Is "Old" age creeping up on you?

[Jake Smith]

Just "thinking", how will you deal with the unknown? How strong is your faith, or are you one of the "tough guys", who say, you're not worried about death? A friend of mine, Bob, before he died; I saw at the liquor store, and I asked him how he was doing. He told me, if I wake up in the morning, I'm doing just fine. Another who passed, Venom Jockey, I told him before he died, about folks saying, "oh wow", probably saw the lights, I saw, on a flying saucer once, when I was nine years old, they weren't of this earth, out of all the lights I've ever seen; none looked like those.

Anyway, time seems to be "speeding" up, like my mother told me, before she "died". she told me, the older you get my son, the faster time flies, how do you feel, about Faith and dying?

You ever wonder, what's on the other side? Or are you like me, and think things will be just fine? I really find it hard to believe that anyone, could possibly see all the things upon the earth, and not realize, there's a "GOD", who created everything. You ever wonder where GOD came from? These are some serious questions, that pass through my mind, "Crazy", I guess, but they do come to light in my mind, from time to time .

 

[Ken Anderson]

Good post, @Jake Smith.

I am a Christian, and I rarely doubt the existence of God, although I am pretty sure that we will all find that we had a bunch of stuff wrong in the end. I have known people who, I believe, were sincere in their position that they were unafraid of death. The last time I spoke to my brother before he died, after he had been diagnosed with cancer in his lymph nodes, but before he began chemotherapy, he said that he didn't want to, but that he was not afraid to die.

I would like to be able to say that I have that conviction, but perhaps because I identify as an Anabaptist rather than as a Baptist, I have the hope of salvation rather than the assurance of salvation. Even if I were assured that I would be a successful candidate for salvation, I still wouldn't know what that would look like, so there would still be the fear of the unknown.

My younger brother, five years younger than me, died about five years ago, and this brother was three years older than me, so I surely am aware that my time is limited, although my two oldest brothers are still going. My oldest brother, who is about twelve years older than me, just completed a 100-mile bicycle ride, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have any medical problems.

I've had cancer twice now, and came pretty close to dying from a strangulated hernia more than twenty years ago, and was recently hospitalized for an intestinal stoppage due to existing hernias, so I don't know how much longer I have.

I certainly can't say that I am unafraid of death, but I do believe that some people truly are, while others who may say that simply haven't looked at the issue close enough.

 

[Mary Robi]

Something's creeping up on me, it's either old age or old underwear. Sometimes it's hard to tell...... I'm hoping it's just the underwear.

 

[Axel Slingerland]

I believe in God, what I do not believe in is Organized Religion. In my opinion, that is a for profit business. If I want to go to Church, and I do now and then, I go a small, unaffiliated Church that helps the members of the Church when they need it.

However, while I believe that Organized Religion is a for profit business, Faith on the other hand, is personal. It doesn't need any organization. It's between You and God.

 

[Beth Gallagher]

Agnostic here. Still trying to figure things out but I suspect I never will. I don't dread being dead but I dread dying, especially if I linger and annoy people.

I pretty much assume that being dead will be exactly like before being born; just a big nuthin'. I do find myself thinking more about dying these days, though. I'm such a control freak that I will leave the children a bunch of notes to direct things from the hereafter.

 

[Lois E. Winters]

Old age is not only creeping up on me, it's overtaken me. But, I'll roll with the punches.

 

[Marie Mallory]

Old age is not only creeping up on me, it's overtaken me. But, I'll roll with the punches.

Seems to me you're doing pretty good.

 

[Ed Wilson]

I try not to think about death. It leads to worry about something I have no control over. I'd rather be hit from behind from the inevitable when I ain't looking.

God was an invention before they knew about science.

 

[Marie Mallory]

I know for a fact there is a spiritual world out there. I've had a couple paranormal experience's in my life.
Jake witnessed the last one in 1980s.First one was 1973.

 

[Marie Mallory]

I try not to think about death. It leads to worry about something I have no control over. I'd rather be hit from behind from the inevitable when I ain't looking.

God was an invention before they knew about science.

I disagree, I know there is a creator and science isn't it.

 

[Jake Smith]

Diving a little deeper into the "unknown", there are some very unexplained happenings here on "earth", that make no sense to me. Like this plane crash that took off, only to crash full of fuel, shortly after take off, and killed several on the ground, and everyone on board over hundred; except "one", who walked around in a "daze" in the crash site, until they found him, they found out he was one of the passengers aboard that plane. Just last night; on news Marie and I watched another plane crash where it exploded in fire, the pilot said someone had opened one of the doors, which he said caused the crash, all four people were uninjured; Marie and I both said "no way"!
I had heard once, that you cannot die until it's your time. Like one person they said tried numerous times to kill himself, and even to the point of jumping from a 30 ft. building, and still didn't die, just caused himself a great deal of "suffering", before he did. There were ten of us in my family counting mom and dad, one child passed at birth, between me and one of my sisters, we were all "healthy", except one of my brothers who had Marfan syndrome, like Abraham Lincoln had, except Abraham only had it affecting his bones, which my brother had it affecting everything on him, eyes, ears, heart, bones and everything. He had more operations than anyone I've ever known, but was "super smart", moved up several grades in school because they said he was too smart to be in that grade. He was something else growing up, always worked jobs and could stretch a dollar further than any of us, nothing kept him down. The doctors told Mom and dad, he will never see teenage years, he lived into his 70s. He even became an ordained minister, before he passed we were talking about religion and I told him, I "totally" believe in "GOD", and I pray every night for him to make do what I'm suppose to do, and I forgive everyone, and please forgive me of my sins, in Jesus name I pray; Amen. He told me that won't get you to heaven, and he never did say what would get me there; before he passed away, several years back now. We've lost one child at birth, one brother, one sister, mom, and dad who have died; I have three brothers left, and one sister.

 

[Jake Smith]

Good post, @Jake Smith.

I am a Christian, and I rarely doubt the existence of God, although I am pretty sure that we will all find that we had a bunch of stuff wrong in the end. I have known people who, I believe, were sincere in their position that they were unafraid of death. The last time I spoke to my brother before he died, after he had been diagnosed with cancer in his lymph nodes, but before he began chemotherapy, he said that he didn't want to, but that he was not afraid to die.

I would like to be able to say that I have that conviction, but perhaps because I identify as an Anabaptist rather than as a Baptist, I have the hope of salvation rather than the assurance of salvation. Even if I were assured that I would be a successful candidate for salvation, I still wouldn't know what that would look like, so there would still be the fear of the unknown.

My younger brother, five years younger than me, died about five years ago, and this brother was three years older than me, so I surely am aware that my time is limited, although my two oldest brothers are still going. My oldest brother, who is about twelve years older than me, just completed a 100-mile bicycle ride, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have any medical problems.

I've had cancer twice now, and came pretty close to dying from a strangulated hernia more than twenty years ago, and was recently hospitalized for an intestinal stoppage due to existing hernias, so I don't know how much longer I have.

I certainly can't say that I am unafraid of death, but I do believe that some people truly are, while others who may say that simply haven't looked at the issue close enough.

How many brothers do you have, @Ken Anderson ? Any sisters?

 

[Marie Mallory]

I try not to think about death. It leads to worry about something I have no control over. I'd rather be hit from behind from the inevitable when I ain't looking.

God was an invention before they knew about science.

Science has been trying to prove the Bible wrong forever, they haven't succeeded.

 

[Ken Anderson]

How many brothers do you have, @Ken Anderson ? Any sisters?

I had four full brothers, two still alive. I also have two half brothers, who were at my brother's funeral, a half sister and a step-sister, who have both passed. I left home after high school to hitchhike around the country, first, then a couple of semesters at college, before moving to California, so only one of my half-brothers had been born while I was still at home, so I actually knew my step-sister, who was much younger than me, better than I did my half-brothers and sisters. One of my half brothers has visited me here in Maine, so I had gotten to know him some, but the other I hadn't seen since he was a baby, prior to a few days before the funeral. He is very tall, and has a full beard, so I asked him, "The beard is new, isn't it?"

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

This is a toughie. There is a lot that can be frightening to look at.

All I know for sure is that I'm losing patience for foolishness faster every day. I'm not sure why, but I've felt growing ire toward a lot of people in the 30 to 40 years old bracket of late. Not all, there are many outstanding examples. But the "dumb as a rock" contingent seems to have gained a large and loud platform.

Sorry. Wrong thread I guess.

 

[Beth Gallagher]

This is a toughie. There is a lot that can be frightening to look at.

All I know for sure is that I'm losing patience for foolishness faster every day. I'm not sure why, but I've felt growing ire toward a lot of people in the 30 to 40 years old bracket of late. Not all, there are many outstanding examples. But the "dumb as a rock" contingent seems to have gained a large and loud platform.

Sorry. Wrong thread I guess.

Naw, this is the right thread. Just shake your cane at the clouds and it's all good.

 

[Jake Smith]

I had four full brothers, two still alive. I also have two half brothers, who were at my brother's funeral, a half sister and a step-sister, who have both passed. I left home after high school to hitchhike around the country, first, then a couple of semesters at college, before moving to California, so only one of my half-brothers had been born while I was still at home, so I actually knew my step-sister, who was much younger than me, better than I did my half-brothers and sisters. One of my half brothers has visited me here in Maine, so I had gotten to know him some, but the other I hadn't seen since he was a baby, prior to a few days before the funeral. He is very tall, and has a full beard, so I asked him, "The beard is new, isn't it?"

Yeah, we all seem to scatter when we age some, after our parents "passed", we barely spoke at all anymore.

 

[Marie Mallory]

This is a toughie. There is a lot that can be frightening to look at.

All I know for sure is that I'm losing patience for foolishness faster every day. I'm not sure why, but I've felt growing ire toward a lot of people in the 30 to 40 years old bracket of late. Not all, there are many outstanding examples. But the "dumb as a rock" contingent seems to have gained a large and loud platform.

Sorry. Wrong thread I guess.

Jacob, maybe its the experience they had growing up? Our generation wasn't the best example of representing responsibility and discipline.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

Jacob, maybe its the experience they had growing up? Our generation wasn't the best example of representing responsibility and discipline.

It depends on who you were, both then and now.

I sure don't remember taking drugs, going to concerts surrounded by debauchery, or protesting order and demanding pie in the sky. As far as my experience goes, that was probably reserved for the children of the idle rich, at least by my family's standards.

What seems worse to me, though it could seem like a small point to some, is the incredibly low levels of literacy even among 30-somethings. They not only don't read books, they basically can't and extract the author's meaning. Average reading, math, and money handling skills barely crack the nominal 6th-grade level!

But I'll set aside more cane-waving for now.

 

[Marie Mallory]

It depends on who you were, both then and now.

I sure don't remember taking drugs, going to concerts surrounded by debauchery, or protesting order and demanding pie in the sky. As far as my experience goes, that was probably reserved for the children of the idle rich, at least by my family's standards.

What seems worse to me, though it could seem like a small point to some, is the incredibly low levels of literacy even among 30-somethings. They not only don't read books, they basically can't and extract the author's meaning. Average reading, math, and money handling skills barely crack the nominal 6th-grade level!

But I'll set aside more cane-waving for now.

"I sure don't remember taking drugs, going to concerts surrounded by debauchery, or protesting order and demanding pie in the sky. As far as my experience goes, that was probably reserved for the children of the idle rich, at least by my family's standards."

I didn't do drugs, thanks to witnessing a young man die a horrible LSD trip in an ER] , I did like Boones Farm Strawberry Hill Wine' and concerts. And rich sure wasn't my ally. Hard jobs gave me muscle and a little spending money.