Screwtape Letter #14 – Discussion Guide is article #30 in the series: Screwtape Letters. Click button to view titles for entire series
Letter #14
This is the first letter after the patient’s second conversion.
Things don’t appear to be getting any better from Screwtape’s point of view.
My dear Wormwood,
The most alarming thing in your last account of the patient is that he is making none of those confident resolutions which marked his original conversion. … This is very bad.
I see only one thing to do at the moment. … But don’t try this too long, for fear you awake his sense of humour and proportion, in which case he will merely laugh at you and go to bed.
14.1) It has been said that “virtue is the middle path between two extremes”. How does this fit in with the patient’s new attitude about promises and expectations?
At the same time, Screwtape appears to see the patient’s new virtue as either going the way of something “very bad” or as a small window of opportunity. What two extremes is Screwtape looking at?
one extreme - promise everything
A Mother’s Request
20:20-28 pp — Mk 10:35-45
Mt 20:20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.
Mt 20:21 “What is it you want?” he asked.
She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”
Mt 20:22 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”
“We can,” they answered.
Mt 20:23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”
Mt 20:24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
another extreme - promise nothing
The Parable of the Sower
13:1-15 pp — Mk 4:1-12; Lk 8:4-10
13:16, 17 pp — Lk 10:23, 24
13:18-23 pp — Mk 4:13-20; Lk 8:11-15
Mt 13:1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.”
…
Mt 13:18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. 22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
Are the extremes a foregone conclusion?
From John MacArthur – The Body Dynamic –
Humility is hard to come by because it begins only when we honestly face ourselves. Bernard said, “Humility is the virtue by which a man becomes conscious of his own unworthiness.” However, many people stroll through life behind a facade of pride because they don’t have the courage to look at themselves and see who they really are—sinners who need Jesus Christ.
Unity in the Body of Christ
Eph 4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Boasting - Paul's way
1Co 1:25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.
1Co 1:26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
Jer 9:23 This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches,
Jer 9:24 but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.
But there are other profitable ways of fixing his attention on the virtue of Humility. … above all, if self-contempt can be made the starting-point for contempt of other selves, and thus for gloom, cynicism, and cruelty.
You must therefore conceal from the patient the true end of Humility. … And since what they are trying to believe may, in some cases, be manifest nonsense, they cannot succeed in believing it and we have the chance of keeping their minds endlessly revolving on themselves in an effort to achieve the impossible.
14.2) Screwtape seems to be on a roll now. At first there was only one thing to do. Now, he sees other ways for Wormwood to attack.
In what ways is this renewed attempt to conceal reality from the patient typical of Satan’s attacks on us?
Do you see any repetition of tactics and / or lack of originality that could lead the patient to “merely laugh at <Wormwood> and go to bed”?
Start by thinking of all the things Satan has created
To anticipate the Enemy’s strategy, we must consider His aims. … He really loves the hairless bipeds He has created and always gives back to them with His right hand what He has taken away with His left.
14.3) Screwtape now returns to discussing the ways of God the Father.
Screwtape starts off with a pretty good explanation of how God wants to transform us. His own contempt for both us and God come through loud and clear by the end.
He has come a long way from the small window of opportunity at the beginning of the letter. How has Satan’s own pride influenced both the direction of the argument and Screwtape’s ability to “think clearly”?
See what Proverbs says about pride
Pr 8:12 “I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion.
Pr 8:13 To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.
Pr 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.
Pr 13:10 Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.
Pr 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
And from John MacArthur
“Pride is the supreme temptation from Satan because pride is at the heart of his own evil nature. Consequently, Satan makes sure that the Christian is never entirely free from the temptation of pride. We will always be in a battle with pride until the Lord takes us to be with Himself. Our only protection against pride, and our only source of humility, is a proper view of God. Pride is the sin of competing with God, and humility is the virtue of submitting to His supreme glory. … Humility is an ingredient of all spiritual blessing … [it] is behind every harmonious human relationship, every spiritual success, and every moment of joyous fellowship with the Lord.” —John MacArthur
His whole effort, therefore, will be to get the man’s mind off the subject of his own value altogether. … Even of his sins the Enemy does not want him to think too much: once they are repented, the sooner the man turns his attention outward, the better the Enemy is pleased,
Your affectionate uncle
SCREWTAPE
14.4a) After his outburst at the end of the previous paragraph, Screwtape gets back to the original theme of this letter.
Screwtape has returned to some level of trying to provide useful assistance to Wormwood – as opposed to just a tirade against humans and God.
However – there’s a problem here. If God really won’t let things alone, if He insists on bringing in the “dim uneasiness” – what help has Screwtape given to Wormwood? Where has he fallen short?
Think about your favorite teacher - and speaking versus saying something
14.4b) How might the balance be swung one way or the other?
Think about your own personal experiences
Vocabulary:
Endowment & pittance – No more lavish promises of perpetual virtue, I gather; not even the expectation of an endowment of ‘grace’ for life, but only a hope for the daily and hourly pittance to meet the daily and hourly temptation! This is very bad.
Endowment – an attribute of mind or body; a gift of nature.
In this case – a gift from God.
Pittance – a small allowance or sum, as of money for living expenses.
Abjection – All the abjection and self-hatred are designed, in the long run, solely for this end; unless they attain this end they do us little harm; and they may even do us good if they keep the man concerned with himself, and, above all, if self-contempt can be made the starting-point for contempt of other selves, and thus for gloom, cynicism, and cruelty.
Abjection – the condition of being servile, wretched, or contemptible
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