How old is too old?

[Sousuke]

Nothing in the Amendment requiring sight.

Yeah I agree.

[Preston-CLB]

"How old is too old?"

Old enough to know better, but young enough to keep doing it!
-P

[beerman]

[vino68]

Wow, this one is tough. No easy answer.

[TrappedinCalifornia]

I guess people interpret the bible to suit their needs...like holy rollers who ask for money because God said they needed a new jet.

I just remember the basics, like treating others as you want to be treated, don't lie, don't covet your neighbors wife, etc.

I see a lot of hypocrites these days.

Personally, I was thinking more along the lines of this...

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights...

Insofar as 'interpreting' the Bible, that's exactly what's been done from the beginning, before the Bible was even written down. You allude to the Ten Commandments; presumably including "Thou shalt not kill." That's been one of the most 'interpreted' passages throughout History and, potentially, the interpretations are based on an incorrect interpretation of the language. There are those who argue that it should read "Thou shalt not murder" based on the original wording. From a certain perspective, that makes logical sense.

But, that's why it's called personal choice and accepting responsibility for those choices. Even if you don't accept the responsibility, it will be assigned to you in the Final Judgment, meaning you will 'answer' for your choices.

The metric to be used in that Judgment? A man's heart. Proverbs 21:2 and 1 Corinthians 4:5...

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts.

Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

Put another way, what were your intentions and why did you have them? That's why ultimate Judgment is left to God. Humans cannot conceive or perceive what's truly in a man's heart. As an example...



Both won the Medal of Honor. Both had the intention of saving lives.* Both were Christians. One was from Tennessee, the other from Virginia; i.e., both were from "the South," with all that potentially means in terms of cultural upbringing. Both had a temper they had to learn to rein in. Neither was a conscientious objector when that status was 'acceptable.' When the chips were down, both prioritized others before themselves.

One carried a firearm, the other didn't. Which one was the 'true' Christian? Or... Are both 'true' Christians?

One of the essential "Basics" you didn't cite is found in Matthew 7:1-3...

...Judge not, that ye be not judged.

2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

Jeremiah 17:10...

I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

So, when the bushes were shot up all around him and York never got a scratch (see footnote), but Doss was wounded** and ultimately lost his hearing... was that their ultimate 'reward' or more along the lines of giving each no more than they could handle?

___________

* The scene from Sergeant York was a distilled version of his motives and his actions; attempting to capture his intentions of doing the 'honorable' thing in saving what lives he could by stopping the killing. The way he actually phrased it in his diary was...

...So I done hollered to them to come down and give up. I didn't want to kill any more'n I had to. I would tech a couple of them off and holler again. But I guess they couldn't understand my language, or else they couldn't hear me in the awful racket that was going on all around. Over twenty Germans were killed by this time...

So he blew his whistle and they all surrendered-- all except one. I made the major order him to surrender twice. But he wouldn't. And I had to tech him off. I hated to do it. I've been doing a tolerable lot of thinking about it since. He was probably a brave soldier boy. But I couldn't afford to take any chances and so I had to let him have it...

On the way back we were constantly under heavy shell fire and I had to double-time them to get them through safely. There was nothing to be gained by having any more of them wounded or killed. They done surrendered to me and it was up to me to look after them. And so I done done it...

So you can see here in this case of mine where God helped me out. I had been living for God and working in the church some time before I come to the army. So I am a witness to the fact that God did help me out of that hard battle; for the bushes were shot up all around me and I never got a scratch...

** What the movie didn't portray about the wounds Doss received...



If you read The Unlikeliest Hero from 1967 (I have a copy in a box, somewhere), the wounded soldier Doss rolled off the stretcher for had an head wound, which, as a medic, Doss had been trained to prioritize. The broken arm was always cited by Doss as an acceptable sacrifice in that it saved the other soldier's life by not allowing the bullet to hit that other soldier in the neck.

[norcalAF]

I was in Turners today replacing some ammo I shot over the weekend. There was an old gentleman in there trying to get ammo. Well into his 70's if not 80's. Anyways, they were telling him about the new system and asking if he'd bought a gun recently. He said no, and that it was for his brother who didn't drive anymore. His brother no longer had a license. They were explaining the system to him telling him he had to go to cfars online. I bet this old guy didn't even have a computer. He just left in frustration.


I've been kicking myself since then for not approaching him and offering to help. In these strange times we're in, I imagine just having a box of ammo for some old relic they have sitting around would provide them with some peace of mind, some comfort. But what if this was for a Dr Kevorkian kind of situation.


So it got me thinking, how old is too old? I tried to imagine myself at that age, in that situation. Even when my old hands can barely hold my gun up, I'd still want it close by. But what about dementia and Alzheimer's? At what point does someone say no more for you? What is that process like? Especially if there is no family close by.



Have you planned for this part of your life?

Last time I was visiting Missouri, I was talking with my grandpa about his various guns. He said he needed some ammo for his .303 British. I called around and tracked down a box at a local store and picked up the last box they had for him. I added it to the stack of sks and 12 guage ammo he has in the safe. He is 92. Seemed to put him more at ease knowing he had some bullets for everything.