Revelations from The Screwtape Letters

After reading C.S. Lewis' novel The Screwtape Letters, I am amazed at how it still holds true today, 60 years after it was written. The state of society, the pitfalls humans are often lured to, and the struggles we face daily seem as timeless as good and evil. That is one reason why I love the Bible so much, it applies just as much today as it did 2000 years ago. Lewis reminded me of so many things, and brought to my attention many others which I have not given too much thought to. The fact is, we are in a spiritual war daily, and too much complacency is exactly what the "other side" is hoping we will fall into. Some gems from the book:

(This is the voice of a demon speaking, which is part of what makes it so chilling, to have it coming from the "dark side"):

1) "We want the Church to be small... that those who do may acquire the uneasy intensity and defensive self-righteousness of a secret society or a clique".

Wow, all too true. Very often religion becomes a sort of club membership, and members become prideful and self-righteous. It's a dangerous trap, one that has been around since the Pharisees and probably before. I've felt it first-hand.

2) "He (God) really does want to fill the universe with a lot of loathsome little replicas of Himself - creatures whose life, on its miniature scale, will be qualitatively like His own, not because He has absorbed them but because their wills freely conform to His. We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons."

So which side do we want to be on? God is all-giving, He is love, and yet the world around us is being sucked in to the desires and temptations of something so hollow, so empty. And it is daily that we all (myself included) must fight these temptations.

3)"pleasure in it's healthy and normal and satisfying form" is God's work

Pleasure is not sin. Intercourse, enjoying food, being happy, being in love, these are gifts from God and should be enjoyed - but used according to His plan. I don't know why, but doesn't it seem like we are being told to have no pleasure in this life (by the world's influence, not God's), to feel guilty if we enjoy something? Sex has been turned in to something dirty and unmentionable, I could go on and on. And the thing is - this is nothing new! Again, this goes back to the days of the Bible.

4) "Catch him (the "patient", the man that Wormwood is trying to get to hell)at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, 'By jove! I'm being humble', and almost immediately pride - pride at his own humility - will appear."

Humility and pride - I was just teaching at Bible class a group of kids about this subject. It is something we could spend a lifetime on. Lewis reminds me that our thoughts must be "held captive for Christ" as the Bible says. It is not easy, and as Screwtape shows us, even our supposedly "humble" thoughts can be turned against us.

Read the book, if you can. Even though it is exhausting and disturbing to read a book from a demon's point of view, it gives a newfound hope and love for God and His future for us. He is stronger than any of those demons!!!