Chronological Snobbery

This is the idea that people in the past believed things because they did not know better, and that newer ideas are better because they are newer. C. S. Lewis gave it this name. C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy, ch. 13

The most common example is the virgin birth. "People back then believed it because they did not know where babies come from." But they did know. When the angel told Mary she would have a son, she asked:

"How can this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" Luke 1:34

When Joseph found out Mary was pregnant, "he resolved to divorce her quietly." Matthew 1:19 He assumed what any man would assume. They knew exactly how babies come. That is why it took an angel to convince them, and that is why it was a sign.

Old Is Not the Same as Gullible

The apostles knew the difference between a story and an eyewitness account. Peter wrote, "we did not follow cleverly devised fables... but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty." 2 Peter 1:16 Paul said more than five hundred people saw the risen Jesus at once, "most of whom are still living." 1 Corinthians 15:6 That is an invitation to go and ask them.

People in the first century knew dead men stay dead. That is why the resurrection was news.

Christians Do It Too

The mistake runs the other way as well. An idea is not true because it is old, any more than it is false because it is new. Jesus warned the Pharisees, "you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down." Mark 7:13 Age does not settle anything. Truth does.