13. C.S. Lewis – Screwtape Letters – 4

13. C.S. Lewis Screwtape Letters – 4

In this letter Screwtape makes an interesting statement about praying. He convinces that it is best to keep people from prayer all together. However, when prayer happens none the less, he says to make sure he remembers the “parrot-like nature of his prayers in childhood”. This is interesting given a recent conversation I had.

I was speaking with a gentleman at church about trying to not live in regret and not looking too far ahead in terms of making plans and being anxious. That might seem like an odd parallel but when we think of things beyond the present we lose sight of being close to Christ and lose our ability to have a prayerful heart. Screwtape talks about taking our minds out of our prayer and placing them into another time and place. This is something that I have to work on in church. This is tough with kids but something I want to get better at. It is not always bad to have thoughts of instances or saints or other pictures however I have to be careful that these thoughts are not taking me out of my prayerful state. This is something I am constantly working on. And as we read in letter 4, this is something that Satan and his demons are constantly working on as well!

Screwtape makes another really interesting statement. “what you must always remember, that they are animals and that whatever their bodies do affects their souls.” This is incredibly interesting to me. What we do impacts what we think and what lies in our hearts. As much as it is not a law that we pray a certain way or in a certain posture or position, it does impact our minds and hearts. It is common practice to stand when saying a prayer before a meal. It is easy to just stay seated but when we stand as a family, I do notice that the kids pay better attention and it seems to be more meaningful and thoughtful. I think what Screwtape is not only true of actions and posture but also of our words. We must be mindful of the words we say and the way we say them.

Lastly I find the statement Screwtape states really thought provoking. “It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out”. This is amazing to think about. This goes back to my previous post about edifying those around us and living our lives building people up. Think of how many opportunities we miss to do good or help those around us because we just didn’t entertain the thought. Don’t get me wrong, it is very conceivable that satan is putting things into our head, but the things that we don’t think but should are very disconcerting. I can think of times from the past few days, several in fact, that I could have done something better, been more helpful, been more prayerful, more compassionate, a better listener, less selfish and a million other things. I am working to live my life in a more prayerful, more observant and less selfish way, edifying those around me and building them up to be the best they can be.

Mark

Orthodox Dad in America

10. C.S. Lewis Screwtape Letters – 3

10. C.S. Lewis Screwtape Letters – 3

 

I have reread this one a few times because my computer was down and I found this one very interesting and humorous, yet so very sad.

Throughout this letter there a few things I thought stood out. One is the fact that Screwtape talks about making the son’s prayers for his mother turn into things about himself. Like how much he gets annoyed of something etc. I think this is something that I need to be aware of in all things. It isn’t all about ME. People have their traits and characteristics. Some are more pleasing than others but people don’t do things necessarily to please or annoy me. We like to convince ourselves that this true though and then we turn everything into a story about ourselves.

As I stated in my last post, Penn Jillette always says we do not have a right to not be offended. People will do things that we cannot stand but you know what, love them. If we love people we can get past this quite easily. It just like our thoughts on anything. If a thought comes into your head, and you know it is not a thought you should ruminate on, cast it out. The same can be true of annoyance. If something is annoying, cast it out and love the person. It is hard work sometimes! However, it is possible. No one said this was going to be handed to me. I need to work at being a better person every day. I am working to be more vigilant about my thoughts and in turn my words. What is in my head will be reflected in my words and actions.

In letter 3 Screwtape gives some specific examples of how to have people become annoyed of each other. He goes into helping people create double standards. I need to watch this I know. I catch myself saying something in a certain way, or with a tone or voice inflection but if I am spoken to the same way, I do not approve. However, I feel like the way I said it “was just…” or “well what I was saying”. I have to be careful not fall into this trap. Screwtape talks precisely on this. “once this habit is well established you have the delightful situation of a human saying things with the express purpose of offending and yet having a grievance when offense is taken”.

Another thing I need to work on (and it is something that I have been working on with my kids) is taking responsibility. Sometimes I do say things that come out wrong. Sometimes I don’t want to admit that I said it harshly or said the wrong thing. I need to put my pride on the shelf and turn again to love. It is much appreciated when someone else takes responsibility for something, it is forgiven and then moved past. It seems harder when it is back on us though right? This is something I am striving to make consistent and with constant prayer and active thought of Christ, my actions should be more conducive to demonstrations of love, joy, helpfulness and consideration for others.

I think throughout this letter it is a constant reminder that everything is not about ME. Rather, I must remember to accept responsibility because I am not perfect as well as be loving to people. This will solve much of the problems that arrive throughout any day.

 

Mark

Orthodox Dad in America

7. C.S. Lewis Screwtape Letters 2 – Common Sense Distractions

I find a few things that standout in the 2^nd letter from Screwtape. One of the things I find interesting is when he talks about people having an “idea of “Christians” in his mind which he supposes to be spiritual but which, in fact, is largely pictorial”. What is the model Christian? Throughout the letter Screwtape talks about how to distract “the patient” who has become a Christian. Make them think about the person next to them and their squeaky boots, or their strange hat.

I know I have to keep in mind, not just in church but everywhere, that I am not automatically better than anyone else. I don’t usually say that to myself, but the devil will have us believe that we know everything and most likely know better than the person we are looking at or talking to. The fact is that we don’t always know better but we like to think we do. We also get distracted by trivial things about people. We forget to love and sometimes quickly forget our overall goal which is to be closer to God and to follow his will and not ours.

This actually fits with today’s reading in Luke. One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him. A woman of the city heard that Jesus would be there and brought him oil, wept and washed his feet with her tears and tried them with her hair (v. 37-39). The Pharisee thinks to himself why is Jesus letting her touch him and associate with him. She is horrible. He then gives the parable of the debt being forgiven. We are all forgiven but sometimes the people with the most vile past, can have the most glorious sense of love because they know just what it means to change. They know what they had been and where they want to be. I know that I want to work on focusing less on the faults of other people, superficial things, but rather looking at their faults as opportunities for them to find joy in the forgiveness of God.

The other thing to keep in mind, is that sometimes I lament over trivial things. Why, I don’t know. I must also remember if someone is doing something that isn’t hurting anyone but may not be “right” it is between them and God. God will help them to fix it if it needs fixing. I can pray for them but I probably have a million more things to worry about myself than them.

Another thing I took from Screwtapes letter 2, was the fact that he talks about the model Christian and so forth. And says  how he wants to trick them into being obsessed with looking at surface things about those around them and distracted by random things. I thought back to the beginning where C.S. Lewis said to be careful because things that Screwtape says as truth may not even be true. The Devil is the best at lies. So it made me think, as much as we want to not be distracted by things in Church or in prayer, obviously, we must also remember that we are not perfect. I know as a father I am trying to pray and show my kids and example of what that looks like, but I have to pay attention to what they are doing. I cannot be the “model” Christian most of the time but that is ok. We are forgiven. Does that mean I shouldn’t try to pray and teach my kids so well that they are awesome and don’t need reminding. Sure why not! But I can also be realistic.

Another thing I took from Screwtapes letter 2 was the part he talked about the opportune time to pounce as a demon. He speaks of Christians or humans even partaking in a new journey, task or choice and being really excited about it. Then when the initial hype has worn off, that is the most vulnerable time. How true is this. He speaks of this being true in Marriage and even when becoming a Christian. There is such a lead up to being baptized and then you are just there. Now what? Ha ha. Well it is life. We are newly illumined, filled with the Holy Spirit but we must go forth with that new gift (which I spoke about in a previous post) and grow. It is easy to be neutral and never grow. That is what the devil wants. As I stated one of my overall themes is that we are either moving closer to God or further. There isn’t much in between. If we feel we are staying the same, we in fact moving further. We are not growing, but rather allowing opening for Satan to run rampant. Satan is so despicable. We must fight against that.

Lastly, I thought it was hilarious but true when Screwtape states “At bottom, he still believes he has run up a very favourable credit-balance in the Enemy’s ledger by allowing himself to be converted, and thinks that he is showing great humility and condescension in going to church with these “smug”, commonplace neighbours at all”. This just reminds me again of times when we feel, well, I am forgiven, I will be forgiven, or some who use “I am saved” and so forth. We must always be striving to move closer to God otherwise we are moving further away. There isn’t really credit or a balance, at least not on our end. The debt has been paid but not by us. We need to just work everyday to thank God for his gifts and be mindful of Jesus’ blood, crown of thorns, nails and the cross. Amen.

Mark

Orthodox Dad in America

6. C.S. Lewis Screwtape Letters 1 – Contemporary thought and relative truth (doctrine and the constitution?)

6. C.S. Lewis Screwtape Letters 1 – Contemporary thought and relative truth (doctrine and the constitution?)

I remember being in Sunday school and our beloved teacher and my future God Father / Sponsor was having us look at the Screwtape Letters. I was still in my “I don’t know anything, I can’t put myself out there and I am not going to ask any questions” phase, and I didn’t know anything. I was very new to the Orthodox Faith as well as Christianity in general. I want to go back and look at those letter periodically because I do remember them being interesting but I looked at them with a surface view. Not to mention the class had been looking at them for a little while before I started joining so I was a little lost, but of course said nothing.

C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letter I I am finding fascinating. In this letter Screwtape Letter (as I will probably find with most or all of them) it is ahead of its time. It is amazing.  Screwtape states “it sounds as if you supposed that argument was the way to keep him out of the Enemy’s clutches. That might have been so if he had live a few centuries earlier. At that time the humans still knew pretty well when a thing was proved and when it was not ; and if it was proved they really believed it”. (note Enemy being God, at least I think so ha ha).

This is hilarious yet frightening because it is true. Everything today revolves around relative truth. Not only do people change what they believe quite often, but also display different beliefs to different people at different times of the day! There is no foundational truth. People ignore natures law that is written on our hearts by God (and something that even America’s founding fathers spoke of, but who cares about those people right?).  People want to change every scenario to best fit their needs. I have heard it said that we must remember that God is not on our side, he just is (Truth, Light and Life etc) but rather we must be on HIS side and be with HIM. There is a place to stake truth and it is in God. The Orthodox Church has been around with apostolic succession for a reason. The doctrine and canon law is based in truth from those that directly knew Jesus. What more convincing could there be?

Even the founding fathers stated “we hold these truths to be self-evident” Life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. These are truths. These are written on our hearts. Natures Law…God’s Law. If we don’t have some foundation to truth we can’t even have an honest debate. Even if someone agrees with you, people will be contrary just to do it no days. Very difficult. Partially that happens because they don’t know any truths in their life. They also don’t know what they believe, if they believe anything.

In the Screwtape Letters Screwtape then adds that through constant news and press people can be deceived. We are bombarded with SO many differing thoughts, blogs (ha ha) and articles that it could seem like a whirlwind and everyone is entitled to an opinion. That is true we have freedom of speech but it doesn’t all have to be true. Screwtape states “He doesn’t think of doctrines as primarily “true” or “false” but as “academic” or “practical”, “outworn” or “contemporary” “conventional”  or “ruthless”. Jargon, not argument, is your best ally in keeping him from the Church.

Do we not see a bombardment of false statements, made up accusations and attacks on Christianity specifically. Orthodoxy in particular is rooted in tradition and doctrine. That is a bad word in today’s culture. There are people in the church that would use those exact words. We need a more “contemporary” service. Or a more “practical” or “conventional” way to find believers. We have to be able to embrace people but I argue the most effective way to do this is not by changing but rather holding fast to our 2000 year old traditions. This is why we must pray for our leaders to hold to Truth. There is a truth. We don’t need to go out and bash others that don’t agree but rather be an alternative to others. If people see that the Orthodox Church stays grounded in truth, it can be a light amidst Chaos that Screwtape talks about.

I think the same can be true about our Country. America was founded on truth that was (at the time) self-evident. How many times have we heard that the constitution needs to be modernized to a more “contemporary” document. If there is not foundation of truth we get what we have now. An ever expanding government. Everyone’s pet projects and departments growing out of control and a country that is becoming unrecognizable. Is that what we want the Church to be? Or should it rather stand out as different and a light on the hill? We must pray for the leaders of our country as well as the leaders of our Church. They too are bombarded with the same things we are. People’s wants and desires, mixed with their own earthly desires in the forms of power and money.

Screwtape goes on to talk about argument vs. propaganda. Do we not see this running rampant today? With no foundation of truth we just have name calling, division and rhetoric that changes with the group of people being talked to. People want to say that conservative values are “the same rhetoric”. I disagree, IF it is grounded in truth. It is an argument. It might be the same argument that the dissenters hear often, but if it is grounded in truth then it will be the same thing OVER, and OVER and OVER. And that is OK! That is what we want. The Orthodox Liturgy seems “boring” to some. It is the same liturgy OVER and OVER and OVER but it is founded in a truth that is unwavering based on tradition and the word of God. That should actually bring comfort amidst the chaos of the day.

Screwtape goes on to talk about bombarding them and making them see what the devil and demons want them to see so it is the “normal” and “ordinary” and doing the right thing become unusual or out of the ordinary. He also states that they try to give people the “grand idea that they know it all”. Ha ha this is again funny but scary. Everyone now a days thinks they know it all and get reaffirmed by media and culture. We can pick and choose what affirms our world and reinforces our truths. This is why it is so amazing we even have freedom or a constitution. It came out of NO WHERE! Well…let me rephrase that. It was divinely inspired by God. But it is something that had never existed before. We must fight for it! The same holds true in the Church. Jesus was new to the people. It was hard to grasp for some but we must hold true to it. Jesus is eternal and will never change. Will we? Have we?

Lastly, as much as some things are just ignorance, there is evil in the world. Change can allow cracks for evil to penetrate. We must root ourselves in truth to repel evil.

Mark

Orthodox Dad in America