Screwtape Letter 1

Ok. Demons sure don’t waste anytime.  Screwtape starts out by saying that argumentused to be the way to steal people back from the enemy (Jesus).  That’s not needed anymore, because  there is no debate or argument anymore.  We have the ”weekly press” or the media to make sure we don’t think or reason. Remember, this was written during WWII–so we have about 10 times more exposure to media outlets (Why do we feel the need to watch Extra, ET, and Access Hollywood? Why do we watch the news and believe every word eventhough there are motives behind whoever is speaking?).

Jargon is going to be Wormwood’s best ally (Jargon is basically catchphrases and slogans and fads).  Screwtape says to convince that patient that materialism is the philosophy of the future.  We sure don’t like to miss out on anything.  Why are there people in Hollywood practicing Kabbalah or Scientology?  Because they want to be on the cutting edge of “philosophy” or fads. 

The demons don’t want you to study, or argue or debate because you might actually think about God and heaven and hell.  Instead they want you caught in a stream of thought called, “real life”.  You’ll be too busy to be philosophical.  Screwtape describes one of his patients, an atheist, who one day started thinking about God.  Screwtape says, “the enemy was immediately by his side” to push the thoughts further along.  Screwtape has to battle the thoughts not with debate but with real life, telling the guy he was hungry.  Eventually the hunger beat the thoughts of God because Screwtape tells him to “think about it after lunch.”  Then a few distractions here and there and the thoughts are gone.

Now how often have you told yourself, “I’ll deal with that or read that later after ____________” ? Yeah, that is one way the devil can distract you: with real life.

Screwtape wants us to think about the Ordinariness of things, that way we couldn’t possibly think about or believe in something we cannot see.   He also tries to get us to believe that “we know it all” and have gained that knowledge through real-life.  That causes us not to go into further investigation of God.  How often do you sit through a class, a  sermon, a conversation and thing, “yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.”  That is another trap.  You are closing yourself off from God.

Here a some observations made about God in this letter.  (Don’t you like how Screwtape calls him the “enemy” and the devil as “the father”.  It changes your perspective about how the devil operates and deceives.):

–Reason–Screwtape says reason and logic will lead the patient closer to God.  That doesn’t match the secular world’s view of Christianity.  To them, Christianity is irrational and not logical.  As someone who came to the Lord through reasoning and logic I have always been frustrated with people who refuse to recognize man’s depravity or do not see good and evil in this world.  How illogical is that?  To not believe  there is NO evil.  Do you watch the news?  Have you seen children play together?  Have you seen people driving before?  There is evil in the world.

–The Devil has never been a human, God has.  That is one of God’s “abominable advantages” over the devil.  God knows how we feel and how we think.

–God is at our elbow to help us.

–God whispers or speaks to us when we are in need and when we are listening.

–Science can lead to the Lord, too.  Again, Science is very reason and logic based it proves God’s existence.  Why would God give cows four stomachs?  Because they eat a lot of grass and plant cells have the hardest cell walls.  Cows need four stomachs to digest the plant cell walls.  Think about the magic of FIBER.  To me, that proves God’s existence.  So does nose hair.

I hope you enjoy The Screwtape Letters and you can see through this fun fable how the devil tries to lead you away from Christ.