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Older Men

            Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. (Titus 2:2)

Oh, here we go. A single, modern (not post-modern) woman thinking I have a right to comment on the behavior of “older men.” It doesn’t make it any better because the comments are about one of the current subhuman classes. We must be ever so careful if we talk about people of certain skin-tones, or who claim to have a gender that is “new and improved,” but gutting guys, that’s a current gladiator sport. And older men? Well, they’re derelicts from a primitive age and they don’t tend to like the way things are headed, so yeah…I can attack older men with impunity. Right?

There are two issues with the paragraph you just read. First, I don’t intend to attack anyone. Second, the passage above wasn’t written by me. They aren’t my words. So, trusting to God for wisdom, let’s walk on some eggshells, or maybe on rice-paper. First, let’s define the “older” part. In the Roman Empire, when Paul wrote to Titus, “older” in reference to men referred to those who were at least 60 years old. For those who need to swallow that pill: Bon Appétit. Women were older at 50.

These men were to be taught to be temperate, or calm and controlled. They were also to be worthy of respect and self-controlled. If those aren’t all the same thing, they’re closely related, and all of them have to do with learning what not to do in their treatment of others. The image that comes to mind is a video of a photographer moving toward a charging grizzly, hands (and camera) up. We’ve seen cats arch their backs and fluff out their tails. I’ve seen turkey vultures turn to stare me down with their wings outstretched. It’s all the same idea. “See how big and bad I am? You don’t want to mess with me. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.” Older men are to stop doing that.

As an alternative, older men were to be sound in faith, love, and endurance. None of those requires that older men turn into welcome mats that the rest of us can walk on, so there are times when sound in faith, in love, and in endurance may look something like what men are supposed to stop doing. But the focus changes. “Look how big and bad I am” is all about me. “Faith, love, and endurance” tend to be more about God and the people around them.

Two ideas come to mind. The first is that if older men are to be taught this, there’s no need to wait until they’re older to start teaching them. The second is that there’s nothing in Scripture that suggests we shouldn’t teach women the same things. 

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