Screwtape Letter #12

In Letter 12, the letter deals with tempting a human away from Heaven in a subtle yet effective way. Although Wormwood is doing okay with it, Screwtape feels that he may be going too quickly for what will work. The patient's Christianity is slowly slipping away from him, but since he is still going to church he is unable to notice and/or even care what is happening before him. His faith begins to deterierate but the patient does not seem to notice. Because his faith is begininning to be lost, he is forgetting to pray and practice his faith which is leading him away from Christianity. The patient is now on his way to Hell and his progress could very well be interupted by a sin or a sudden awakening towards Heaven. Screwtape prefers this particular way to tempt the patient because he feels it is the most effective. Because the temptations are done so subtly the patient is converted without any knowledge of it. This kind of temptation is apparent in our world today. Many day to day ativities can have small, insignificant sins within them. We are not opened to them because of how small they are. This is similar to Screwtape's method with the patient to lure him slowly but surely away from Heaven to Hell.

Letter #7

In this letter,Wormwood begins to ask his uncle, Screwtape, for more insight about what he should do with his patient. He asks his uncle because he feels that he needs advice from an elder about his current situation. He was unsure if he should reveal himself to his patient or not. Screwtape tells his nephew that the 'devils' do not reveal themselves to humans. They have found out that by making people dibelieve is more useful than scaring people away. Screwtape then tries to consider what Wormwood should do in this circumstance. Wormwood must decide if he should make the patient a patriot or a pacisist. He then comes to the realization that it won't really matter. As long as the patient's thoughts about God are nonexistant then he feels his job is complete.