“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12).

In today’s society many people think that old equals bad and new equals good. We have a tendency to dismiss older ideas and even people—simply because they are older.

We have a tendency to worship youth culture. We idolize teenage singers and actors. We spend billions of dollars (collectively) on looking younger. People fantasize about the fountain of youth. 

C.S. Lewis coined the phrase chronological snobbery. It’s “the uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate common to our own age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on that account discredited.”*

However, old ideas are not always bad ideas and new ideas are not always good ideas. In fact, in fifty years from now some of the ideas we currently consider fresh and ground-breaking will be considered ridiculous.

Further, the people who have gone before us—including our own parents—have often gained hard-fought wisdom and experience through their own literal blood, sweat and tears. Are they perfect? No. None of us are. But they should be honoured for their contributions, their sacrifices, and their wisdom.

When you look at the origins of the word “ignorant” it actually means “on your own.” It is a put down to call someone ignorant. But the origin of the word is telling. Are we being ignorant when we act in a way that is detached from the wisdom and experience of others? Is our disregard of what has gone on before us—and who have gone before us—the result of ignorance? 

Let’s resist the shallow bias and chronological snobbery of our time. “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.”

Notes:

-“What does it actually mean to honour my parents?” Click here. Sermon.
-*C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy (New York: Harcourt, 1966), 207-8.
-Bible quotes are from the NIV.