Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

A while back I ordered from Sound Word Associates (see note at end of article) a taped lecture of Dr. Donald Drew's (of England -- formerly on staff at English L'Abri). The lecture is titled "Forgetting to Remember; Loss of Christian Memory", and I have returned to it again and again for "focus". The lecture is about the importance of history and doctrine, and has quite a few "memorable" quotes sprinkled throughout it. At one point I listened to the lecture again and took notes as I listened. These notes are not "exhaustive", but will give you an idea of his subject and approach. There was much more "good stuff" on the tape that isn't contained in the notes below, including an interesting Q & A session at the end of the lecture. The notes comprise this week's Jerusalem's Daughters article. Dr. Drew is apparently well-read, and passionately committed to Christian truth, and his lecture was very helpful and encouraging to me--inspiring even!

In his opening remarks, Dr. Drew told of seeing the following sentence written on a T-shirt: "History begins and ends with me". He followed this with a quote by Edmund Burke: "They will not look forward to their posterity who will not look back to their ancestry". Emphasizing that "The God of the Bible is the ... Lord of history, seen and unseen", he quoted the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson's line that [History is] "one grandly designed event to which the whole Creation moves," over which, Dr. Drew stated, is a world "in God's safekeeping and under His control . . . "

Although Dr. Drew was, as he put it, "born at a very early age" :-) some of his remarks seem primarily directed toward "student Christians and thirty-somethings", but with many of them also directed to those of us who are "the older generation". ("Each generation has to fight for the truth of the Bible against those who deny it.") We all must "daily buckle on the armor".

Lamenting the lack of Scriptural understanding and solid Biblical grounding of many of the younger generation, Dr. Drew gave six (although, as he says, there are actually more) of the results of NOT "understanding and implementing Biblical doctrine".

1. A flabby knowledge concerning the Bible [from which, it seems to me, some of the other results stem].

2. An unbiblical grasp of conversion. In commenting further on this, Dr. D. stated that " . . . a sinner CANNOT make a 'decision for Christ' that will 'eternally save him' because he is a sinner in rebellion against God. God's grace draws and convicts one."

3. A feeble understanding of faith. ("Genuine faith is not a passive attribute, but a dynamic gift. It has an object outside itself--God's faithfulness!")

4. A perfunctoriness in prayer. He included in his further remarks on this, Samuel Chadwick's statement that "The one concern of the devil is to keep Christian believers from praying. Satan fears nothing from prayerless work, prayerless religions. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.")

5. An alarming approach to guidance. Included in his further remarks on this is the importance of DAILY disciplines of Bible reading and prayer, and encouragements to the same. 6. Seriously compromised Christian living is "rectified only by an awareness and application of Biblical teaching." This Biblical teaching is not as prevalent as it used to be due to "loss of Christian memory".... He makes some very specific comments especially to young people about Christian living . . . .

Dr. Drew elaborates further on each of the above, but I do not include those remarks here, as this is merely an "overview" of his lecture.

Emphasizing the fact that "today's students are tomorrow's parents", he reiterates the importance of reclaiming a Christian memory, and offered some things to consider in addressing this "amnesia":

1. Always thankfully remember the unpayable debt we owe to the men and women in Biblical and secular history who through the centuries have persevered in finishing their course, and handing on their legacy.... respectfully revere those names (he emphasized that we should "revere", not worship them.)

2. Accept our responsibility, as faithful followers of Christ, to hand on that legacy to our descendants, with specific and careful teaching.

3. Announce humbly (in a sort of "humble pride") the magnitude of benefits of that heritage of Christian truth.

4. Inform writers, media people, publishers, of this Christian legacy and urge them responsibly to make it known. At the same time, we must acknowledge and confess guilt and error at numerous times throughout history for atrocious, stupid actions and misplaced zeal.

5. Take firm issue with the prevailing culture and show why Christianity is "public truth", at the same time delineating between Christ and Christianity ("The known and unknown heroes of the Christian faith did what they did, lived as they lived, and died as they died, NOT on behalf of Christianity, but for their love of Jesus Christ.")

6. Encourage others to long for, to have a yearning for, spiritual nourishment through the essential, deep, doctrines of Scripture, rather than through ephemereal experiences. [More is said about these "ephemereal experiences" on the tape]. 7. We are not to be disappointed, let alone despair, if these objectives are not fully achieved...God does not call us to be "successful", but to be faithful and persistent ....

Is Christian memory important for Christians?", he asks in conclusion and answers his own question with a resounding, "Indeed, it is!" "Are we, are you", he asks, "teaching the next generation (the "growing-up-now" generation) those facts of Biblical history and the enduring truths that emerge from them? If we fail to do that, then we become--in G. K. Chesterton's phrase--"grievously disinherited". May God help us all, each Christian soul, to be -- in W. H. Auden's phrase -- 'an affirming flame'!"

Dr. Drew closes his lecture with the following true story from America's history:

"At noon one day in May, 1780, in Hartford, Connecticut, the skies turned from blue to gray, and by mid-afternoon, to a deep ominous black. It was a religious age and, believing the Day of Judgment had arrived, many fell on their knees and begged a final blessing before the end came. The Connecticut House of Representatives was in session at the time, and a clamor arose for an immediate adjournment. Colonel Davenport, the Speaker of the House and a man of strong Christian faith, rose to his feet and silenced them with these words: "The day of judgment is either approaching or it is not. If not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish, therefore, that candles be brought."

"Our modern concerns are different," continued Dr. Drew, "including the loss of Christian memory, but the challenge is the same. Let the candles be brought."

Grace and Peace,
Elaine

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The website for Sound Word Associates(www.soundword.com) is in transition right now, progressing toward being able to download mp3's from the website, and things there are in rather an upheaval at the moment. (I can't figure out how to order *anything* as the site currently stands). It's a mom-and-pop (literally!) business and they have no mega-webmaster, so things are moving slowly. If you want to talk to Jay Courtney, or one of the other owner/onsite managers, you can call (219) 548-0933 for further information, or to order specific tapes or cds.