WHAT DO WE REMEMBER?
Earlier this week on Armistices Day (11th November 2010) at 11.00 a.m. many people stopped work or stood still as they were walking and took part in the two minute silence to remember those who had been killed, injured or bereaved in the wars and conflicts that have taken place over the past 92 years. On Sunday around the Cenotaph in London and many other memorials across the country and in many churches people will gather and will again remember the servicemen and their families who have suffered in so many ways because of war.
It is a good thing to remember those who have served their country in this way and to reflect on the sacrifices they made. It is valuable to draw the attention of children to the cost of the liberties they so freely enjoy. But if that is all that is done it is an unsatisfactory act. We can romanticise their attitudes and refer to their bravery, but many of them were where they were under coercion and military orders. That does not make their sacrifice less but it does take away the sentimentalisation that tends to be heard at this time.
It is interesting to see leading retired military men raising concerns about the way the whole military issue is being projected. One has spoken about a ‘mawkishness’ (sickly sentimentalism) in the approach being adopted by many people to the military. They are almost presented as victims of an evil government policy. This excessive sentimentalisation and politicisation of remembering means that the primary lessons are being missed. The whole issue of the evil of war and yet its ‘cruel necessity’ at times, and the horror of the human tragedy and sacrifice that takes place, these are the things that need to be emphasised.
Alongside the consideration of the human tragedies and sacrifices that were made there is a greater theme to be considered – the goodness of God that ended the wars and that preserved so many men through terrible situations. The histories of these conflicts show the veracity of the claim of the Bible that “He causes wars to cease.” Yes, there is religious activity but really God is excluded. And so the wickedness of man is also played down.
This confusion that has come about with the rise of the sentimental is typical of our society. It is increasingly fascinating sociologists and social commentators as more and more realities are submerged under sentiment. It leads to a self-deluding state of mind. One sociologist, an American called Christian Smith, has spoken about what he calls “moralistic therapeutic deism”. It ably sums up the way so many people think in our society.
There is a moralism but it is superficial, totally centred on our personal beliefs and rejects sin and guilt in any form. So in the Remembrance activities no recognition of blame or culpability will be raised. It is a difficult thing to do but true remembrance will acknowledge personal guilt and the wrongs done by others.
Everything is therapeutic, that is focussed on self and designed to cushion pain. We improve through counselling and therapy, not God or the church. Self-interest predominates and personal sensitivities must be given priority. So in the Remembrances that will take place the only real comfort – the grace of God through repentance and faith – will not get a prominent mention if it gets any at all.
God will get an acknowledgement. The religious side will be there. But the God who is referred to is not the God of the Bible, not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is all a form of Deism – with a god who is outside all the realities of life and who does not involve Himself in the events of men both in love and judgement.
If you listen carefully and watch how people remember you will see the things I have highlighted. But we must do more than that. Firstly let us remember in a godly and God-honouring way. Let us take the opportunities to point up the essential things. Why are there wars? It is because of the state of the human heart. Surely there is no day in a year like Remembrance Sunday that more demonstrates the truth of the Bible about sin and the Fall, and about the need for redemption. Is this not a day to recall the wonderful grace of God that restrains mankind’s wickedness and limits the number and seriousness of war, and gloriously brings them to a conclusion? And even more gloriously that reminds us of the God who sent His Son to deal with the sin that causes war and who brings peace and true comfort to the hearts of those who trust in Him.
But in addition to conducting our remembering in a right way let us reflect very seriously on the state of the thinking of our society and cry out to God to send the Spirit upon the preaching of the Gospel so that the minds and hearts of men may be changed. How else will they come to an understanding of the things that matter? But praise be to God, we can remember how He has changed nations before now. He is still the same and our day is not beyond His mighty transforming power.