As I was opening my Tecarta Bible today, the verse of the day hit at 1 Timothy 4:7. Since I tend to read from the KJV even after leaving the KJV Only movement, the verse was rendered as:
But refuse profane and old wives’ fables and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.
Meanwhile, the ESV doesn’t put old wives’ fables and simply renders it as:
Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yoruself for godliness.
In the Philippines, there’s the term MARITES which means, “Mare, what’s the latest?” There’s even a funny meaning saying, “Master in arts in relaying information through exagerrated storytelling.” That’s why I stell it as MARITES (all caps) and not Marites. Marites is a common girl’s name but not MARITES. Going to the market can be very annoying. One can imagine how old wives gather and instead of talking productive stuff, they’re talking about gossip. I even read from Reader’s Digest about those crazy stories. I was raised by my late paternal grandmother for a good portion of my life so I’d know a lot of old wives’ tales. My paternal grandmother would tell me stuff like, “Don’t sleep with your hair wet or you’ll go blind.” Other female elders tend to be the ones who tell what they call “harmless white lies” such as Santa Claus, the Boogeyman, dwarves, aswang, manananggal, etc. then they hypocritically get mad when the children lie to them. Even worse, they try to stop their children’s lying by lying. You have to really be baffled at all of that!
In the world of technology and the old generation dying, it’s very easy to see the boomer generation become the new old wives. The mothers in the 1980s are most likely grandmothers now. Even worse, one can find a lot of useless gossip on social media such as anti-vaxxer propaganda or any conspiracy theories carried by old wives. The ESV calls it, “Irreverent silly myths.” I think the KJV scored it better by saying, “Old wives’ fables.” because it’s typical among old wives to spread gossip. I guess the term MARITES came out because of old wives who are now misusing technology to spread the lies they believe in. It’s not even surprising old wives are lying on social media or perpetuating the lies they told their children to their grandchildren. Even worse, the children can protest and say, “Mom/dad stop!” They can even get so stubborn. They can even be stubborn even towards their fellow old people who are warning them to stop in their gossip.
Paul’s advice to Timothy can still be applied today in the world of social media. Why waste time listening (or even arguing) with people who are MARITESes? Chances are that they will not believe you at all. Some of them think their old age gives them a license to be proud. It’s best to stay away from their path after they’ve been warned. Paul would eventually write to Titus in Titus 3:10 saying to leave a divisive person (or heretic) alone after one or two admonitions. Because such people are warped and sinful, why even bother wasting time?
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