On Turning 70

Last updated on: December 30, 2021 at 1:36 am by Ben Witherington

On Turning 70 2021-12-29T08:34:45-05:00 Ben Witherington

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No, my wife and I have not entered the transfer portal, or the gate into the great Beyond. It is however true that I have now lived through 70 years of life. I share a birthday with sports legends— Sandy Koufax, my childhood pitching idol, Michael Jordan, my homeboy Tar Heel, LeBron James, and yes Tiger Woods. I’m older than all of them, except Sandy. I was never a sports legend. I was a pretty decent basketball player in junior high, and a very average golfer, now below average but still swinging. My better skill was running, and I ran 3 marathons between ages 38 and 42, including running and finishing the Boston Marathon on a very hot Patriots day. I finished behind all the elite runners, but ahead of the Mayor. I was elated, I was exhausted, and it was an amazing spiritual experience. Truly. At the end I kept saying ‘are you running with me Jesus’…. and I finished, falling into the arms of my college roommate Sir Rick Sanders aka Beauregard Fitzwater. But that was long ago, and I could no more run that sort of distance now if I had too. I’m lucky to do 2-3 jogs a week involving a few miles total. While I listened to Satchel Page’s advice ‘don’t look over your shoulder, something may be gaining on you’, I’m afraid everyone passes me these days when I’m out for a trot.

People have been asking me about retirement. I keep telling them retirement is not in the Bible, but rest sure is. And my beloved President at the seminary has instructed me that I’m not allowed to retire. Just as well, since I don’t believe in it. Retirement is a post industrial revolution notion dreamed up because all sorts of blue collar workers were just worn out by 65 from working in the mills of all sorts. It is, in short, a modern invention which has turned into an expected convention in modern life.

What have a learned in 70 years? Well, like Jesus, I am a B.C. and A.D. guy. By this I mean I was born Before Computers (B.C.) and After Disasters (A.D.) of a World War sort. Just for the record Jesus was born sometime before Herod the Great died in 2 B.C. and lived well after when Dionysius Exeguus thought the turn of the era was— he was in fact wrong about the turning point of the eras. If we were counting our era from the time Jesus was born, then the year should be about 2025 or so. Never mind. Numbers don’t matter, aging does.

I have learned both the up and down side of the technology revolution— it has created great expectations in regard to instant everything, while also creating the inability of people to be patient. It has also disabled many people’s memories. You don’t have to remember much if it’s all stored on your computer hard drive. And you don’t have to memorize anything— you just Google it. Furthermore, it has provided easy access to all kinds of crap— pornography, political buffoonery and outright lies, addictive games and increasingly gambling so you can readily throw your money away, not to mention the availability of throw away, no musical talent, auto-tuned singing and rhythmic talking. I remember seeing a now very famous female singer singing live with the old legend Stevie Nicks, and boy was she off-key, out of tune, sharp, flat, and just plain bad. So much for real musicianship.

And besides the short attention span, the technology revolution has created a whole generation of visual learners, who, as students, seldom take notes, but instead request you to send them your powerpoints. They stare at the screen like cows staring at a new barn door, taking no or almost no notes. This is not proper learning. Sigh…..

In other words, I’ve learned how education has changed, and not generally for the better. Things have been dumbed down and at the same time speeded up— Yes you too can get a degree in less than 2 years, or a PhD in less than 4, or a GED in 30 seconds online from the right website. Etc. And many schools in order to financially survive have made all this available online. The problem is, especially when it comes to seminary students, you can’t judge character or spiritual formation well at all of a student who is only online and never appears in person in a class. God help the church if we unleash some of those students on church ministry or mission. When incompetence is outweighed by over-confidence, and immorality is actually promoted as being inclusive and loving, and instead of character we have a caricature of a minister, talented but lacking moral judgment, the church is in deep trouble.

I’ve also learned more about what really matters, namely faith, family including especially one’s church family as well as one’s physical family, and above all putting the Lord first in all major decisions and even some minor ones. And where would I be without my friends. I was recently honored with a Festschrift for my 70th birthday by my scholarly friends. It was totally unexpected! Apparently, I have made a difference in my field and ministry.

In a totally narcissistic me-first society I’ve learned how little Christian some professed Christians are when it comes to caring about others and bothering to get vaccinated against the pandemic. It is not a surprise that the vast number of people who end up in the hospital with COVID are the unvaccinated, including, sadly (and what a terrible witness to others) many conservative Christians. This word just in— there’s nothing in the Bible against getting vaccinated. When so called freedom of choice just becomes stubborn stupidity and self-centered behavior, Jesus weeps.

And I’ve had some good things reaffirmed recently. For instance, a commitment to life-long learning is a noble pursuit, keeps the brain ticking over, and forestalls mental decline. I’ve learned that the character of God is very much defined by the nouns predicated of God in the Bible— God is Love, Life, Light, Spirit, and One (see my Who God Is little book). And I have learned that I could never catch up with all the sacrifices my good wife Ann has made so I could be and do all God called me to be and to do. She will have many more kudos in heaven than me. Nuff Said.

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