Chapter 18- "This impossibility He calls love, and this same monotonous panacea can be detected under all He does and even all He is—or claims to be. Thus He is not content, even Himself, to be a sheer arithmetical unity; He claims to be three as well as one, in order that this nonsense about Love may find a foothold in His own nature (94)."
ScrewTape is writing about how God is contradictory in what He does and what He is. ScrewTape mentions how God claims to be three persons and one at the same time; this shows how ScrewTape thinks of God in a contradictory manner. His thoughts on God's contradictions may also lead him to believe that God is ultimately a flawed being. This quote also shows that ScrewTape does not see love, or God's divine love, as something that makes sense. Thus, adding onto the contradictory beliefs he may have towards God.
Chapter 19- "This Our Father naturally could not accept. He implored the Enemy to lay His cards on the table, and gave Him every opportunity. He admitted that he felt a real anxiety to know the secret; the Enemy replied "I wish with all my heart that you did". It was, I imagine, at this stage in the interview that Our Father's disgust at such an unprovoked lack of confidence caused him to remove himself an infinite distance from the Presence with a suddenness which has given rise to the ridiculous enemy story that he was forcibly thrown out of Heaven (99-100)."
This passage illustrates the demons view of the fall of Satan. It shows the, possible viewpoint of Satan before he was cast out of heaven. The claims between how Satan left heaven are different for the demons and God's point of view. ScrewTape claims that Satan was only curious in the intentions of God, and left heaven because he believed he was not being trusted by God enough. This shows how Satan is a liar, even to his own faction. The lie may also indicate a sense of justification for the demons, in the sense that they left heaven not because of sin but out of free will and disgust with God.
Chapter 20- "It is the business of these great masters to produce in every age a general misdirection of what may be called sexual "taste". This they do by working through the small circle of popular artists, dressmakers, actresses and advertisers who determine the fashionable type. The aim is to guide each sex away from those members of the other with whom spiritually helpful, happy, and fertile marriages are most likely (106)."
This passage shows suggests the amount of influence that demons have in society. By influencing key people, who in turn influence a great amount of others; demons are able to have greatly affected entire generations of humans. By preventing good Christians from marrying one another; the person may have a more difficult relationship with God.
Chapter 21- "They anger him because he regards his time as his own and feels that it is being stolen. You must therefore zealously guard in his mind the curious assumption "My time is my own". Let him have the feeling that he starts each day as the lawful possessor of twenty-four hours (112)."
ScrewTape is writing how to easily anger a man. In this section, he says that a person feels that his time is his own property, which is true for most people. This mindset that people have ownership and should have control over their time is one that can lead to a lot of frustration and anger. This is what ScrewTape wants the people to feel. This sense of false ownership and control can also contribute to selfishness and pride. If humans continue to feel time is their own, then they will not recognize that it is ultimately a gift from God.
Work Cited
Lewis, Clive S. The ScrewTape Letters. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2001. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment