BOOK SUMMARY: REDEEMING MEMORY - CHAPTER 1 - THE FOUNDATION OF MEMORY

Time marches forward. Memory traces back.  God can transform memories that feel like millstones into memories that feel like milestones. 

WHAT IS MEMORY?

Dictionary definition: to retain and recollect

Scientific definition: a cognitive system with the focus on functions such as encoding, storing and retaining information over periods of time

These definitions fall short.  Let's explore 3 categories to help further define memory:

(1).    Memory Is A Gift - God created many living creatures with memory but human memory functions at a much higher level.

(2).    Memory Is A Craft - Memory is more than retaining and collecting information. It's a creative function of the mind involving the will and emotions to produce behavior. Memory employs a craft that draws upon the will and emotions to produce maturity.

(3).    Memory Is A Marvel - The human mind contains about eighty-six billion neurons. Each neuron looks like a tree with branches (dendrites) and roots (axons) interconnected with each other. Each neuron makes over 1000 connections to other neurons. In all there are over one quadrillion connections in the human brain. These connections help us to imagine and visualize oceans, past experiences, smells, sounds, colors, etc. 

Neurons are not the only factor contributing to the power of the memory. An elephant has 3 times as many neurons but 98% of them reside on the part of the brain called the cerebellum that controls the trunk.  Human neurons are densely located in the cortex which involves high-level thinking. Memory is all about location but it is still unique to the individual.

Memory requires memory to define itself and it remembers that it forgets. It is a marvel.

HOW DOES MEMORY WORK?

Encode, Store, Retrieve

At the top of one axon are up to one hundred thousand dendrites. The axon is wrapped in a myelin sheath like a tree trunk is wrapped in bark. At the bottom are axonal terminals that look like roots. Neurons communicate by transmitting electrical and chemical signals down the axonal trunks. The signal reaches the end of the axon. Between neurons is a space called a synapse. Neurotransmitters (chemicals) are released that span these spaces (synapses) so that neurons can communicate with one another. The message (either negative or positive) is passed on to the next neurons at about 200 miles per hour until eventually a neuron stops the process. 

Neurons don't just send information but parts of the brain encode and store lots of information. A piece of cortex the size of a grain of sand holds 2,000 terabytes of information.  That rivals all the digital content of the world today. The hippocampus plays the central role in memory. 

WHY IS MEMORY IMPORTANT?

Case study: Jimmie was a man who was unable to form new memories. He was stuck in 1945 and was terrified to look in a mirror and see his age, but he'd soon forget his terror.  

Memory is important but to what extent does it make up our identity? Are we more than a sum of our memories?

(1).  Memory Is  Cornerstone But Not The Essence Of Identity - Memory shapes the human core and habits. You are what you think (Proverbs 23:7) and you think on what you remember. So does memory determine identity? Jonathan Edwards argued that human identity goes beyond memory. It encompasses a divine establishment of a unique soul and human being.  The soul made in the image of God surpasses memory alone. Memory can be a cornerstone for recalling experiences and be used for how we interpret the world, but it alone does not define us. 

(2).  Memory Is Important In The Bible - The common root for remember (zakar) is used 222 times in the Old Testament. In Greek, mneme, is in the majority of New Testament books. Considering that we are made in the image of God, who is the Spirit, who is the Eternal Mind, it makes sense that mind and memory are part of who we are as God's image bearers. We are given the mandate to have dominion over the world. This requires the storage of information and the ability to recall and process that information and use it when needed.

HOW DID MEMORY ORIGINATE?

(1).  God Is The Primary Cause Of All Things - God is the originator of all good. His existence precedes and encompasses all things (John 1:3, Romans 11:36)

(2).  The Simplicity Of God - God's perfect and good memory is the starting point for human memory. If God's essence and character are complete, then it stands to reason that His memory is complete.  Human minds are incapable of fully knowing the perfect mind of God.

While we share some attributes with God like love (communicable attributes), there are others that God does not share with us like omniscience and omnipresence (incommunicable attributes). Although we categorize the attributes of God, He is not divided. No attribute is more or less important than another. This is the doctrine of simplicity. God's memory encompasses all of His attributes. 

(3). The Omniscience Of God - God knows all things. Thus His memory is perfect. He has never learned, does not learn, will not learn.  He simply cannot learn (Psalm 139:1-6).  God knows your thoughts even if other do not. This means that God's knowledge of us is deeply personal.   

(4).  The Omnipresence Of God - God is everywhere present. His existence fills all space at all times (Psalm 139:7-12). When Scriptures says that God remembers and forgets, it does not mean that God remember and forgets like we do. Scripture is using language to cater to our finiteness. 

(5).  The Self-Remembrance Of God - God's eternal memory operates solely on the basis of His self-remembrance (Psalm 98:3). Redemption arises from the self-remembrance of God's lovingkindness and faithfulness.  

(6).  Creation Of Memory: A Result Of God's Goodness - When God created light it was good. It was good because it came from the Father of all lights. All of creation was very good because it came from an infinitely good God. Memory is a glittering jewel that reflects but does not outshine the Creator. 

(7).  Creation Of Memory: The Reflection Of God - In creating mankind in His image, man was created with the capacity to know things which requires memory.  The depths of man's memory points towards the measureless memory of God. 

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF MEMORY?

(1).  Primary Purpose: To Glorify And Worship God - God the first cause of all created things and He is the end for which they were created (Romans 11:36, Colossians 1:16).  All things that began to exist were made by Him and they were made for Him.

God is worthy of worship. Worship is giving God recognition and worth for what He has done and what He is going to do. It recalls His faithfulness and reliability. Worship involves remembering. And God remembers those who remember Him. The worship of God requires God's self-remembrance (His Word recounts His own deeds in human history). His self-remembrance makes Him worthy of worship. In worship we remember ourselves less. 

(2).  Dominion On The Earth - God established man's superior position over creation. To subdue the earth requires memory. Without memory we cannot communicate, adapt or invent. We'd be subdued without memory. 

(3).  The Work Of Cultivation - God required work and service of mankind. Without memory our God-given task would be disorderly and incomplete. You can't harvest without memory.

(4).  The Work Of Naming And Organization - Adam was endowed with language and naming capabilities when he was created. This required him to pull information from the mental database that God provided for him (i.e., the use of sounds and letters). 

(5).  Obedience - You cannot obey God without the capacity to remember what He has commanded. Adam was told to abstain from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. For Eve to obey, either God or Adam would have had to pass that information on to her. Either or would have required memory and an expectation that Eve could remember.

(6).  Relationship - Memory maintains, builds and deepens relationship. God instituted marriage as a one-flesh union. No human relationship can be sustained without memory. Memory connects us to others. When Adam heard God walking in the garden, they knew that sound which requires memory. 

SUMMARY
In order to help redeem memory, we have to understand its origins and purpose and how it works. It started with God and has its end purpose in God. So how have our minds become so distracted, fractured and full of painful memories and thoughts?  How can memory be redeemed?