Monday, March 24, 2008
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.
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6 comments:
I relate slightly to this chapter and this patient, just not going to Hell part though. I feel right now in my life i feel the same as the patient. Christianity is somewhat slowly slipping away and i see it right before my eyes and i procrastinate saying i am going to do something about it, then i don't?
I think you did a really good job summarizing and bringing out some good points of the letter. I think Skrewtape made a good point about how the slow, subtle way is most effective because the patient is converted without any knowing of it. I also liked your comment about about the small things we do everyday that might be sinful but they don't really phase us, but ideally this is Skrewtape's method. Good post!
I too thought this chapter to be thought provoking. The slow subtle way is in everything we do, and Screwtape was good at pointing that out. The small things we do as you brought up is what is ideal to Satan. I like how you talked about that.
I too wrote about this letter, it was very intriguing to me. I loved the way that it is very subtle how "we" are tempted away from God and yet we do not even notice that it is happing. It seems that one minute we are pure, and then the next minute we are complete sinners.
I definitly agree with your blog. You summarized the letter very well, and your comments really tied in well with the chapter. I agree that individuals can committ day to day sins, but then they still believe that they are good Chrisitans. However, eventually their sins will catch up with them. I am very glad that this was brought to my attention because I know I am guility of this behavior.
I agree with what you said. Your summary helped to understand the letter much more clearly. I feel that in everyday life we do over look certain sins because they seem to be so minute and unimportant to us. I liked that you wrote that we do sin without realizing it. I never thought about it that way.
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