Letters 22-24

I found these chapters to be somewhat interesting, but also sort of hard to understand exactly what was being said by Screwtape. I found it humorous when he was telling his nephew how the girl in his man's life was such a Christian that made him want to vomit. He was saying how she is two faced. In the next few letters, he goes on to tell Wormwood how to make his man believe that he is a part of his girlfriend's circle and that he is the same as them. The goal is to trick him into thinking he is as intelligent and high quality as the people that have accepted him into their group. He will think that he is a Christian like him, but in reality, he is just being socially vain instead of spiritually proud. The purpose of this is to make him actually sin instead of really being a good Christian. I find this very interesting because I wonder often if people in real life behave this way. Sometimes I feel this way. For example, I go to church sometimes and say my prayers and think that I am a good Christian, but in the back of my mind, I wonder if I really am. I know there is a lot more that I should be doing and feeling, but I do not. I wonder if I have a social pride in place of spiritual pride. The demons try to show Christians the faults of Christianity and the Bible to discourage them. Maybe that is what all the corruption in the Catholic church is about. It's interesting to think about things in that way, that demons can really be responsible for such things, but it is not that far from what I believe.

Letters 8-11

Well this week, I think the letters were quite knowlegeable about the human's way of thinking and living their lives. It if funny reading Screwtape's letters to his nephew about his human that he is trying to persuade because it makes me question if there really are little demons that persuade me to think a certain way. It is funny because the author knows how humans think and what they lust for and desire in life, that is often not what The Enemy wants us to think and want. I like when Screwtape discusses the differences between what The Enemy does during a human's undulation and what the devil does during that period. It seems true that God wants humans to be with him and be his sons, while the devil wants them to serve him and wants to draw them into himself. I also found that I think it is true that when a human is in a period or trough of dryness, it is easy for that human to be persuaded to follow his lusts and indulge in them because they are feeling low and are not thinking about the consequences. It is interesting that Screwtape explains this to Wormwood and how The Enemy will try to use the human's high points to persuade the human. Screwtape tells his nephew that if he tries to act like someone he is not infront of his new friends, it is possible that he will indeed become that way, and that Wormwood can even make the human take pleasure in knowing that he lives this dual life and the two sides of his life are inconsistent by exploiting his vanity. The last point that I thought interesting was the different kinds of laughter humans perform. Screwtape made the distinciton between joy, fun, joke-humor, and flippancy humor. I found this to be interesting because it is in a sense true and we do have different kinds of humor and laughs that the devils could possibly use against The Enemy and ourselves. I find the readings always to be quite humorous because it is almost silly, yet possible to imagine such devils reading our minds and influencing our thoughts and actions.

Letters 1-3

I found these first three letters to be very and interesting. I have never read something like this before, from a "Devil's" side of view, and I found it to be quite humorous. Screwtape is trying to teach his nephew, Wormwood how to control and manipulate his "patient", a human into being evil and turn towards them in Hell. I think it is amusing the way he tells him to make the human think a certain way and once he does, to keep him in that direction. It is comical the way Screwtape talks about the "Enemy" and how one can never overhear what "He" says. My favorite part is when he tells Wormwood to try and turn the human against his mother, because they have lived together for so long, there are things in their lives that can be used to do just that, such as the annoying sounds or looks they make. Screwtape tells Wormwood to allow the human to pay attention to these looks from his mother and make sure he thinks about them in a way to make him not like her. These letters make me feel like there are human conditions in Screwtape and his nephew in the way that he is affectionate towards his nephew much like humans are to their relatives. It is also interesting and yet scary to think about the fact that there could be a demon or devil controlling our thoughts and ideas everyday. I have heard of guardian angels, but this is essentially the opposite. It makes me wonder if something like Screwtape exists and possibly causes all the evil in the world. So far I really found the reading interesting, and I want to find out what happens to the human.