Screwtape Letter
Christian Literature
September 3, 2013
Screwtape Letters Screwtape Letters is a great book that is written from the vantage point of one demon writing to his demon nephew. This allows the reader to think in a different way than the normal Christian perspective. It shows the many ways Satan and his demons try to persuade people away from God. It is about the man's struggles to get past all of the trials Screwtape had set for him. It is one’s faith journey from the eyes of a demon. Screwtape is constantly trying to trick the man into believing something that is not true. As a Christian, it should give one an example of what not to do. Screwtape starts off by instructing Wormwood not to attempt to win the patient's soul through argument, but rather by fixing his attention on "the stream of immediate sense experiences" (Lewis 2). This shows that the devil does not have to teach us anything new; he just merely has to cause us to live as our flesh desires, because our human nature is sinful. The uplifting side of this is the fact that Satan has no power when we flee from our sinful nature. Though we may sometime stumble, we no longer live in condemnation. The idea of being freed from the grips of Satan and his demons is also conveyed in the fourth letter when Screwtape says, “Whenever they are attending to the enemy we are defeated” (Lewis 18). In this same letter, he goes on to talk about the power of prayer. “Teach them to estimate the value of each prayer by their success in producing the desired feeling; and never let them suspect how much success or failure of that kind depends on whether they are well or ill, fresh or tired, at the moment” (Lewis 19). I often find myself looking for satisfaction through my prayer and trying to feel better about certain things. Screwtape points out that misdirection is one of their best weapons when dealing with prayer, because God often “pours out self-knowledge in quite shameless fashion” (Lewis 19). In the ninth
September 3, 2013
Screwtape Letters Screwtape Letters is a great book that is written from the vantage point of one demon writing to his demon nephew. This allows the reader to think in a different way than the normal Christian perspective. It shows the many ways Satan and his demons try to persuade people away from God. It is about the man's struggles to get past all of the trials Screwtape had set for him. It is one’s faith journey from the eyes of a demon. Screwtape is constantly trying to trick the man into believing something that is not true. As a Christian, it should give one an example of what not to do. Screwtape starts off by instructing Wormwood not to attempt to win the patient's soul through argument, but rather by fixing his attention on "the stream of immediate sense experiences" (Lewis 2). This shows that the devil does not have to teach us anything new; he just merely has to cause us to live as our flesh desires, because our human nature is sinful. The uplifting side of this is the fact that Satan has no power when we flee from our sinful nature. Though we may sometime stumble, we no longer live in condemnation. The idea of being freed from the grips of Satan and his demons is also conveyed in the fourth letter when Screwtape says, “Whenever they are attending to the enemy we are defeated” (Lewis 18). In this same letter, he goes on to talk about the power of prayer. “Teach them to estimate the value of each prayer by their success in producing the desired feeling; and never let them suspect how much success or failure of that kind depends on whether they are well or ill, fresh or tired, at the moment” (Lewis 19). I often find myself looking for satisfaction through my prayer and trying to feel better about certain things. Screwtape points out that misdirection is one of their best weapons when dealing with prayer, because God often “pours out self-knowledge in quite shameless fashion” (Lewis 19). In the ninth