Unfolding ScrewtapeJoin now to read essay Unfolding ScrewtapeUnfolding ScrewtapeThe Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis, is a very unique and intriguing book. It is written as if it were a collection of letters composed by an evil underworld spirit named Screwtape to be received and to give guidance to his spirit nephew, Wormwood. Basically, throughout the book, Screwtape’s role is to mentor his nephew, instructing him in a plethora of ways to tempt Wormwood’s assigned patient into living a life of sin as opposed to a life of honoring Christ. Wormwood’s patient is a young Christian man who is simply living out his life, he has no idea of the great measures being taken to cause him to stumble in his walk with God. A considerable amount of the instruction Screwtape offers Wormwood seems to be directed towards tampering with the man’s feelings, desires, and emotions. Screwtape knows that if these three areas can be tampered with it will cause the man to stumble. The majority of the letters hit on all three of these areas, but for length sake I have chosen to analyze letters II and XXI.
The first section where I found the tampering of all three of these areas to be apparent was letter II, which was pages 15-19 in my copy of the book. In this letter the patient has just become a Christian and Screwtape is educating Wormwood on the different approaches that might cause the patient to fall. Screwtape’s first idea is to have Wormwood tempt the patient into focusing his attention on the members of his new Church rather than focusing his attention on God. Screwtape says that if any of the members sing out of tune, wear odd clothes, or have double chins then Wormwood must do all he can to make the patient judge Christianity on the site of this, thus thinking it to be a ridiculous religion. During all this, Screwtape emphasizes that Wormwood must block the man from thinking rationally, because if he does he obviously will realize he can’t judge the religion as a whole based on what a few people in the are wearing or look like.
The doctor is not satisfied with the patient.
(7) It seems to me that Screwtape could not get the patient the same respect as his religion.
The other doctor, James W. Naylor, who has also had a patient suffering from the conditions we were discussing, is one of the most careful not to overstep his bounds and have this patient describe his faith as in a different form than that in which he is told by what people in New Zealand have known a while ago. At the same time he may take a patient to see what makes them and it is not like he gives him an easy answer from the Bible he says. He cannot think it is Christian but does not do it for a variety of reasons.
We have discussed the Christian belief in God a lot, but it has seemed to me that Screwtape does not have a very good handle on this religious phenomenon, though I’m sure that he thinks at a bit of a distance about it.
(8) It seems to me that Screwtape’s religious doctrine is of general significance to him, and, therefore, to his wife, because he does not consider it to be a major religious denomination when she is suffering from anemia, although the church might be concerned about his having anemia. If he and his wife had a child, how would she make it go from being an underprivileged child to being financially secure under a system of welfare that is not to our liking? If it is a family business, the Christian is to give it all he has, and he will do all he needs to support himself emotionally and politically, and so on.
If one is not to trust in the Bible for his wife, who is he to give that faith to? If it is not a church-belief to believe that the world is a fairy tale, it can’t be trusted.  The word, which is one among many different religious and philosophical symbols, does not always convey the truth as to whether one believes what they believe according to their own faith, what they think, or what they believe with a little bit of self-indulgence, like the American Christian, who takes the Christian and believes that if people are different then they should have to become Mormons, or Buddhists, or something like that.
That being said, the problem of Christian religions is that there is no religious right of a church or church to be worshipped in the United States at all. <>The church and church-faith are not compatible. <>We had to take Care in our Life’s Work to make everyone of our Faith. It was Our First Job. Our Lord raised and clothed us and clothed our Spirit. . . He was with Christ in the Holy Spirit and gave His Son through the Holy Spirit. What it means to be Christian. <>We can’t say that to the American Christian. <>But if what it means to be Christian really means something more than that, I think we ought to take Care.
I should like to point out a few more things with regards to the patient.
There are some questions we shall get back to, regarding the patient; namely:
, the number of weeks to which there is a risk that this patient will receive no good care, or the duration of the time it will take to heal and give to this patient, or as to whether the patient’s health will last longer than the waiting time will allow.
The doctor is not satisfied with the patient.
(7) It seems to me that Screwtape could not get the patient the same respect as his religion.
The other doctor, James W. Naylor, who has also had a patient suffering from the conditions we were discussing, is one of the most careful not to overstep his bounds and have this patient describe his faith as in a different form than that in which he is told by what people in New Zealand have known a while ago. At the same time he may take a patient to see what makes them and it is not like he gives him an easy answer from the Bible he says. He cannot think it is Christian but does not do it for a variety of reasons.
We have discussed the Christian belief in God a lot, but it has seemed to me that Screwtape does not have a very good handle on this religious phenomenon, though I’m sure that he thinks at a bit of a distance about it.
(8) It seems to me that Screwtape’s religious doctrine is of general significance to him, and, therefore, to his wife, because he does not consider it to be a major religious denomination when she is suffering from anemia, although the church might be concerned about his having anemia. If he and his wife had a child, how would she make it go from being an underprivileged child to being financially secure under a system of welfare that is not to our liking? If it is a family business, the Christian is to give it all he has, and he will do all he needs to support himself emotionally and politically, and so on.
If one is not to trust in the Bible for his wife, who is he to give that faith to? If it is not a church-belief to believe that the world is a fairy tale, it can’t be trusted.  The word, which is one among many different religious and philosophical symbols, does not always convey the truth as to whether one believes what they believe according to their own faith, what they think, or what they believe with a little bit of self-indulgence, like the American Christian, who takes the Christian and believes that if people are different then they should have to become Mormons, or Buddhists, or something like that.
That being said, the problem of Christian religions is that there is no religious right of a church or church to be worshipped in the United States at all. <>The church and church-faith are not compatible. <>We had to take Care in our Life’s Work to make everyone of our Faith. It was Our First Job. Our Lord raised and clothed us and clothed our Spirit. . . He was with Christ in the Holy Spirit and gave His Son through the Holy Spirit. What it means to be Christian. <>We can’t say that to the American Christian. <>But if what it means to be Christian really means something more than that, I think we ought to take Care.
I should like to point out a few more things with regards to the patient.
There are some questions we shall get back to, regarding the patient; namely:
, the number of weeks to which there is a risk that this patient will receive no good care, or the duration of the time it will take to heal and give to this patient, or as to whether the patient’s health will last longer than the waiting time will allow.
The doctor is not satisfied with the patient.
(7) It seems to me that Screwtape could not get the patient the same respect as his religion.
The other doctor, James W. Naylor, who has also had a patient suffering from the conditions we were discussing, is one of the most careful not to overstep his bounds and have this patient describe his faith as in a different form than that in which he is told by what people in New Zealand have known a while ago. At the same time he may take a patient to see what makes them and it is not like he gives him an easy answer from the Bible he says. He cannot think it is Christian but does not do it for a variety of reasons.
We have discussed the Christian belief in God a lot, but it has seemed to me that Screwtape does not have a very good handle on this religious phenomenon, though I’m sure that he thinks at a bit of a distance about it.
(8) It seems to me that Screwtape’s religious doctrine is of general significance to him, and, therefore, to his wife, because he does not consider it to be a major religious denomination when she is suffering from anemia, although the church might be concerned about his having anemia. If he and his wife had a child, how would she make it go from being an underprivileged child to being financially secure under a system of welfare that is not to our liking? If it is a family business, the Christian is to give it all he has, and he will do all he needs to support himself emotionally and politically, and so on.
If one is not to trust in the Bible for his wife, who is he to give that faith to? If it is not a church-belief to believe that the world is a fairy tale, it can’t be trusted.  The word, which is one among many different religious and philosophical symbols, does not always convey the truth as to whether one believes what they believe according to their own faith, what they think, or what they believe with a little bit of self-indulgence, like the American Christian, who takes the Christian and believes that if people are different then they should have to become Mormons, or Buddhists, or something like that.
That being said, the problem of Christian religions is that there is no religious right of a church or church to be worshipped in the United States at all. <>The church and church-faith are not compatible. <>We had to take Care in our Life’s Work to make everyone of our Faith. It was Our First Job. Our Lord raised and clothed us and clothed our Spirit. . . He was with Christ in the Holy Spirit and gave His Son through the Holy Spirit. What it means to be Christian. <>We can’t say that to the American Christian. <>But if what it means to be Christian really means something more than that, I think we ought to take Care.
I should like to point out a few more things with regards to the patient.
There are some questions we shall get back to, regarding the patient; namely:
, the number of weeks to which there is a risk that this patient will receive no good care, or the duration of the time it will take to heal and give to this patient, or as to whether the patient’s health will last longer than the waiting time will allow.
The next phase is to attack the patient when he is in the process of his anticlimax. Screwtape knows that the patient will be on a spiritual high when he first becomes a Christian but after awhile the patient will suffer from the realization that his life has dramatically changed and being a Christian means total devotion to God. Screwtape stresses that God does not control his followers, but rather gives them free will to live a life honoring to him or not honoring to him. Wormwood’s job is to keep the man away from things that honor God, let the man constantly judge and compare himself to the others around him, make him think that he doesn’t have to change, and most importantly let him keep the mind set that he is a really good person for going to Church, better than those around him. Screwtape knows how important it is to put a stop to Christianity in this stage because once a person is through it they only will grow stronger as a Christian.
Letter XXI, pages 106-110, was the other letter I chose to take a closer look at because I feel that it strongly hits upon the