After over three months, it is time to return to posting!
A few of you may be wondering why I stopped posting. I'll be honest with you all: I stopped because in my schedule of work and fellowship with the church, I was either too tired or too preoccupied with other things on my mind in my free time to pick up the book, read, and then write.
Scream at me if you so desire. Rant at me in the comments section of this blog if it makes you feel better. I won't hide from the fact that I decided to not do something that had seemed second nature for a while.
Having said that, I will continue writing on The Screwtape Letters until the book is finished, and we'll see where to go from there. If anyone of you who have read this blog in the past decide that they want to have another book gone over, please let me know about the book, and I'll get my paws on a copy to work through on this blog. After all, Lewis is highly interesting but by no means the only author God gave the gift of prose to.
Look forward to chapter 11's summary in the next 24 hours.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Saturday, March 10, 2012
The Screwtape Letters, chapter 10
I've done it to myself again: I have not been able to post the next chapter when I said I would. However, I was called upon to do substitute teaching yesterday in addition to working eight hours at my cashier's job; I was quite simply too exhausted from such a day to do anything but fall asleep last night. However, here is the next chapter of the Screwtape Letters!
Wormwood's patient has apparently fallen in with some people who are, for lack of any better words on my part, habitual skeptics. Another tempter by the name of Triptweeze has given this information to Screwtape, who is of course delighted by this news. Screwtape goes on to mention that these new friends can with Wormwood's help turn the patient to standing in a false position that is directly opposite to his faith. By continuing his friendship with these people, the patient will display many cynical and skeptical attitudes which are not his, but he will pretend that they are. Screwtape goes on to mention that many human beings turn into the things which they imitate, but he cautions Wormwood to prepare against a counterattack by the Enemy.
First up for the junior tempter is to delay the moment when the patient realizes that his friendship is a temptation. Keeping in mind that all friendships are not temptations (it really does depend on the type of friendship, mind you; do your friends bring true joy and happiness into your life and do you return that joy and happiness to them in kind?), the instructions from Screwtape are clear: keep the patient in a haze and unaware of the real danger of this group of friends to his faith. The warnings from Christian writers about Worldly Vanities, Choice of Friends, and Value of Time at this point are scarce, though Screwtape understandably does not like hearing warnings against Mammon (material possessions) which are apparently more common. The patient may classify such things as "Puritanical", the word usage of which Screwtape delightedly celebrates as the means by which tempters 'rescue' thousands of humans annually from temperance, chastity, and sobriety of life.
However, once the patient realizes the problem of being friends with the skeptics, Screwtape warns Wormwood to adapt his tactics according to the patient's response. Either the patient can be induced to live two seemingly different lives (there have been songs written about this phenomenon, and compromise is often mentioned in association with it in very unflattering terms), or the patient can be tricked into believing himself as the individual who believes that he sees very cleverly the big picture which no one else sees in either his friendship circles or in the sanctuary on Sunday morning, that he is the perfectly complete, balanced, and complex person in comparison to all others in his knowledge. A current of underlying self-satisfaction is what Wormwood is to aim for with the second course of action. The final resort for Wormwood if the first two tacts fail is to instill a vague accusation in the patient that his putting off of these new friends is intolerant, that he is being rude somehow. In continuing this friendship, Wormwood is aiming not only to drag down the patient's faith, but also to destroy his obligations to work and home by depleting his finances and stealing his time.
Believe it or not, there is a very real danger present in our friendships with the wrong crowd. I do not mean that we as Christians cease to strive at bringing new believers into a relationship with Christ and the church of believers that exists all around the world. Far from it. I believe that one of the main themes presented here is "Choose your friends wisely". Although friends can be innocuous and very good for all of us (being the social creatures that we are), friends who encourage us to actively participate in habits and deeds which stand in direct opposition to what the Father has called us to be and do can destroy our faith. I sincerely doubt that Lewis is telling us to avoid such people altogether. However, we must look at such people and invite them to join us in our walk with Christ. Acceptance or denial is then the choice presented to them, and they may choose one or the other. Believers should not be asked to compromise their relationship with Christ for the sake of friendship with someone else, though; such compromise is dangerous for a believer to engage in, however 'Puritanical' and 'intolerant' it may seem. For myself, I do not wish to lead two lives in two separate settings. I did so for several years as a collegiate athlete, being a rough-and-ready American football player who loved physical violence and vitriolic language six days of the week before going to church on the seventh day and seeming to be a very respectable and well-spoken individual to the men and women who sat on either side of me.
This is not to say that collegiate athletics are to be avoided. I say again that I have led two seemingly separate lives and the strain on myself from such a fallacy was beginning to destroy me. Christ asks us to walk with him and not with the world in which we live or the people surrounding us who do not also walk with Christ. He calls us to be uncompromised in our lives with Him so that we may carry His Good News to those people. If you have questions about living a double life or want to comment on my experience or your own and how this is a temptation to be avoided, please feel free to comment on this post.
Wormwood's patient has apparently fallen in with some people who are, for lack of any better words on my part, habitual skeptics. Another tempter by the name of Triptweeze has given this information to Screwtape, who is of course delighted by this news. Screwtape goes on to mention that these new friends can with Wormwood's help turn the patient to standing in a false position that is directly opposite to his faith. By continuing his friendship with these people, the patient will display many cynical and skeptical attitudes which are not his, but he will pretend that they are. Screwtape goes on to mention that many human beings turn into the things which they imitate, but he cautions Wormwood to prepare against a counterattack by the Enemy.
First up for the junior tempter is to delay the moment when the patient realizes that his friendship is a temptation. Keeping in mind that all friendships are not temptations (it really does depend on the type of friendship, mind you; do your friends bring true joy and happiness into your life and do you return that joy and happiness to them in kind?), the instructions from Screwtape are clear: keep the patient in a haze and unaware of the real danger of this group of friends to his faith. The warnings from Christian writers about Worldly Vanities, Choice of Friends, and Value of Time at this point are scarce, though Screwtape understandably does not like hearing warnings against Mammon (material possessions) which are apparently more common. The patient may classify such things as "Puritanical", the word usage of which Screwtape delightedly celebrates as the means by which tempters 'rescue' thousands of humans annually from temperance, chastity, and sobriety of life.
However, once the patient realizes the problem of being friends with the skeptics, Screwtape warns Wormwood to adapt his tactics according to the patient's response. Either the patient can be induced to live two seemingly different lives (there have been songs written about this phenomenon, and compromise is often mentioned in association with it in very unflattering terms), or the patient can be tricked into believing himself as the individual who believes that he sees very cleverly the big picture which no one else sees in either his friendship circles or in the sanctuary on Sunday morning, that he is the perfectly complete, balanced, and complex person in comparison to all others in his knowledge. A current of underlying self-satisfaction is what Wormwood is to aim for with the second course of action. The final resort for Wormwood if the first two tacts fail is to instill a vague accusation in the patient that his putting off of these new friends is intolerant, that he is being rude somehow. In continuing this friendship, Wormwood is aiming not only to drag down the patient's faith, but also to destroy his obligations to work and home by depleting his finances and stealing his time.
Believe it or not, there is a very real danger present in our friendships with the wrong crowd. I do not mean that we as Christians cease to strive at bringing new believers into a relationship with Christ and the church of believers that exists all around the world. Far from it. I believe that one of the main themes presented here is "Choose your friends wisely". Although friends can be innocuous and very good for all of us (being the social creatures that we are), friends who encourage us to actively participate in habits and deeds which stand in direct opposition to what the Father has called us to be and do can destroy our faith. I sincerely doubt that Lewis is telling us to avoid such people altogether. However, we must look at such people and invite them to join us in our walk with Christ. Acceptance or denial is then the choice presented to them, and they may choose one or the other. Believers should not be asked to compromise their relationship with Christ for the sake of friendship with someone else, though; such compromise is dangerous for a believer to engage in, however 'Puritanical' and 'intolerant' it may seem. For myself, I do not wish to lead two lives in two separate settings. I did so for several years as a collegiate athlete, being a rough-and-ready American football player who loved physical violence and vitriolic language six days of the week before going to church on the seventh day and seeming to be a very respectable and well-spoken individual to the men and women who sat on either side of me.
This is not to say that collegiate athletics are to be avoided. I say again that I have led two seemingly separate lives and the strain on myself from such a fallacy was beginning to destroy me. Christ asks us to walk with him and not with the world in which we live or the people surrounding us who do not also walk with Christ. He calls us to be uncompromised in our lives with Him so that we may carry His Good News to those people. If you have questions about living a double life or want to comment on my experience or your own and how this is a temptation to be avoided, please feel free to comment on this post.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
The Screwtape Letters, Chapter 9
Good afternoon, readers. My last post served as something of a place-holder, but I will be honest with you all: I simply did not have anything within my soul to move forward with a new posting. This is quite ironic, given that Screwtape's next letter deals in part with a very similar issue, and...well, you'll just have to read on!
Screwtape has informed Wormwood about the Law of Undulation and the troughs and peaks of the human experience of being in a relationship with God. Now he sets to the task of instructing Wormwood how to best exploit both the peaks and the troughs. Dealing with the troughs, Screwtape writes that some of the primary means of drawing a human soul into sin through temptation and thus down into Hell are through pleasures. Before any of you scream that all good things are evil and forswear any kind of fun for fear of being damned, Screwtape himself notes that it is pleasure twisted and experienced in the troughs which gains human souls in the easiest manner. Sexual appetite experienced during the peak might seem to be useful to Wormwood, but the human powers of resistance (given to us by God when He created us) are also then at their highest. Screwtape snarls about peak sexual appetite as leading to "that milk and water phenomenon that the humans call 'falling in love'; I imagine he is less than amused at this occurrence in a human life, and perhaps not least because God created us with this particular hardwiring. The same can be said about alcohol, and perhaps also about material possessions; alcohol may be enjoyed with relish and delight in the company of friends and family during the peak (indeed, there is quite a lot to be said for both alcohol and caffeine in this regard if a person has ever enjoyed a glass of wine in the evening with friends or coffee/tea/espresso with family on a holiday morning) without any sort of harm being done to the person's spiritual well-being and standing with God. With regards to material possessions, I might suggest that many Christians desire to gain wealth through their work or small businesses or properties in order to give it away, to spend the wealth on others, to lavish a material blessing on people for whom such a thing is quite unlooked-for in their lives. In this and other ways, the appetites which human beings possess is a great threat to the Tempters in Screwtape's department, as they are appetites created in us by God the Father when He first breathed the Breath of Life into Adam's nostrils and crafted Eve from Adam's rib.
It is during our trough periods when such appetites are truly dangerous. Wormwood's attack on his patient has a much better chance of success, Screwtape notes, when the patient's whole inner world is drab, cold, and empty. Sexual appetite is then twisted and perverted into unwholesome lusts, and alcohol is not consumed with friends in the course of conversation and laughter but as a means to forget a particularly wretched day, and material goods and possessions are not acquired because they can be used to glorify God but because of the skewed logic that having more will somehow make a person happy. "An ever increasing craving for an ever decreasing pleasure is the formula", Screwtape says to Wormwood. "To get the man's soul and give him nothing in return-that is what really gladdens our Father's heart". Take pornography addictions, for example. The longer that a person views such things, the greater the appetite for more twisted and degrading forms of pornography becomes. Or alcohol, for another. The longer that a person drinks to become drunk, the more powerful the alcohol must be and in far greater quantities in order to satisfy, however temporarily, that person's desire for a powerful sedative.
Screwtape suggests, however, that there is a far better means of exploiting the troughs. By keeping knowledge out of the patient's mind about undulation, Wormwood may then lead the patient to believe that the feelings he first experienced in the weeks right after his conversion were expected to occur forever. His present state of dryness should be made to seem equally permanent, and that once these two wholly false concepts are fixed in the patient's mind, Wormwood's job is to then keep the patient away from Christians experienced with undulation's trough periods and have him try to recover those old feelings by sheer will-power. This method Wormwood is to use if the patient is the despondent type; should the patient be more hopeful, the key is to persuade the patient that the low period is not so low after all and that it was all a phase, and he ought to be more moderate ever after. Screwtape writes that "a moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all-and more amusing"; by this I believe that Screwtape writes of Christians who simply go through the motions on Sunday and look on the works of other Christians in their neighborhood and halfway 'round the world as overly zealous.
Screwtape finishes up by suggesting to Wormwood that the linchpin in keeping his patient foggy is to use jargon, not logic, to achieve this sense of moderation or the use of will-power to recover old feelings. In other words, neither of the two courses of action which a human being might take in response to a trough period make any bloody sense when examined critically. As stated in chapter 8, one of the cures for a trough period is to simply knuckle down and do God's will even when all trace of Him seems to have vanished from the earth. The other is to continue asking very pointed questions in an internal conversation (or external; in fact, it may be better to bounce these thoughts off a very good and trusted Christian brother or sister) about why a person's faith must be moderated in the face of spiritual dryness. Why compromise when circumstances are set against us? Is that not what the Enemy wants, after all?
If you have experienced or are experiencing a trough period and would like to comment further on this or any other post, you are welcome to share your thoughts with myself and the other readers. Keep reading...and praying...and serving God with every chance you get. I will have the 10th chapter on Friday, March 9th.
Screwtape has informed Wormwood about the Law of Undulation and the troughs and peaks of the human experience of being in a relationship with God. Now he sets to the task of instructing Wormwood how to best exploit both the peaks and the troughs. Dealing with the troughs, Screwtape writes that some of the primary means of drawing a human soul into sin through temptation and thus down into Hell are through pleasures. Before any of you scream that all good things are evil and forswear any kind of fun for fear of being damned, Screwtape himself notes that it is pleasure twisted and experienced in the troughs which gains human souls in the easiest manner. Sexual appetite experienced during the peak might seem to be useful to Wormwood, but the human powers of resistance (given to us by God when He created us) are also then at their highest. Screwtape snarls about peak sexual appetite as leading to "that milk and water phenomenon that the humans call 'falling in love'; I imagine he is less than amused at this occurrence in a human life, and perhaps not least because God created us with this particular hardwiring. The same can be said about alcohol, and perhaps also about material possessions; alcohol may be enjoyed with relish and delight in the company of friends and family during the peak (indeed, there is quite a lot to be said for both alcohol and caffeine in this regard if a person has ever enjoyed a glass of wine in the evening with friends or coffee/tea/espresso with family on a holiday morning) without any sort of harm being done to the person's spiritual well-being and standing with God. With regards to material possessions, I might suggest that many Christians desire to gain wealth through their work or small businesses or properties in order to give it away, to spend the wealth on others, to lavish a material blessing on people for whom such a thing is quite unlooked-for in their lives. In this and other ways, the appetites which human beings possess is a great threat to the Tempters in Screwtape's department, as they are appetites created in us by God the Father when He first breathed the Breath of Life into Adam's nostrils and crafted Eve from Adam's rib.
It is during our trough periods when such appetites are truly dangerous. Wormwood's attack on his patient has a much better chance of success, Screwtape notes, when the patient's whole inner world is drab, cold, and empty. Sexual appetite is then twisted and perverted into unwholesome lusts, and alcohol is not consumed with friends in the course of conversation and laughter but as a means to forget a particularly wretched day, and material goods and possessions are not acquired because they can be used to glorify God but because of the skewed logic that having more will somehow make a person happy. "An ever increasing craving for an ever decreasing pleasure is the formula", Screwtape says to Wormwood. "To get the man's soul and give him nothing in return-that is what really gladdens our Father's heart". Take pornography addictions, for example. The longer that a person views such things, the greater the appetite for more twisted and degrading forms of pornography becomes. Or alcohol, for another. The longer that a person drinks to become drunk, the more powerful the alcohol must be and in far greater quantities in order to satisfy, however temporarily, that person's desire for a powerful sedative.
Screwtape suggests, however, that there is a far better means of exploiting the troughs. By keeping knowledge out of the patient's mind about undulation, Wormwood may then lead the patient to believe that the feelings he first experienced in the weeks right after his conversion were expected to occur forever. His present state of dryness should be made to seem equally permanent, and that once these two wholly false concepts are fixed in the patient's mind, Wormwood's job is to then keep the patient away from Christians experienced with undulation's trough periods and have him try to recover those old feelings by sheer will-power. This method Wormwood is to use if the patient is the despondent type; should the patient be more hopeful, the key is to persuade the patient that the low period is not so low after all and that it was all a phase, and he ought to be more moderate ever after. Screwtape writes that "a moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all-and more amusing"; by this I believe that Screwtape writes of Christians who simply go through the motions on Sunday and look on the works of other Christians in their neighborhood and halfway 'round the world as overly zealous.
Screwtape finishes up by suggesting to Wormwood that the linchpin in keeping his patient foggy is to use jargon, not logic, to achieve this sense of moderation or the use of will-power to recover old feelings. In other words, neither of the two courses of action which a human being might take in response to a trough period make any bloody sense when examined critically. As stated in chapter 8, one of the cures for a trough period is to simply knuckle down and do God's will even when all trace of Him seems to have vanished from the earth. The other is to continue asking very pointed questions in an internal conversation (or external; in fact, it may be better to bounce these thoughts off a very good and trusted Christian brother or sister) about why a person's faith must be moderated in the face of spiritual dryness. Why compromise when circumstances are set against us? Is that not what the Enemy wants, after all?
If you have experienced or are experiencing a trough period and would like to comment further on this or any other post, you are welcome to share your thoughts with myself and the other readers. Keep reading...and praying...and serving God with every chance you get. I will have the 10th chapter on Friday, March 9th.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Shock and Sadness
If anyone is wondering why I have been silent on this blog for the past two weeks or so, it is because my attentions have been demanded by a confusing time at my church.
I must explain that my church building holds two seemingly separate churches that are still part of one congregation. Strange? Yes, and a conversation with my father earlier this night provided me with more insight into the incredibly complicated relationships and dynamics of such a setup: when two bodies of worshipers with two differing styles of worship co-habit the same building with two independent leadership teams, there are bound to be disagreements and arguments and differences of vision for the future and the church's mission.
Because of this precarious balancing act of sharing space, the cooperation between the leaders of the church has become very strained. The pastor of one fellowship was asked to resign under the larger task of restructuring church governance and leadership, and as a result many of the new believers and recent members have been deeply shaken and saddened. Our departing pastor was a surrogate father to many of us and a dear friend during his time in ministry, and dealing with the sudden void in our spiritual lives has many of us asking whether God has abandoned us. Some members will undoubtedly leave the church following this event.
I wonder, however, if this may be a message from God for the smaller fellowship to finally leave the church building. For nearly thirteen years, a spirit of evangelism and mission has moved in our midst and if we are to be the church which God has called us to be, then might the time have finally arrived to truly GO as Jesus said to the disciples and make disciples of all men?
Understand that I am not advocating a church split. In fact, church splits seem to be the worst possible way for the church to grow; somehow, churches in the Anabaptist tradition seem to prefer this way of growing (masochistic, yes?) rather than by sending missionaries far and wide to tell people the Good News that Jesus has come to take away their sin and make them part of the Kingdom of God. Instead, I am pondering a new type of Mennonite church reaching out to a lost and hurting city in a lost and hurting nation in a lost and hurting world in the manner of the first missionaries: by calling everyone to join in the Great Commission to tell the whole world what Jesus has done for them in their own lives.
Many of the divisive and potentially explosive factors which can destroy a church seem to be in existence within our congregation: factions, attitudes of self-righteousness, comfortable numbness to the suffering of the world, and pride, which may be the most dangerous of all. If you can relate to any of these within your own congregation, reading through some of Paul's letters to the church in Corinth and to his friend Timothy may help you when you pray for your church. I might also suggest something incredibly gutsy: go to your pastor and tell she or he that the church is in danger of becoming divided against itself. Tell your pastor what you are observing. Tell your pastor that many of the same situations and factors worked to divide many First-Century churches (just read through the New Testament and a few church history books if you need citations). Beg for a united church which serves God by calling the lost to Christ both close to home and in places where the Gospel has never been heard of before.
I am writing this now to explain myself and warn others about the primary danger facing any congregation: losing sight of what God has called us to do here on Earth will destroy this family of brothers and sisters in Christ. I am passionate about this because I want to see lives changed by Christ and entire cities transformed by what He has done. I saw the beginnings of it in Costa Rica as a missionary several years ago, and I want to see it again.
I must explain that my church building holds two seemingly separate churches that are still part of one congregation. Strange? Yes, and a conversation with my father earlier this night provided me with more insight into the incredibly complicated relationships and dynamics of such a setup: when two bodies of worshipers with two differing styles of worship co-habit the same building with two independent leadership teams, there are bound to be disagreements and arguments and differences of vision for the future and the church's mission.
Because of this precarious balancing act of sharing space, the cooperation between the leaders of the church has become very strained. The pastor of one fellowship was asked to resign under the larger task of restructuring church governance and leadership, and as a result many of the new believers and recent members have been deeply shaken and saddened. Our departing pastor was a surrogate father to many of us and a dear friend during his time in ministry, and dealing with the sudden void in our spiritual lives has many of us asking whether God has abandoned us. Some members will undoubtedly leave the church following this event.
I wonder, however, if this may be a message from God for the smaller fellowship to finally leave the church building. For nearly thirteen years, a spirit of evangelism and mission has moved in our midst and if we are to be the church which God has called us to be, then might the time have finally arrived to truly GO as Jesus said to the disciples and make disciples of all men?
Understand that I am not advocating a church split. In fact, church splits seem to be the worst possible way for the church to grow; somehow, churches in the Anabaptist tradition seem to prefer this way of growing (masochistic, yes?) rather than by sending missionaries far and wide to tell people the Good News that Jesus has come to take away their sin and make them part of the Kingdom of God. Instead, I am pondering a new type of Mennonite church reaching out to a lost and hurting city in a lost and hurting nation in a lost and hurting world in the manner of the first missionaries: by calling everyone to join in the Great Commission to tell the whole world what Jesus has done for them in their own lives.
Many of the divisive and potentially explosive factors which can destroy a church seem to be in existence within our congregation: factions, attitudes of self-righteousness, comfortable numbness to the suffering of the world, and pride, which may be the most dangerous of all. If you can relate to any of these within your own congregation, reading through some of Paul's letters to the church in Corinth and to his friend Timothy may help you when you pray for your church. I might also suggest something incredibly gutsy: go to your pastor and tell she or he that the church is in danger of becoming divided against itself. Tell your pastor what you are observing. Tell your pastor that many of the same situations and factors worked to divide many First-Century churches (just read through the New Testament and a few church history books if you need citations). Beg for a united church which serves God by calling the lost to Christ both close to home and in places where the Gospel has never been heard of before.
I am writing this now to explain myself and warn others about the primary danger facing any congregation: losing sight of what God has called us to do here on Earth will destroy this family of brothers and sisters in Christ. I am passionate about this because I want to see lives changed by Christ and entire cities transformed by what He has done. I saw the beginnings of it in Costa Rica as a missionary several years ago, and I want to see it again.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
The Screwtape Letters: Chapter 8
Greetings, everyone. Treat yourself to a decent history book sometime this month; I suggest a book which reads like a novel if nothing else. Now to continue with the Letters...
Screwtape's admonition of Wormwood regarding the patient's "current religious phase" is paired with a very important sentence for us as Christians: "Has no one ever told you about the law of Undulation?" Indeed, I should think that most of us (I am included in this, yes, for I am ever forgetful) have not fully understood this law, if it should be called a law. I am certain that Lewis regards Undulation as a law, and there is much sense in this as most human beings experience peaks and troughs of physical, emotional, and spiritual patterns in their life. Part of this, Screwtape mentions, is that humans are "disgusting hybrids" who are at once physical and inhabit time, and spiritual beings directed to an eternal object. Screwtape's vitriol aside, he is quite right: we as human beings inhabit both time and eternity. Peaks and troughs are now understood a little better now that we understand our dual nature, but Screwtape's next letter section should give a very solid idea as to what God wants to do with us as opposed to the demons' desire to consumer our souls. It is this:
God desires "a world full of beings united to Him but still distinct".
This is why the tempters work so hard, if we remember the previous chapters. This is why Screwtape is doing his best to give instruction to his nephew Wormwood on how to draw a human soul into sin throughout his life before finally dragging that soul down into Hell. This is why a war rages right now for every decision of every person in every moment. Ah, now that I have finished ranting, back to the chapter.
The troughs of the human experience are where the most work is done for God, Screwtape warns. Also to put to rest a question that newer believers may have, God does not make use of the Irresistable and the Indisputable to override the human will. God desires a relationship, not domination of ourselves. This is why he withdraws himself from our conscious experience and very quietly whispers to us in the midst of our greatest struggles that He is still with us and still loves us. In these times, He also asks us to continue to do His will on earth. Screwtape writes that "Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys."
Thinking back to my readings of the gospels, I think that Jesus may have experienced troughs as well as peaks. Consider this: the gospel authors mention that Jesus withdrew frequently to remote settings and spent much time in prayer. During these times, Jesus drew on the strength and endurance of God for the coming day's ministry, and I believe that is because the previous day had drained his human self. Think too about his words on the cross (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?) and we get a picture of a Jesus who experienced the peaks of ministry through sermons, healing, and driving out demons along with the troughs of physical exhaustion, emotional distress, and spiritual longing for the Father. We are called to follow Jesus as Christians; can we follow in His footsteps through the troughs as well as the peaks?
Screwtape's admonition of Wormwood regarding the patient's "current religious phase" is paired with a very important sentence for us as Christians: "Has no one ever told you about the law of Undulation?" Indeed, I should think that most of us (I am included in this, yes, for I am ever forgetful) have not fully understood this law, if it should be called a law. I am certain that Lewis regards Undulation as a law, and there is much sense in this as most human beings experience peaks and troughs of physical, emotional, and spiritual patterns in their life. Part of this, Screwtape mentions, is that humans are "disgusting hybrids" who are at once physical and inhabit time, and spiritual beings directed to an eternal object. Screwtape's vitriol aside, he is quite right: we as human beings inhabit both time and eternity. Peaks and troughs are now understood a little better now that we understand our dual nature, but Screwtape's next letter section should give a very solid idea as to what God wants to do with us as opposed to the demons' desire to consumer our souls. It is this:
God desires "a world full of beings united to Him but still distinct".
This is why the tempters work so hard, if we remember the previous chapters. This is why Screwtape is doing his best to give instruction to his nephew Wormwood on how to draw a human soul into sin throughout his life before finally dragging that soul down into Hell. This is why a war rages right now for every decision of every person in every moment. Ah, now that I have finished ranting, back to the chapter.
The troughs of the human experience are where the most work is done for God, Screwtape warns. Also to put to rest a question that newer believers may have, God does not make use of the Irresistable and the Indisputable to override the human will. God desires a relationship, not domination of ourselves. This is why he withdraws himself from our conscious experience and very quietly whispers to us in the midst of our greatest struggles that He is still with us and still loves us. In these times, He also asks us to continue to do His will on earth. Screwtape writes that "Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys."
Thinking back to my readings of the gospels, I think that Jesus may have experienced troughs as well as peaks. Consider this: the gospel authors mention that Jesus withdrew frequently to remote settings and spent much time in prayer. During these times, Jesus drew on the strength and endurance of God for the coming day's ministry, and I believe that is because the previous day had drained his human self. Think too about his words on the cross (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?) and we get a picture of a Jesus who experienced the peaks of ministry through sermons, healing, and driving out demons along with the troughs of physical exhaustion, emotional distress, and spiritual longing for the Father. We are called to follow Jesus as Christians; can we follow in His footsteps through the troughs as well as the peaks?
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
The Screwtape Letters: Chapter 7
Greetings once again! As promised, here is chapter 7, and even better, on the day that I promised! Now, to work on the time of day (night) which I post...
Screwtape's opening sentence addresses an issue that perhaps far too many Christians have either forgotten or willingly dismissed: the ignorance of Wormwood's existence in the patient's mind (I am quite sure that to disbelieve that demons, fallen angels, and the powers of Hell itself which the Enemy commands is a near-fatal mistake for any Christian). Wormwood is given further reflections from Screwtape's own experience that concealment has not always been the case. He does mention that either belief or disbelief in demons by human beings takes away some of the courses which tempters can then guide their patients on. However, the perfect work that Screwtape mentions on page 31-the Materialist Magician-sounds all too similar to my ears of the many individuals who trumpet the near-mystical properties of technology to solve the problems of the world. Once that has been accomplished, Screwtape says that the end of the war will be in sight.
However, Wormwood must conceal himself and work with the common misconception of a cartoon demon to keep his patient from awakening to his predicament. In the meantime, Screwtape ponders the choice between guiding the patient into extreme patriotism or extreme pacifism. The primary reason for doing so is to blind the patient to the "Enemy", or God; admittedly, any mission or church-plant or outreach done for the sake of mission or church-plant or outreach blinds the participants to what God is doing. In the patient's case, extreme patriotism may make him vicious to 'enemies of the state' as much as the foreign aggressors. 'Enemies of the state' would include, funnily enough, extreme pacifists as well as spies and defectors. Extreme patriots would charge headlong into actions that may harm themselves as well as others. Extreme pacifists, on the other hand, may perhaps avoid anything that may be seen as aiding the war effort to the point where he or she refuses to invite the neighbors over for tea (or coffee, or wine, or any other drink that may accompany a social gathering of the sort) because the neighbors have donated their time, money, and resources to the war effort in some fashion.
The devil's overall mission with both groups of people is to create factions, which I have mentioned in some of my previous writings. The parties of Paul and Apollos in the church at Corinth are cited by Screwtape as examples of factions within the Church itself (not the Catholic Church, not the Church of England necessarily, but all churches worldwide) which have done considerable damage to the body of believers. With the patient, the idea is not necessarily to bring him into a faction, but rather to make one of the two extremes of patriotism or pacifism a part of his religion at first, then slowly twist the extreme so that the religion ends up being a means to the ultimate ideal of either patriotism or pacifism. Screwtape declares that once the movement matter more to the patient than prayers, the patient will be in the power of Hell. He wraps up his letter by mentioning that Wormwood might see a pretty cageful of falsely religious people who used Christianity as a means to gain the world, a rather chilling statement about the true state of some contemporary Christians in our own times.
Any thoughts?
Screwtape's opening sentence addresses an issue that perhaps far too many Christians have either forgotten or willingly dismissed: the ignorance of Wormwood's existence in the patient's mind (I am quite sure that to disbelieve that demons, fallen angels, and the powers of Hell itself which the Enemy commands is a near-fatal mistake for any Christian). Wormwood is given further reflections from Screwtape's own experience that concealment has not always been the case. He does mention that either belief or disbelief in demons by human beings takes away some of the courses which tempters can then guide their patients on. However, the perfect work that Screwtape mentions on page 31-the Materialist Magician-sounds all too similar to my ears of the many individuals who trumpet the near-mystical properties of technology to solve the problems of the world. Once that has been accomplished, Screwtape says that the end of the war will be in sight.
However, Wormwood must conceal himself and work with the common misconception of a cartoon demon to keep his patient from awakening to his predicament. In the meantime, Screwtape ponders the choice between guiding the patient into extreme patriotism or extreme pacifism. The primary reason for doing so is to blind the patient to the "Enemy", or God; admittedly, any mission or church-plant or outreach done for the sake of mission or church-plant or outreach blinds the participants to what God is doing. In the patient's case, extreme patriotism may make him vicious to 'enemies of the state' as much as the foreign aggressors. 'Enemies of the state' would include, funnily enough, extreme pacifists as well as spies and defectors. Extreme patriots would charge headlong into actions that may harm themselves as well as others. Extreme pacifists, on the other hand, may perhaps avoid anything that may be seen as aiding the war effort to the point where he or she refuses to invite the neighbors over for tea (or coffee, or wine, or any other drink that may accompany a social gathering of the sort) because the neighbors have donated their time, money, and resources to the war effort in some fashion.
The devil's overall mission with both groups of people is to create factions, which I have mentioned in some of my previous writings. The parties of Paul and Apollos in the church at Corinth are cited by Screwtape as examples of factions within the Church itself (not the Catholic Church, not the Church of England necessarily, but all churches worldwide) which have done considerable damage to the body of believers. With the patient, the idea is not necessarily to bring him into a faction, but rather to make one of the two extremes of patriotism or pacifism a part of his religion at first, then slowly twist the extreme so that the religion ends up being a means to the ultimate ideal of either patriotism or pacifism. Screwtape declares that once the movement matter more to the patient than prayers, the patient will be in the power of Hell. He wraps up his letter by mentioning that Wormwood might see a pretty cageful of falsely religious people who used Christianity as a means to gain the world, a rather chilling statement about the true state of some contemporary Christians in our own times.
Any thoughts?
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Current readings
Before I post chapter 7 of the Screwtape Letters tomorrow on February 1st, I wanted to give you the readers an idea of what I am reading in addition to Lewis' book.
First up is the Bible, and the current book is the book of Micah. The past two weeks have seen me working through the books of 1st and 2nd Timothy, but this week the reading focus has moved to the Old Testament prophet. Why? A very brief explanation is that I am part of a Life Transformation Group with two other young Christian men that meet once per week to discuss our Scripture readings and hold each other accountable for our actions and words that week.
I am also reading a historical book by Todd Standage, "A History of the World in Six Glasses". Standage looks at beer, wine, spirits (liquors), coffee, tea, and soft drinks; their origins, the societies and cultures which first embraced them, and their effects on the world culture at large as a result. I have been quite fascinated by the information, but anyone who wishes to find painstaking detail on anything other than the drinks mentioned in the book will not necessarily find it, since the book is a broad overview of historical themes related to the drinks for the most part.
Last but not least, I am reading through chord sheets for my guitar practicing. Before any wrong assumptions are made, I am not a member of a band nor do I have the skills currently to play in a band. I mostly practice because I enjoy the music and I want to be able to play along to the songs that I enjoy the most. Some of the music includes Keith and Kristyn Getty, Chris Tomlin, the Newsboys, Audio Adrenaline, Petra (a truly old band), Jeremy Camp, Switchfoot, Decemberadio, Robin Mark, and Relient K. I would love to add some Paul Baloche albums, but those can wait. If you have any music recommendations, either for myself or for other readers looking for contemporary Christian rock and worship music, please reply to this post or to any others that I may post in the future.
May God truly bless you this day.
First up is the Bible, and the current book is the book of Micah. The past two weeks have seen me working through the books of 1st and 2nd Timothy, but this week the reading focus has moved to the Old Testament prophet. Why? A very brief explanation is that I am part of a Life Transformation Group with two other young Christian men that meet once per week to discuss our Scripture readings and hold each other accountable for our actions and words that week.
I am also reading a historical book by Todd Standage, "A History of the World in Six Glasses". Standage looks at beer, wine, spirits (liquors), coffee, tea, and soft drinks; their origins, the societies and cultures which first embraced them, and their effects on the world culture at large as a result. I have been quite fascinated by the information, but anyone who wishes to find painstaking detail on anything other than the drinks mentioned in the book will not necessarily find it, since the book is a broad overview of historical themes related to the drinks for the most part.
Last but not least, I am reading through chord sheets for my guitar practicing. Before any wrong assumptions are made, I am not a member of a band nor do I have the skills currently to play in a band. I mostly practice because I enjoy the music and I want to be able to play along to the songs that I enjoy the most. Some of the music includes Keith and Kristyn Getty, Chris Tomlin, the Newsboys, Audio Adrenaline, Petra (a truly old band), Jeremy Camp, Switchfoot, Decemberadio, Robin Mark, and Relient K. I would love to add some Paul Baloche albums, but those can wait. If you have any music recommendations, either for myself or for other readers looking for contemporary Christian rock and worship music, please reply to this post or to any others that I may post in the future.
May God truly bless you this day.
Monday, January 23, 2012
The Screwtape Letters: chapter 6
Greetings to everyone! Without further ado, we turn again to Screwtape's advice regarding his nephew's patient...
The possibility of the patient being drafted for the war effort has produced a deal of anxiety, which Screwtape mentions quickly is quite advantageous to Wormwood's efforts of temptation. The idea is to block off the "Enemy" from prevailing upon the patient to be concerned with what he does, and fill the patient's mind instead with notions of what may happen to him (presumably negative). It is for his current situation and trials which Screwtape says that "he is to say 'Thy will be done', and for the daily task of bearing this that the daily bread will be provided." In other words, Wormwood's primary objective is to keep the patient focused on anything but what he is to cope with in this very moment, and even more importantly, to keep the patient from both realizing what he must do and Whom he must draw his strength from to withstand the present "tribulation", though we may use the word "trials" and arrive at the same understanding.
Screwtape's next encouragement to Wormwood is to either focus the patient's attention on trivial matters outside of himself-anger at a neighbour or passion at the sight of a lovely woman-or to focus that attention inward on himself. Either way, the goal is achieved when the "Enemy" is no longer the focus of the patient's prayers and actions. Screwtape has already encouraged Wormwood to do this in chapter 4, and the fact that Screwtape brings the subject up again should be a reminder that the Devil and his minions will continue to use whatever tricks work best, or be most insistent with one or two avenues of attack against us.
The next two paragraphs highlight the need for Wormwood to direct his patient's "malice to his immediate neighbours whom he meets every day and to thrust his benevolence out to the remote circumference, to people he does not know." In so doing, the patient will turn his real virtues into imagined ones.
I believe that this chapter points out the great dangers which we Christians in the Western Hemisphere face...and never seem to realize until we are rasping out our last breaths. Oh, to be a missionary to the far-flung corners of the world seems a fine and noble thing, and indeed it is. Yet we North Americans in particular (and I do not discount myself; I am as guilty as anyone of this) fail miserably at being a good neighbour to the person who lives right next door to us. I tell you now that I have been on missions in Costa Rica and have come away changed, but I can never seem to say much more than a "good morning" or "Hullo!" to the various tenants of the apartment building in which I live. I can advocate for missions to Europe where many people are eager to hear the Good News all over again, but I have often failed to deliver the Good News to people living just up the street from my residence.
Where do you stand on this issue of focusing what God wants us to do right now, rather than worrying about what will become of us?
The possibility of the patient being drafted for the war effort has produced a deal of anxiety, which Screwtape mentions quickly is quite advantageous to Wormwood's efforts of temptation. The idea is to block off the "Enemy" from prevailing upon the patient to be concerned with what he does, and fill the patient's mind instead with notions of what may happen to him (presumably negative). It is for his current situation and trials which Screwtape says that "he is to say 'Thy will be done', and for the daily task of bearing this that the daily bread will be provided." In other words, Wormwood's primary objective is to keep the patient focused on anything but what he is to cope with in this very moment, and even more importantly, to keep the patient from both realizing what he must do and Whom he must draw his strength from to withstand the present "tribulation", though we may use the word "trials" and arrive at the same understanding.
Screwtape's next encouragement to Wormwood is to either focus the patient's attention on trivial matters outside of himself-anger at a neighbour or passion at the sight of a lovely woman-or to focus that attention inward on himself. Either way, the goal is achieved when the "Enemy" is no longer the focus of the patient's prayers and actions. Screwtape has already encouraged Wormwood to do this in chapter 4, and the fact that Screwtape brings the subject up again should be a reminder that the Devil and his minions will continue to use whatever tricks work best, or be most insistent with one or two avenues of attack against us.
The next two paragraphs highlight the need for Wormwood to direct his patient's "malice to his immediate neighbours whom he meets every day and to thrust his benevolence out to the remote circumference, to people he does not know." In so doing, the patient will turn his real virtues into imagined ones.
I believe that this chapter points out the great dangers which we Christians in the Western Hemisphere face...and never seem to realize until we are rasping out our last breaths. Oh, to be a missionary to the far-flung corners of the world seems a fine and noble thing, and indeed it is. Yet we North Americans in particular (and I do not discount myself; I am as guilty as anyone of this) fail miserably at being a good neighbour to the person who lives right next door to us. I tell you now that I have been on missions in Costa Rica and have come away changed, but I can never seem to say much more than a "good morning" or "Hullo!" to the various tenants of the apartment building in which I live. I can advocate for missions to Europe where many people are eager to hear the Good News all over again, but I have often failed to deliver the Good News to people living just up the street from my residence.
Where do you stand on this issue of focusing what God wants us to do right now, rather than worrying about what will become of us?
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