In the garden, man wanted to be like God by eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Ironically, man was created in the image of God already. Man fell from perfection.
The Temptation - Satan twisted the positive command of God into a negative question. Eve was bent away from God and towards self. Satan fed her misinformation to suggest lies about God. He called into question her memory of what God said.
The Fall - Eve's memory was good but gave in to the twisting of God's command. She said, "eat." God said, "freely eat." She said, "touch." God said, "eat." She said, "die." God said, "surely die." Eve doubted God's good character. She gave some of the fruit to Adam and he ate instead of leading her to repentance.
THE CORRUPTION OF HUMAN MEMORY
Since the fall, the world has experienced death and disorder. There is a two-fold weakness of memory. First, the natural decay or sickness we may experience like dementia. Second, we experience moral forgetfulness of holy duties. Rather than glorifying and enjoying God, man now distorts memory to glory and enjoy self.
The Blinding Effects Of Sin - Every human has a sin nature due to Adam's failure and sin (Romans 5:12-13). Mind is corrupted. Every faculty of ours is tainted by sin (senses, logic, mind, spirit). The depth of sin of our sin nature is such that it makes identifying sinful effects difficult. Our sin nature makes it hard to see our sin nature and corruption. Common grace is such that we have the ability to use our minds to reason and gain knowledge (Romans 1:18-20). Yet the mind is still blinded from seeing the light of the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). Man cannot diagnose nor redeem himself in our fallen condition.
The Self-Deception Of Sin - We tend to recall a version of ourselves that is better than reality. We do not understand who we truly are. We are like those who look in the mirror and then forget what we look like (James 1:23-24). It is necessary that we are aware of our self-deception.
THE FAILURES OF HUMAN MEMORY
Those who think they are well do not seek a doctor (Matthew 9:12).
The Corruption Of Memory - We forget what we should remember and remember what we should forget. We doubt that God will remember what He's promised and we believe He'll remember what He promised to forget. Memory is a gauge of what we value in that it reveals what matters to us by our remembrance or forgetfulness.
Our memories will collect junk and throw away jewels. Dysfunction in our brains exists not from poor utilization (10%) but from pervasive fallenness.
Categories Of Memory Failure - Human memory fails by omission and commission. We forget to do the important - omission. We remember to do the unimportant - commission.
TRANSIENCE: LOSS OF MEMORY OVER TIME
Transience is the first failure in the category of omission. Due to neuron decay we forget. This is not sinful but an effect of the fall and our sinful condition. This forgetfulness impacts our spiritual life.
Forgetting God: Who He Is - We forget God (Jeremiah 2:32). Hosea 7:2 says that people don't consider (forgetfulness) that God remembers all their wickedness. Human memory forgets God's perfect memory.
Forgetting God: What He has Done - Psalm 106:13-14 teaches that God's people forgot His works. Psalm 106:21-22 says that they forgot God their Savior and all the great things He did in Egypt.
Forgetting God: What He Has Commanded - Transience moves from forgetting God to forgetting His commandments. In Deuteronomy 8:11 we see Moses warning Israel not to forget God's commands. Jeremiah 23:36 teaches us that we do not remember the oracle of God because every man's own word will become the oracle of God. We become a law unto ourselves and forget God's law.
Forgetting God: Fixating On Self - Transience will undermine your memory and turn it from God to self. My words replace God's words. If we forget our position we will raise ourselves above God. Ezekiel reminds Israel that God raised them up (Ezekiel 16:5-6). Israel forgot what God had done for her (Ezekiel 16:22). Ignorance and forgetfulness is not innocence (1 Corinthians 4:4).
ABSENTMINDEDNESS: DISTRACTION FROM THE IMPORTANT
Absentmindedness is distraction that diverts us from what important. Memory never forms due to distractions. Retention requires attention. Distraction is the enemy of memory.
Distraction Of Technology - In the digital age we constantly have things competing for our attention. This bombardment makes our memory overloaded but prevents our frontal lobes from concentrating on any one thing. The process of memory consolidation can't even begin. Our brain become trained at forgetting. The more WEB we use the more we trained our brain to think fast and efficiently but at the expense of sustained attention. This is one reason we struggle to concentrate. Hebrews 2:1 tells us to pay close attention to what we have heard.
Distractions Of Prosperity - People can be tempted to love this present world (2 Timothy 4:10). Hosea 13:6 reminds us that wealth can lead to pride and a turning from God.
BLOCKING: INTERFERENCE IN RETRIEVAL
Something may get in the way and prevent us from retrieving information that is actually stored in our memories.
Interference With Idols From Creation - Planting and cultivating should draw our minds to God but it can become the focus and we can ignore the Creator and worship creation (Isaiah 44:14-17). Romans 1:21.
BIAS: ALTERATION OF A RECALLED MEMORY
Many forms of bias exist. Let's focus on recall bias and confirmation bias.
Recall Bias - Recall bias occurs when a memory is retrieved but is altered and incomplete from the original. John 7:41-42 shows the Pharisees with altered memories trying to discredit Jesus.
Confirmation Bias - Confirmation bias confirms and promotes your presuppositions. You will take new information and use it to promote your view and you'll ignore those things which might prove you wrong. Doctors have to make sure they don't use confirmation bias--they could miss the true diagnosis.
MISATTRIBUTION: ASSIGNMENT OF MEMORY TO THE WRONG SOURCE
Misattribution is when a corrupted memory blames others for failings and gives self credit for accomplishments.
Blame-Shifting - 1 Samuel 15 shows us misattribution. Saul blamed the people and took the credit and did not recount the events correctly.
Credit-Shifting To Others - This is assigning the credit that belongs to God and giving it to self or false gods. Exodus 32:1-4 is an example of this.
Credit-Shifting To Self - In Isaiah 39:4 Hezekiah takes credit for his wealth. Nebuchadnezzar did the same (Daniel 4:30).
Pride: Inflation Of Self - We use our memory to inflate self and deflate God. Matthew 23:12 reminds us that whoever exalts himself will be humbled.
Pride: Deflation Of Others - Prides wants more than others. It wants to look better than others. Prideful memories remember another person's flaws and minimizes your own.
Pride: Destruction Of Self
PERSISTENCE: PRESERVATION OF USELESS MEMORIES
We focus on memories that should be forgotten. Our minds will struggle to distinguish between useful and useless information if we remembered everything. Persistence picks up the clutter and saves it. What is useful, then, becomes crowded by clutter.
Attention To The Meaningless - 1 Timothy1:4 gives instruction to Timothy to not pay attention to myths and endless genealogies which give rise to speculation and derail us from the things of God.
Attention To The Worthless - Galatians 4:9 tells us not to turn back to weak and worthless elemental things.
SUMMARY
Memory is corrupted in many ways. There are failures of omission and commission. More memory is not the solution--that just amplifies the problem.
