Children see the world in funny ways. Everything is new to them, they have very little experience of anything. Yet, they still have strange ideas about how things are, and how things should be. Contradict that, you're in for a temper tantrum.
Teenagers see the world in funny ways. They're still learning, yet they have this strange idea that they've learned everything important. They still have strange ideas about how things are, and how things should be. Wise advice will be met with stupid responses, like "ok boomer".
Young adults see the world in funny ways. They've learned enough to navigate the world, but will always need "adultier adults" to guide them. There are many important lessons to learn, but being adults, they are resistant to learning them. They have strange ideas about how things are, and how things should be. "I'm not a kid anymore", they reason, and so rebuke is difficult to pass on.
Old people see the world in funny ways. They've been through a lot, and through those experiences, they have gathered much wisdom. With this, they believe they have fully developed their mind, not just their body. They have strange ideas about how things are, and how things should be. "I used to think like you", they confidently announce, not being willing to show why we should now think like them.
It cannot be disputed that the Bible commands a great respect for old people in particular. It commands honor and care for the previous generation, and to an extent, it lends credibility to the idea that old = wise. As Christians, we are failing if we do not look up to those who came before us with a certain amount of respect.
It is, however, possible to take this too far, and in the Church, I feel like we do this too often. It's all too common for older people to look down on younger people as if they have nothing to offer. As if there are two stages in life: Young and dumb, or old and wise. But the Bible paints a very different picture.
The picture painted by Scripture is that "Great men are not always wise, Nor do the aged always understand justice." (Job 32:9), and "Better a poor and wise youth Than an old and foolish king who will be admonished no more." (Ecclesiastes 4:13). Effectively, there is an order that should be, and an order that is. The order that should be is that each generation should lead the next. Old people should not only seek wisdom, but pass it on to the younger generation. The order that is, however, is that old people can actually mislead younger people. Or at least, they can attempt to.
Ultimately, no matter how old we are, we are all children of Adam. The imaginations of our heart are evil from our youth (Genesis 8:21), and we need not imagine age will dissolve this. In fact, ultimately, it is the Lord who guides both old and young. It is the fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7, 9:10), and thus by studying His word with due diligence, even the youth can have greater understanding than their teachers and elders (Psalm 119:97-100).
But this is often seen as arrogance. Old people often forget that just as the world is new to young people, new things are also entering the world with young people. New art, new technology, new scientific developments, new economic and political challenges, all of which change our lives, for better or for worse. And sometimes, old wisdom is not enough to account for it.
Nevertheless, we are told it basically is. "Back in my day...", we're told. To give an example from my personal life, consider a story my mother told me about my grandparents. In order to get me to sleep, they insisted she put a Farley's rusk in my bottle. When my mother objected, they pointed out it's what they did with my aunt. My mother, however, is a diligent parent who kept up with the best research available to her. Thus, she said no, because apparently, doing that strips tooth enamel. This caused my grandparents to go silent, sharing a mutual look of horror. When she asked my father about that later on, he explained to her that his sister, my aforementioned aunt, had indeed lost her tooth enamel.
Now, how is it my mother was so far ahead of my grandparents? There are two simple reasons. The first is that, sadly, it appears my grandparents both left this Earth without coming to know Christ. But even then, they suffered from a condition many old people within the Church have: Arrogance. They assumed that the old ways are the better ways. That if they did it one way, so should successive generations. Wisdom requires adaptability. 5 words seem so simple to say, but nigh impossible to mean: "I'm sorry", and "I was wrong".
Of course, I could probably quadruple the length of this article with criticisms of younger generations and how we treat old people. In particular, I have to say this ridiculous "ok Boomer" nonsense is positively despicable. It's disrespectful, and loaded with the assumption that the criticisms I have lodged against older people in this article are all that's true. But it's not. The truth is, every generation has lessons to teach, and lessons to learn. What the young see as new, the old have seen before. What the young have grown up with, the old see as new. It is, therefore, vital to tear down these ridiculous walls of arrogance we have built between each other. As the old saying goes, God gave us two ears and one mouth. This should tell us something about their intended use.