-size:14;color:red\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"EC_apple-style-span\">&#8212; THE SENILITY PRAYER : Grant me the senility to  forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I  do, and the eyesight to tell the difference.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/b><b><span style=\"font-family:Comic Sans MS;font-size:130%;color:black\"><span style=\"background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%;font-weight: bold;font-family:'Comic Sans MS';font-size:14;color:black\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"EC_apple-style-span\">Now, I think you&#8217;re supposed to share this with 5 or  6, maybe 10 others. Oh heck, give it to a bunch of your friends if you can  remember who they are!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just before the funeral services, the undertaker came up to the very elderly widow and asked, &#8220;How old was your husband?&#8221; &#8220;98,&#8221; she replied. &#8220;Two years older than me.&#8221; &#8220;So you&#8217;re 96,&#8221; the undertaker commented. She responded, &#8220;Hardly worth going home, is it? Reporters interviewing a 104-year-old woman: &#8220;And what do you think is the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Old Wisdom - The Bible and Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/02\/old-wisdom.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Old Wisdom - The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Just before the funeral services, the undertaker came up to the very elderly widow and asked, &#8220;How old was your husband?&#8221; &#8220;98,&#8221; she replied. &#8220;Two years older than me.&#8221; &#8220;So you&#8217;re 96,&#8221; the undertaker commented. 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She responded, &#8220;Hardly worth going home, is it? Reporters interviewing a 104-year-old woman: &#8220;And what do you think is the&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/02\/old-wisdom.html","og_site_name":"The Bible and Culture","article_published_time":"2008-02-12T22:12:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_MCBNSn1DlAU\/R7JhjQB20MI\/AAAAAAAAAd0\/ox7uesXYghE\/s400\/op2.jpg"}],"author":"Ben Witherington","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/02\/old-wisdom.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/02\/old-wisdom.html","name":"Old Wisdom - The Bible and Culture","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/02\/old-wisdom.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/02\/old-wisdom.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_MCBNSn1DlAU\/R7JhjQB20MI\/AAAAAAAAAd0\/ox7uesXYghE\/s400\/op2.jpg","datePublished":"2008-02-12T22:12:00+00:00","dateModified":"2008-02-12T22:12:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/d1fd6c7893819eabc624db38ecfd8426"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/02\/old-wisdom.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/02\/old-wisdom.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/02\/old-wisdom.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_MCBNSn1DlAU\/R7JhjQB20MI\/AAAAAAAAAd0\/ox7uesXYghE\/s400\/op2.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_MCBNSn1DlAU\/R7JhjQB20MI\/AAAAAAAAAd0\/ox7uesXYghE\/s400\/op2.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/02\/old-wisdom.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Old Wisdom"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/","name":"The Bible and Culture","description":"All Things Biblical and Christian","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/d1fd6c7893819eabc624db38ecfd8426","name":"Ben Witherington","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/75e\/75ec11e1916a2008bc4cc638a0a0de2fx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/75e\/75ec11e1916a2008bc4cc638a0a0de2fx96.jpg","caption":"Ben Witherington"},"description":"Bible scholar Ben Witherington is Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary and on the doctoral faculty at St. Andrews University in Scotland. A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He is now considered one of the top evangelical scholars in the world, and is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies. Witherington has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell. A popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings not only in the United States but also in England, Estonia, Russia, Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia. He has also led tours to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. Witherington has written over thirty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Beliefnet website. Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&amp;E, and the PAX Network.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/author\/bwitherington"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}