How old is old?

by joey jojo 50 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • road to nowhere
    road to nowhere

    Half banana

    True, but actuary tables have changed little for people who attain adulthood. Child mortality plays a big role. For adults the modifiers are war, famine, and disease. Now better medical care and vaccines increase life expectancy but not quality. I do wonder how many actuaries left records from bible times.

  • tiki
    tiki

    Methuselah old...

    Old depends on your health and state of mind I guess...

  • tiki
    tiki

    My mother is 99....I think of her as old...

  • waton
    waton
    For sure, being a devout xian makes you "old" before your time--and drains your energy so you become physically old before your time, too.

    WW google Loma Linda California. little fornication.

    I define "old" by how much time you have left .

    right, very interesting viewpoint.

  • Half banana
    Half banana

    Road to nowhere, we cannot determine with any certainty the infant mortality rate two and a half thousand years ago but we can ascertain the death age and sometimes the cause of death in children and adults from that time.

    Different sutures (the fine meandering gaps) in the human skull fuse at a known rate and continue to do so right up until about the age of sixty nine in the case of the sagittal suture. Death age in skeletal material can also be shown from the wear on teeth and at a technical level of investigation by the subtle changes in the composition of the teeth.

    Roman life expectancy was around 50 or above and if you took into account the high infant mortality it would have been around 25. (according to Wikipedia)

    So it is a puzzle why the Bible should say 70 or 80 years for the human lifespan. Perhaps the compilers of the Psalms were looking at the optimistic age for death in the text they had-- and it reminded them of Moses long life-- so they attributed Psalm 90 to him? Otherwise they must have just made up the ages to sound impressive. However the Bible's claims in Psalm 90 regarding human longevity, is not backed up by the unremarkable archaeological finds of ancient Canaan.

  • Ding
    Ding

    134.

    Now that generations overlap, so do years.

  • Finkelstein
    Finkelstein

    Who's calling who old ?

    https://images.pexels.com/photos/156731/pexels-photo-156731.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=1&w=500

    When religious charlatans write up articles stating that many now living will never grow old and die and there are people who actually believe and accept these statements unconditionally.

    One should expect these people are most likely lacking in some formal education and might also be lacking a bit in the intelligence department.

  • road to nowhere
    road to nowhere

    Half

    Thanks. You can atill learn at an old age

  • LongHairGal
    LongHairGal

    JOEY JOJO:

    Yeah, we’re all getting ‘up there’ and some already are. If we take care of our health most can have decent quality of life...Remember: some younger people die before their time! Stress and bad habits can contribute to this...

    I’m now retired and grateful for every day and am so happy I walked away from the JW religion almost twenty years ago..I reconnected with estranged family and relatives before it was too late. I had many visits and good times with these people over the last two decades. This is priceless and I would not have had this if I was still wasting time in a kingdom hall around people who didn’t care about me...all while the clock was ticking!!

    So, everybody trying to make a life outside the religion, don’t worry about how old you are..Just make each day count going forward!🥂

  • Diogenesister
    Diogenesister
    it is a puzzle why the Bible should say 70 or 80 years for the human lifespan. Perhaps the compilers of the Psalms were looking at the optimistic age for death in the text they had-- and it reminded them of Moses long life-- so they attributed Psalm 90 to him? Otherwise they must have just made up the ages to sound impressive. However the Bible's claims in Psalm 90 regarding human longevity, is not backed up by the unremarkable archaeological finds of ancient Canaan.

    I think the average and median ages would be skewed by high infant mortality rates, and women dying in childbirth. If you take war, famine and uncommon situations like the plague of 1400’s out of the statistics the ages were probably pretty similar to today.I’ve heard that the ages of hunter gatherers were pretty high. Remember our two biggest killers - heart disease, diabetes and many types cancer predicated on diet and smoke etc would have been virtually unknown. I know cancer existed ( dinosaurs had cancer) and I expect it’s bred into us in terms of mutation driving evolution. But many types of cancer are related to modern lifestyles.

    We started getting sick when we became sedentary farmers, living in close proximity with each other and, most importantly, our animals.

    If you think about some of the worst recent epidemics they began as cross species diseases(there’s a word for it, slips my mind but It probably begins with Xeno or zoo )

    We are healthier taking lots and lots of physical exercise (running!)and not eating too much. I have a belief one veggie meal a day and meat maximum once a week keeps you healthy. Green leafy veg, whole food etc

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