Screwtape and Me

THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS- Journal by Anthony Foster

The Screwtape Letters is a profound analysis of the pitfalls that confront a Christian living in the twentieth century. The book is an application of such virtues as justice, courage, temperance, faith, hope, and love to the life of the Christian. Screwtape was written the same year (1942) as "A Preface to Paradise Lost" and there are notable parallels in the thought processes that are being worked out concurrently.

Lewis approaches the take of revealing the mode of operation of the tempters, the demonic forces of the world. He does so in a humorous yet deprecatory way, showing them to be the ultimate bureaucrats, the office politicians from hell. In doing so Lewis draws our attentions to the spiritual realities of our sins, of the ramifications of the thought NOT held captive, of the "little foxes that spoil the vines". (I know this is using scripture out of context, but you get the point.)

The literary form of the work is an imaginary correspondence between Screwtape and Wormwood. The former, a devil in Hell, is entrusted with the task of instructing the latter, a devil on earth, in the art of successfully luring a particular human being from the path of virtue into the pseudo-pleasures of vice. The activity of the devils is hampered by their "enemy," God, who loves the human creatures. The work of the devils has been made easier because many human beings either have come to disbelieve in their existence or to take an excessive and unhealthy interest in Satan. Both attitudes are beneficial to Wormwood's success.

Screwtape's instruction to Wormwood may be divided into two parts; the first is designed to prevent the "patient," the human being entrusted to Wormwood's care, from becoming a Christian; the second is designed to destroy the faith of the patient if he has accepted Christianity. I found it helpful to substitute my name for the "patient".

Preface one- Thoughts and commentary

Lewis had much to say elsewhere on devils, Satan and Evil-
To read more of Lewis on devils as comic figures refer to Letter VII par. 1, p. 33 The Screwtape Letters.
On the existance of devils see God in the Dock- "Answers to Questions on Christianity" answer 9, pp 56-57.
Much can be gleaned from Lewis' commentary on Milton's Satan in A Preface to Paradise Lost, Chapter 13, paragraphs 3-6 (pp.96-99)

READ ALSO "Wormwood" in Poems, p. 87.

Questions to ponder:
What is to be made of Lewis' contention that devils have two motives and neither is the "disinterested pursuit of Evil"?
How might a devil be punished?
What is to be gained, ultimately, in the "assimilation" or "absorbing" of souls?

Preface two- for more about the devil as a liar, see the Preface to "Paradise Lost" chapter 13, par. 4.

Letter one commentary:

Tactic one is presented- distraction and focus on the temporal, the sensory experience.This is a primary way hell purposes to keep me living beneath my privilege.

Screwtape points out that argumentation might have been used to keep an intelligent human being out of the Christian fold a few centuries ago, for in the past people knew when a proposition was proven and when it was not, and if it was proven, they ac-
cepted it. Thinking was connected with doing, and a chain of reasoning could lead to the altering of a way of life. Today, however, modern man is more sophisticated. He can entertain a dozen incompatible philosophies. Doctrines are no longer thought of as true or false, but as conventional or ruthless, contemporary or outworn, academic or practical. Therefore, it is jargon, not argument, that can best keep a man from becoming a Christian. Argumentation is dangerous because reason is on the side of Christianity. It is not necessary to argue that materialism is true; it is sufficient to create the attitude that materialism is the philosophy of the future, that it is strong, courageous, and somehow connected with real life. Attitudes are created by practical propaganda, by attending to the stream of immediate sense experiences, by the ordinariness of things. The real sciences in no way support a defense against Christianity, for they encourage reflection upon what cannot be seen or touched. The belief to he encouraged is that whatever ideas the patient has casually picked up are the findings of scientific investigation. In this way materialism is accepted unchallenged and without proof.

Lewis on Lewis: For more on the "chain of reasoning" idea see Preface to Paradise Lost, chapter 2, par. 4, p. 11.

Question to ponder: Is it biblically supportable that devils can "see the train of thought in his mind" ? p. 9. I don't think so.

Lewis on jargon: "The Prudent Jailer" p. 98 in Poems.
On Apologetics- God in the Dock "Christian Apologetics". paragraph 23, p. 102.
On Science and Christianity- Miracles Chapter 7 par.11, p. 51.

Letter II- Tactic two- destroy the faith of the patient if he has accepted Christianity.

In spite of the merit of the advice given by Screwtape, Wormwood's initial efforts to prevent his patient from becoming a Christian were unsuccessful.

The second course of instruction, as Screwtape presents it, makes it clear that not all is lost. MANY converts have been reclaimed after a brief stay in the Enemy's camp. The mental and physical habits of the patient are not readily overcome. In fact the visible Church is one of Satan's greatest assets. The liturgy used in worship is unintelligible, the lyrics are poorly composed, and many Church members are hypocrites. The patient is encouraged to look around for the church that suits him. He may then join a faction and become a critic when he should be a pupil. He may find a minister who has watered down the faith and has deserted the liturgy. Or he may find a minister who preaches only what is calculated to shock, grieve, puzzle, or humiliate.

Question to ponder: What does Lewis mean by being "reclaimed after a brief sojourn in the enemy's camp" ? I can't find much that is explicit about Lewis's views on the preservation of the saints...

Lewis's advice to a recent convert: Accept sensations that something terrific has happened to you as birthday cards from God, remembering these are greetings, not the gift. Don't depend on the responses of your nervous system. Excitement never lasts. Its like an initial push to get you started on a bicycle so enjoy it as a treat.

Lewis recounted his own experience in God in the Dock "Answers to Questions on Christianity", ans. 16. in overcoming conceit toward the church.

Lewis on habits in Screwtape- see letter 6, par. 5, p. 31. What is the relationship the proocess of virture becoming a habit has to salvation?

I am jolted by the premise- If I , being what I am can consider myself a Christian, what makes others' vices cause them to be hypocrites? I also identify with Lewis's initial skepticism toward the church as I experiences the same issues upon becoming a commited Christian.

Letter III- Methods for insuring mutual annoyance on the domestic scene.

We are all fallen creatures and we are all very hard to live with. Lewis once stated that in his youth he was irritated by traits in his father that he regards as "loveable foibles" in other elderly men.

Lewis's devils are nothing if not astute observers of human nature. I acknowledge that the most self consumed times are the times I reflect and examine myself in an abstract way, as obedience to the scriptural mandate- being real before ones own inquisition cannot be accomplished without the light of scripture- Jesus is the standard. The most self righteous times are when I apply scriptural mandates to others in order to manipulate their responses- this is also a hopeless scenario.

In Prince Caspian, ch. 11 we find Lucy biting her lip and trying not to say all the things she thought of saying to Susan- but then she forgot all about them when she looked at Aslan...

Irritation and annoyance are abilities humans master early on. We read each other and press one another's buttons. In God's eyes this must surely be an obscene betrayal of "knowing" one another. We are surely responsible for each other in our relationships in that we should be serving the other by helping them overcome and be the best they can be. It is so easy to say that we are all responsible only for our own actions under God without deference to the requirements of community or relationship.

Letter IV- marginalizing and degrading of "spiritual activities"

The prayer life of the patient must also be rendered innocuous. This can be accomplished by making his prayers so spiritual that they are far removed from his daily problems. They should be made spontaneous, undisciplined, aimed at producing a devotional mood, without real concentration of will and intelligence. His gaze should be turned away from God towards himself. His efforts should be directed towards the manufacturing of feelings, Instead of asking God for charity, he should be encouraged to arouse charitable feelings; instead of praying for forgiveness, he should feel forgiven.The accent on feeling and not fact is paramount. The value of each prayer should be measured by the success in attaining the desired feeling.

From Letters to Malcolm " the prayer preceding all prayers is ' may it be the real I who speaks. May it be the real Thou that I speak to'".

The relegation of prayer to inward devotionalizing is a poor substitute for the real. This can kill the "longing for joy" quickly and decisively.

It is difficult to read these lines and not consider Lewis' professed affection for "northerness," in terms of both its religious and metaphorical influences on his youth and young adulthood. Regardless, these lines suggest a powerful longing for freedom from the "heat" of God's eye; we are too ready to retreat from the demands of an unyielding God.

I see in all this the devils' protestation- "to human animals on their knees He pours out self-knowledge in a quite shameless fashion." a picture of what it is like to enter into the closet (or is it wardrobe?) where, having entered Aslan's country, Aslan will give them an understanding they coulfd not have come by in their own country. He is the door in and the door out. And we trade this for feelings...

Questions to ponder- Is posture important to prayer? What is it to feel the nakedness of the soul in prayer?

Letter V-WAR

The outbreak of a war may be of use in the destruction of the Christian faith, but it is not necessarily Satan's ally. Whether the patient is a pacifist or a patriot can be put to good use by Wormwood. Wars can create anxiety and hatred, but there is also the danger of the growth of benevolence. The devils want to prolong suffering so as to gain an advantage over time they might not have in a given moment.

Hmmm.. what is this on page 26? "He often makes prizes of humans who have given their lives for causes He thinks bad on the monstrously sophistical ground that the humans thought them good and were following the best they knew." I don't quite know what to make of this.

Favorite word picture- "Brimfull living chalice of despair and horror and astonishment" This is an awful word picture that shows graphically hell's purposes for us.

Letter VI

There seems to be no break in the continuity of thought from letter 5 to 6. The discussion of suffering at the end of 5 "At the precise moment of terror, bereavement or physical pain, you may catch your man when reason is temporarily suspended-then in chapter six- THIS is the place where the cup of victory is filled when the response is "Thy Will Be Done". This in itself gives deep meaning to suffering- The possibility of glorifying God by This obedience in THIS particular trauma.

Questions to ponder - How is the quote from page 26 "makes prizes of humans" related to the one on p. 31 at the end of letter 6 : the "virtues painted in the fantasy or approved by the intellect"?

A great truth is illustrated in this letter- it is God's way to encourage men to be concerned with what they DO. It is the devils way to encourage men to be concerned with what is done to them. We can see this reflected in the temptation of Christ .

Letter VII

What is most important for the Devil's purpose is that the patient adopt an extreme position. Every extreme, except devotion to God, is to be encouraged. Our age is unbalanced and prone to faction. Any small group which is bound together by an unpopular interest tends to make its members proud and hateful of outsiders. Whether the patient is a conscientious objector or patriot is unimportant as long as be can be made to make his pacifism or patriotism a part of his religion, for then he can be led to make it the most important part, until finally it becomes the whole of his belief.

The making of the World and end and faith a means ahas been notably accomplished in our day. We must be sure that Faith is the victory, the end which God works in us to will and to do according to his purposes and pleasure.

I just noticed that "Your affectionate uncle" can take on several layers of meaning- an affection can be a malady rather than just a fondness.

Letter 8

The spiritual life of the young Christian can be expected to hit a series of troughs and peaks: periods of emotional richness will alternate with periods of numbness and poverty. The periods of depression provide ample opportunity for temptation.
God relies on the trough experiences to turn servants into sons. The devil wants to turn the man into cattle that can be devoured. The discourse on page 38 elevates the human will to a place of inaccessibility to God. To say that God's scheme forbids him to act upon the human will denies the irresistability of grace.

This is an area where I have had some breakthrough victories over the past few years. The wilderness of seven years in Dallas was a place where God met me afresh an anew and changed my views about success and failure, about weakness and strength. But that does not make me impervious to attack. On the contrary if we view our weakness in proper terms, though the attack comes , we have full armor mentality to protect us.

Letter 9

The patient must never be permitted to know that ups and downs are normal. Rather be should be made to feel that the first ardors of his conversion should have lasted forever. He may then be led to despair, or he may be made to feel content with a low-ebb religion which is as good as no religion at all. In such periods of despondency his faith is open to direct assault. From the feeling that he is losing interest, he may be led to the conclusion that his faith is false, merely an adolescent phase in his development.
Satan always seeks to pevert the Good whether in lack of moderation or in twisting its motivation.

Favorite line "to get the man's soul and give him NOTHING in return for it." This in fact is the absolute logicus terminus to any dealings with the devil- for he has NOTHING to offer us unless one considers the turmoil, dark flames, separation and anquish of hell "something".

Letter 10

The young Christian can further be distracted from the path of righteousness by being brought into the company of rich, smart, superficial intellectuals who are skeptical about everything. Such people can appeal to his social, sexual, and intellectual vanity, and with encouragement they can destroy temperance, chastity, and sobriety and arouse cynicism, skepticism, and self-satisfaction.
I sought this when a young Christian. I was allowed to come into contact with these rich, smart superficial intellectuals and often considered myself as above them as I played their games. To my surprise I found insecure, weak, hurting individuals who were masters of disguise. Then I also saw myself, and came to understand that I din't have to go farther than my own heart to find depravity. I had to come to understand that having an IQ of 136 is in no way a detriment to understanding spiritual issues, as it is the Holy Spirit that quickens whatever intelligence God gives. It is like any other gift of God, it forms a stewardship and must be appropriated thru humility to be of any use to the Father.

The patient here has been enticed into a party spirit- a group of contrarians who build themselves up by tearing all else down. The virtues of temperance, chastity and sobriety are the first to be attacked in this atmosphere. Deeper sprituality is invoked in a way that makes it a pretense.He to be encouraged in mistaking flippancy for humor and joy. The Devil would have him discover that he can do almost anything with approval, if it can be treated as a joke. To make a real joke is difficult, but to be flippant about virtue and to treat it as if it were a joke is quite easy. Flippant people always assume that the joke has been made, without anyone actually making it. Every serious subject can then be discussed ,is if a ridiculous side to it had alreadv been found. Genuine joy, fun, and laughter which arise from a sudden perception of incongruity are of no aid to Satan, for such delight can actually promote charity, courage, and contentment.

Letter 12

The patient must be kept from the genuine enjoyments of the Christian life. It is quite proper if he keeps the habits of a Christian externally, as long as he gradually becomes inattentive to their real meaning. He need not commit spectacular sins; little sins will do.
In fact the least possible sin that will separate the man from the creator is what will be the of temptation. Pleasure seeking degrades naturally into numbness, apathy and sloth.

Letter 13

The devil experiences a setback- God's grace has intervened and the man has awakened from his slumber. The blunder is described as having let the man experience positive pleasures. Positive pleasures, doing what he really likes, ought never to be allowed.
Next a discourse on the effects of the real- be it pleasure or pain shows us the concern God has for the present circumstances one finds oneself in- He has ordained and is sovereign over both. The question of the absurd value God places on every human may be misplaced . Lewis infers it is Gods desire that we become more true to our nature- if he means what it is to be human in the original sense, I concur. It makes a difference whether the person in question has a new nature or if he languishes in the old man.

Letter 14

Above all, the young Christian ought never to be allowed to hope for the daily and hourly grace to meet the daily and hourly temptations. Let him expect grace for life; let him hope for perpetual virtue. Should he become humble, the Devil's purpose is best served by implanting the awareness of his own humility, so that humility will then be transformed into pride; pride at his own humility will appear. The true end of humility, namely, self forgetfulness, must be concealed from the young Christian. The latter must not be allowed to turn his attention away from himself to God, and to his neighbors; he must be made to be concerned only with himself, and to have contempt of himself so that he can then have contempt for others. He will become gloomy, cynical, and cruel. He must be made to feel that humility consists in trying to believe that his talents are of no value. This will breed dishonesty and will prevent him from loving himself in such a way that he can love his neighbor.

This letter hits upon one of the most paradoxical and fleeting of the virtues- humility. I would characterize the virtue as being the mind of Christ- the letter takes me time and again to Philippians 2. it also makes me think of Hwin and Bree's approach to Aslan in chapter 14 of The Horse and His Boy".I hope never to dare not to dare to draw near him and see that my own pride makes me a fool. And then to delight in knowing it in time to repent.

Letter 15

Here is an exposition on time and the believer. Lewis has elsewhere (Miracles, appendix B, par. 10.) underlined his assertion of the eternal NOW. Where except in the present can the Eternal be met? All this is well meaning but fails to address a couple of issues- Lewis was writing in time. Today as change has accellerated exponentially, I believe the Christian is called upon as a means of stewardshiop to ponder long on the future and to be responsible in the present to impact it as a part of the redemptive process. This calls for more attention thatn Lewis asserts is necessary. Vices are not as tied to the temporal, past , present or future as they are to flesh itself that exists in time. Present pleasures keep one from seeing and evaluating the future consequences. Consequence should be a rubric for our evaluations of present reality.

Letter 16

Humility takes a practical turn when it results in humble receptivity to being fed by others thought they are very different than you. Lewis looks at the church in a personal way- the letter disclosed spome of his pet peeves with the church and its leadership.High church/low church distinctions are made. The indictment of the priests of the Church of England is also found in Christian Reflections:" Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism" where Lewis expressed that the laity must in his day see the priesthood as a mission field! I see this disdain for the leadership of the church in Lewis' time as a subtheme of Screwtape.

Letter 17

The Christian is to be encouraged in intemperance, not only in the sphere of sex, but also in regard to food. Gluttony of excess is, however, of no more value than gluttony of delicacy, where no large quantities are involved. By enslaving the Christian's life to this form of sensuality, the gluttonous focus in all things incuding food can be used to produce querulousness, impatience, uncharitableness, and self concern.

Gluttonly is shown for what it is- a form of out of balance sensuality. The "all I want " attitude twists our minds into thinking we are being temperate. In fact God doesn't want us to be temperate at all- he wants us to exult in His sufficienct- This brings to mind the Lewis quote (paraphrased) " Our desires are not enough . God wants us to enjoy a holiday at the sea while we content ourselves making mudpies".

Letter 18
In the area of sex, the Christian is enjoined by his faith to complete abstinence or unmitigated monogamy. The foundation of the latter is un dermined by inculcating the notion that the usually short-lived experience of "being in love" is the only respecta-
ble basis for marriage. It follows then that marriage that does not render this excitement permanent is, therefore, no longer binding in this mode of thought. Loyalty to a partnership for mutual help, for the preservation of chastity, and for the transmission of life must be made to be regarded as something less worthy than a storm of emotion.
Lewis reinforces the distinction between love and "being in love" in Mere Christianity chapter 6 where he calls true love a "deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by... the grace which both partners ask and receive from God" . Thios sets up the following letter where the deep mystery of God's love isderided by Screwtape.

Letter 19

Screwtape digresses for a time here to cover his rear. This is humorously reminiscent of a bureaucracy or office politics. The real nature of the demonic organization betrays itself here. The topic revolves arounfd the demons inability to comprehend agape love. The inability to fathom the holy motives on God's part says more about the demon than any outright statement or assertation.This brings to mind thew conversation between the serpent and Eve in the garden. It follows from the scenario painted by Lewis that the serpent was not only deceiving Eve, it was deceived itself in believing that God's word WAS untrue- that there could not be in reality any truth to God's stated purposes for the humans. Since it was unfathomable to the serpent, it was natural to attempt to draw others away from the truth. The deceiver is the most deceived of all for he has been in the presence of the truth.

Letter 20.

Here Lewis gives a portrayal that declares that themore demonic forces of the day are concentrated on influencing the prevailing spirit of the age which is manifested in pop culture and fashion, the current prevailing flavor of what is to be esteemed. So the demons become, literally mismatchmakers in the realm of their temptations to "love". Temptations to vanity are a specialty in the time Lewis wrote to. Lewis fills this section with his own biases and doesn't apologize.

When sexuality cannot be transformed into brutal cynicism or unchastity, a marriage can be used to serve the Devil's purposes equally well. The desires of men can be carefully directed so that husbands will desire what is not attainable. These demons are masters at using a man's sexuality as a bludgeon or a manacle to which he willingly submits too often. This is a far cry from a statement Lewis made before conversion regarding sex- "Man alone of all things can master his instincts". He later concluded that Eros ceases to be a devil only when it ceases to be a god.

Letter 21

Wormwood focuses here on a weakness every human must deal with- our concern with time of our own to indulge the self. The adage "I have my rights, don't I" is to be the point of demarcation for many who believe the answer is in the affirmative- This is deadly to the servant spirit God would engender in us all. We are bought with a price- we are not our own" extends to every claim we have on life. In Him we are to live and move and have our being and at the of amusing ourselves we find it difficult to give over the perogative. This selfishness is also manifested in the idea that one "owns" his or her own body and has sovereignty over it. Possessiveness of body ,soul or spirituality in the end robs man of all- if you would gain life you must lose it.

Letter 22
Now we see what really riles the demon- purity of heart as seen in the young lady the patient falls in love with. After a namecalling session (God has a bourgeois mind!) He gets back to finding a way to TWIST the good at hand. And the tirade against the GOOD continues concurrently. A little humor and a poke at G.B. Shaw is inserted.
Screwtape has been shown for what he is, totally in bondage to his affections, transformed into a creature crawling on his belly like the serpent in the garden.There is nothing sublime here.

Letter 23

Another sideroad for Screwtape- an excursis on the excellent prospects in creating a mythical "historical" Jesus, and undermining the simple facts of the redemptive plan.
This letter seems to complement the essay "What shall we do with Jesus" from God in the Dock. The undermining occurs by a watering down and sentimentalizing of the real.
The making of a better world by appropriating and reinventing the revealed truth is a pitfall that is easy to fall into when critical thinking skills are left unnurtured. This is what we are seening still today- in this sense Lewis is again showing us a portent of things to come.
The Devil wants men to treat Christianity as a means-preferably as a means to their own advancement, but if necessary even as a means to social ' justice. If social justice is valued as something God wants most of all, it is then easy to value Christianity because it produces social justice.

Letter 24

If a man should happen to marry a real Christian, it is still possible to use her family and friends for Satanic purposes. A proper Christian atmosphere, a Christian family, and Christian friends may even be used to awaken in the young Christian a feeling of spiritual pride. It may be used to arouse the feeling that the outsiders who do not share his newfound belief are stupid and ridiculous.Developing a self congratulatory attitude in his current situation will find the weakness in this situation.
I am amazed in this passage at Lewis's insight into the depths of human motives. The illustrations of the ubiquity of human depravity in his characters (and indeed in my own character) casts us headlong into grace.

Letter 25

The new Christian is to be encouraged to add something to his Christianity. Mere Christianity threatens the Devil's purposes, but if it be coupled with something else, such as Christianity and social crises, or Christianity and the new psychology, then Christianity can be made to be a means to something else. Man's delight in the NEW is another area of temptation where the good is perverted into lust or gluttony. To Lewis this was the ruination of the arts in modernism.

"Is it righteous, is it prudent, is it possible." are questions we must focus on today as in Lewis' time, for no amount of prognostication will give us as clear a view of God's future as these will- in fact these questions help form our future, not leave us a victim to it.
Screwtapes advice continues- The young Christian is to be encouraged further to despise the same old thing, to look for novelty.

Letter 26

Lewis here points out the power in philology. We have substituted a negative- "Unselfishness" for the positive "Charity" . There's also the bit where he points out that the feminine model of "charity" is to do things for others who suffer, while the masculine model is to leave others alone or to NOT exacerbate the situation in precisely the same circumstances. Therefore, an only moderately charitable woman can make more of a nuisance of herself (from Screwtapes perspective) than any man except one far gone in the God's service.

I find myself taking issue with Lewis' implication that mutual self sacrifice that sprouts naturally out of enchantment will leave the couple without recourse WHEN the enchantment dies away. I agree that the sacrifice must also come from right motives, but the enchantment itself NEED NOT die away. The dichotomy in which he sets emotional and spiritual resources at odds with each other is not a true picture of the redeemed man.
I like the last line in the letter- a sense of the ridiculous is a great defense against taking one's self- or the devil too seriously.

Letter 27

Petitionary prayer is the subject of the letter. First the issue of distractions comes up. Lewis says in Letters to Malcolm "'No noise is so emphatic as one you are trying not to listen to'". Then he proceeds to examine our propensity to rationalize when confronted by prayers answered in our seeing.God's point of view is preferable to the historical of view and we must strive to attain to that by the power of the spirit. We see history not as fact but as a series of relative opinions on long since gone evidences. We are then cut off from ever standing on the shoulders of giants.

Boethius was a Roman scholar and statesman, author of the neoplatonic work Consolations of Philosophy (De consolatione philosophiae). He is best knows as a translator of
and commentator on Greek writings on logic and mathematics (Plato, Aristotle, Nichomachus). I haven't been able to discern the nature of Lewis's reference to him.

The final quote takes a stab at Henry Ford who was thought by some (obviously Lewis included) to be an uneducated mechanic. Ford said in his thrifty manner of expression, "History is bunk." Perhaps he was anticipating what was about to be done about history in Europe before World War II by the German, Italian and Russian "Information" agencies, but more likely he was just plain doltish.

Letter 28

A Christian who is living in the light that has been given has a double mercy in that Satan does not want him to die at his of faith. Better the years drag on and so with it the race that must be run- the devils will be just as happy to trip up the saint down the road if necessary. The lack of perseverence in the life of the Christian, of abiding in Christ opens up the danger of becoming dull in the spirit and this in turn produces heresies in religion, folly in counsel, infidelity in marriage, and inconstancy in friendship. It diminishes pleasure and increases desire, and it distracts attention from real danger. It matters not whether the patient is in physical danger; the Devil's concern is with his spiritual state.

Letter 29

It is important to remember that the devils cannot create any attitude in man. They can only pervert, and twist what virtue has been put there by GodCourage can be turned into pride, and cowardice can be turned into hatred. What is to be encouraged is the feeling that man has something other than God to fall back on. Man's fears and fatigue can be turned into anger, malice, and impatience, but they can also lead to trust in God, to kindness, and courage . So it is important to remember Christ is the shepherd, the door that both allows entry and protects from the storm, the rock, the fortress, the defender. In our weakness we are made strong. Again it is important to be spiritually diligent, not to fall asleep to our spiritual nakedness.

Letter 30

Some new insight I had not thought of before came with this reading. I believe because of the fresh experience of my father's death, I was better able to understand the significance of the role fatigue, exhaustion and humility play in regards to one another. The act of casting our burdens on the Lord in a place where we have had all control removed from our our purview can be one of the most spiritually beneficial places in the Christian walk. Humility allows us to be obedient in perseverence, to take us to a place where modesty is true and right, to come to terms with the "excellent absurdity" that is our calling on this earth. That coming to terms can take us thru the places where we come face to face with the "real" in the ultimate sense or the reality of the effects of the fall. It comes back to personal relationship as being one of the primary forces in the universe.Then we can live in the light of the unseen and see that everything we thought we knew about death was wrong. We are never called to make peace with the fall. Death is still the enemy and we must do all that is within our power to fight its effects. We are called to make peace with God and then His peace will sustain us thru any physical occurance even if it kills us.

Letter 31

This is a curious passage that requires rereading. The moment of complete cleansing in the letter must refer to the moment of justification, of regeneration, but since the spirits herein have the perspective beyond the prison called time, I cannot put my finger on it. It surely is not speaking of some moment of complete sanctification. I think it must be the converse of the rejoicing that occurs in heaven when one is saved.I had thought the patient was already regenerated. First time I ever related it to being like passing a kidney stone. (This is what it evoked as an image for me.)

This letter, filtered through a sort of inversion filter in my mind gives an amazing sense of what it is to be surounded by the praise of heaven over the full cup of victory the believer drinks of in saying "THY WILL BE DONE!"

Physical death by no means serves Satan; it can in fact spell defeat. It is important to recognize that God appoints the times and places we live and die. And it is the spiritual state of the believer at the time of his death that is important. The soul of the Christian who dies in a state of grace passes into the presence of his Savior, and the Devil is defeated.

Screwtape proposes a toast
The final portion of the book struck me as a rambling afterthought- perhaps this is indicative of Screwtape's character. I'm sure everone at the banquet eagerly anticipated the end of the speil. I really don't see what it added to the book. I do not find new insight, and the format is insufficiently different to warrant its addition to the letters. Someone once asked if I thought there would be more or less people in heaven than I imagined. If it were up to me, very few indeed would pass muster. Gratefully, God's grace is sufficient to amaze us still and perhaps the prognosis will not be as dismal as Lewis proposes thru Screwtape. Lewis has painted a picture wherein the young convert receives little assistance from the Church or society.Thatconsttitutes a very pessimistic view that may belie more of Lewis's experience than the actual truth of the matter.

In the end, the faithfulness, love, and mercy of God are, in any case, sufficient to overcome the wiles of the Devil and to bring the Christian safely to his eternal home.

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