Where is the positive vision for ageing?

Roger Gardner is 73 years old. He is classed as extremely clinically vulnerable, which means he has a higher chance of developing complications if he catches a cold, flu or any other respiratory illnesses. For Roger, staying warm over the winter is essential for his survival. But that will be a lot more difficult this winter because he and his wife have just lost their winter fuel payments. He told the BBC “it’s not as though we’ve got extra money coming in. Unfortunately when you’re a pensioner, money is limited and what you’ve got coming in that is it and you’ve got to plan how you spend it really wisely.”

The winter fuel payment was introduced in 1997 to help older people pay for their heating bills over the colder months. Up until a few months ago, it was given to all pensioners born before 23 September 1958, regardless of their income. You could receive up to £300 each year.

Roger is far from alone is being hugely concerned that the Government's decision to means test this benefit will force him to choose between eating and heating this winter. The charity Age UK says it believes ‘as many as two million pensioners who find paying their energy bills a real stretch will be seriously hit by this cut.” In the House of Commons this week, the prime minister Keir Starmer defended the cut, but faced cries of ‘shame’ from some Tory MPs. During the session, the Leader of the Opposition, Rishi Sunak, asked him why he had signed off ‘inflation busting’ pay increases for train drivers and doctors, but was cutting benefits for Britain’s vulnerable pensioners.

Starmer’s defence is that he and the Chancellor Rachel Reeves have inherited a £22bn black hole in public finances and so they have had to make tough decisions to safeguard the British economy. The cut in the winter fuel payment it expected to reduce the number of pensioners in receipt of the up to £300 payment by 10 million, from 11.4 million to 1.5 million which is predicted to save the Government £1.4 billion this year.

It is worth saying that it is not all bad news for pensioners. The Government is committed to the 'triple lock' which sees the state pension rise by whatever is highest each April between inflation, the average UK wage increase or 2.5%. Next year, the state pension will rise by over £400 thanks to this approach, although the age at which you can start claiming it will also increase to 67 sometime between 2034 and 2036 and to 68 between 2044-46.

Politically, this is all very risky for Starmer, even with a large majority of 150+. One new Labour MP has already written to him, urging him to U-Turn on the cut and the Christian MP Rachel Maskell has even warned she might not be able to vote for the winter fuel payment squeeze. Starmer and Reeves are arguing that they are doing it for the good of the economy and public finances which will benefit pensioners in the longer term. For their opponents, like the Tories, this is ageism, pure and simple, from a party that is more reliant on younger voters than the Tories who’s membership is firmly in the 65+ category.

I’m less interested in the rights or wrongs of the particular policy to slash the winter fuel allowance as I am in the broader issue of how we think about and treat older people. Does the UK have an ‘old person’ problem? Are we increasingly ageist as a society? And most importantly of all, what does God think? How might his word show us a better story?

First let’s look at the facts. According the Office for National Statistics, by 2072, 27 per cent of the UK’s population will be 65 or over. This is up from 13% in 1972. In 2022, the population of those in England and Wales aged 90 or over was 550,835, the highest ever total and the number of centenarians has more than doubled since 2002. Advances in medicine and medical understanding, higher living standards and healthier lifestyles are all thought to be key factors behind this increase.

So we are all living longer and that means society will have more and more older people. I'm not sure we have grasped what this means for our economy and our survival because an ageing population, coupled with a declining birth rate is a recipe for huge trouble (this article is not the place to look at why the birth rate is declining or how we should think about it from a Christian perspective). Over the coming decades, we will have less working age people so just think what that means for our public sector and economy.

This reality, that our society will have increasing numbers of older people, will also challenge our social cohesion and relationships between the generations. According to Dr Carole Easton OBE, the chief executive of Better Ageing UK, we are increasingly ageist as a society. This applies to non—pensioners who might be very dismissive of anyone older, but it is also internalised as older people themselves say to themselves: ‘Oh I’m too old to do that’ when they could in fact complete the task. Last year, Dr Easton gave evidence to an Inquiry into older people’s rights and she said this:

“We know that up to half of the people aged over 50 in England experienced age discrimination in the last year, so the prevalence is huge. At least a third of people, and I would posit probably nearly all of us, hold ageist beliefs.”

That is quite the claim. Can it really be true that nearly all of us hold ageist beliefs? The Inquiry also heard that it is much harder for an older person to win an age-discrimination claim at Employment Tribunals and a study which looked at 20 countries and how older people are represented in the media found the UK came last. Why is this?

In our society, we are hugely shaped by an evolutionary, Darwinian mindset that thinks humans' nearest descendants are apes and we are in a survival race. In this worldview, the strong survive, while the weak fall. If you are influenced by this outlook, it means you look with disdain at older people and instead prioritise youth.

Our society is also completely ill-equipped to cope with the realities of old age, namely increasing infirmity and illness. In the secular West, life is about the pursuit of pleasure. So, suffering and weakness are always negatives and interruptions to this pursuit. People think to themselves that there cannot be anything positive about getting older, asking 'what is there to enjoy about your body becoming increasingly frail?'

The French existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir once said this: “The vast majority of mankind looks upon the coming of old age with sorrow and rebellion. It fills them with more aversion than death itself.”

This is especially true of Western societies. Just think about how awash we are with anti-ageing remedies, creams, fountain of youth type promises! Even this week, The Times reported that President Putin had ordered Russian scientists to explore ways to unlock the secret to eternal youthfulness! Putin is not alone in this regard. What about ‘evergreen’ celebrities like Tom Cruise, now 62, who somehow remains looking youthful and little different to even 20 years ago? The implications of this are that growing old is seen as a negative thing.

This attitude towards ageing is also seen in the repeated push to legalise assisted suicide. Arguably, such legislation is ageist because it gives the impression that if you get to a certain age and life has lost a lot of joy, you’d be better off killing yourself. It is the pressure older people who do not want to be a burden will face that means a change in the law would be hugely dangerous. Society itself is ill-equipped to help. It offers no better story for growing older. Our culture lives in fear of growing older and dying.

Even in church life we can be unintentionally (or intentionally!) ageist. We can prioritise organising services with a focus on young people and give the message to older members that they need to get on board and create space for younger people to shine! Of course, some churches have the opposite problem where older leaders refuse to create any opportunities for new generations. But even in the business of ordinary church life, we can ignore older members, fail to speak with them because it is too hard or too difficult.

Yet when we turn to the Bible, we find a stunning thing. On the one hand, the Bible is honest about ageing and about the hardships of being older. But on the other hand, it insists that age brings wisdom and other blessings. It also demands a respect for older people in the law and we are commanded by King Jesus to speak gently to them, not harshly. We are to provide care for them, especially if their own families cannot provide or help (1 Timothy 5:3-8).

Consider the biblical balance we find when you first look at Ecclesiastes 12:1-7, which is a brutal description of ageing. In this text we discover that old age impacts every part of us. Old people are afraid. They struggle with walking. They eventually die. If this was the Bible’s final word on ageing then we could say that the Western attitude is right and ageing really is just something to be utterly resisted. But praise God! There is so much more in the Bible.

Firstly, the Bible is clear that human life at all stages is extremely valuable and full of worth. This is because we are made in God’s image. Someone at 90 years old has as much glory and honour from the LORD (Psalm 8:4-5) as a 25 year old. The beautiful reality about being made in God’s image is that our worth does not change or shift as we age.

Secondly, the Bible is also clear that older people have purpose. Proverbs 20:29 says this: “The glory of young men is their strength, grey hair the splendour of the old.” Older saints in church life bring so much wisdom to bear on a wide variety of situations. We would be wise to listen! Psalm 92:14-15 says “They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming that the LORD is upright; he is my Rock and there is no wickedness in him.”

Thirdly, God’s heart is especially for older people because His heart is to uphold and defend the cause of the frailest and the most vulnerable. Protection for widows and older people was part of the Law of Moses (Isaiah 1:17). Leviticus 19:32-33 says Israelites should stand up in the presence of older people and revere them.

Finally, the Christian message holds out the hope of a new body that will not age and decay. 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 says at the last trumpet we will all be changed in a flash and a twinkling of an eye. Our bodies will be raised incorruptible and full of glory and splendour! We will receive bodies fit for a renewed, eternal world.

In these four ways - and there are others - the Bible helps us see God's better story for ageing and how we should think and treat older people. I think we should have a posture of deep gratitude for them, for all they have done to contribute to society and for the wisdom they have to share. I would love to see a commissioner for older people appointed who could hold the government's feet to the fire to ensure the rights of our ageing citizens are respected and protected.

Above all, our churches must model the sort of inter-generational unity that points to the nature of God Himself and is a powerful and attractive compliment to the gospel. At CARE, we will do what we can through our parliamentary work to "speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." (Proverbs 31:8-9). This will include resisting the latest attempts to legalise assisted suicide.

In my own church, some of our members have been walking with Jesus for 50, 60 or even 70 years. It is a sheer joy to be in church with them and they are deeply precious. Their wisdom and godliness is a constant reminder of God's grace, faithfulness and covenant love. Yes, ageing is hard. But the Bible gives us what we need: a better story and vision for ageing than the one our western, secular society has to offer.