Biblical Perspectives on Caring for the Aged and the Sick

Abstract

There are approximately 390 million people over the age of sixty-five in the world today, and the number is expected to increase to 800 million by the end of the first quarter of the twenty-first century! Here in North America, one out of eight Americans is sixty-five years of age or older. Every day more than 5,500 Americans celebrate their sixty-fifth birthday, and that number is expected to grow rapidly in the years ahead (ERLC, 1). On Larry King Live, former president Bill Clinton recently agreed with health professionals who predict that by 2025 people will live to one hundred years old and beyond. As the percentage of older people increases, care related to the aging— along with its problems, attitudes, and responsibilities— become matters of increasing concern. Faced with these statistics and issues, we must ask ourselves how we can offer better pastoral assistance and care for the aged and the sick of our society. Interestingly, the Bible speaks much about aging (Harris 2008, 11–51). By exploring the biblical perspectives on this topic, we can hope to gain a greater