Screwtape Letter #21 – Discussion Guide

Screwtape Letters
Screwtape Letter #21 – Discussion Guide is article #44 in the series: Screwtape Letters. Click button to view titles for entire series

Letter #21

The Screwtape Letters Study Guide

Screwtape’s going to change directions now.

 

 

My dear Wormwood,

Yes. A period of sexual temptation is an excellent time for working in a subordinate attack on the patient’s peevishness. … The more claims on life, therefore, that your patient can be induced to make, the more often he will feel injured and, as a result, ill-tempered. … They anger him because he regards his time as his own and feels that it is being stolen. … But what he must never be permitted to doubt is that the total from which these deductions have been made was, in some mysterious sense, his own personal birthright.

 

21.1) Who does our time belong to?

See the story below from Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes.

<It’s not necessary to read the entire story in the class – but it’s funny & almost all too true>

“But There Were Interruptions!”

And the Lord spoke to Noah and said: “In six months I’m going to make it rain until the whole earth is covered with water and all the evil people are destroyed. But, I want to save a few good people, and two of every kind of living thing on the earth. I am ordering you to build an Ark.” And in a flash of lightning he delivered the specifications for an Ark.

“Ok,” said Noah, trembling in fear and fumbling with the blueprints.

“Six months, and it starts to rain,” thundered the Lord. “You’d better have my Ark completed, or learn to swim for a very long time.”

Six months passed. The skies began to cloud up and rain began to fall. The Lord saw Noah was sitting in his front yard weeping, and there was no Ark.

“Noah,” shouted the Lord, “Where is my Ark?” A lightning bolt crashed into the ground next to Noah.

“Lord, please forgive me!” begged Noah. “I did my best, but there were interruptions!”

“First I had to get a building permit for the Ark construction project, and your plans did not meet code. So I had to hire an engineer to redraw the plans. Then I got into a big fight over whether or not the Ark needed a fire sprinkler system. My neighbors objected, claiming I was violating zoning by building the Ark in my front yard, so I had to get a variance from the city planning commission.

“Then I had a big problem getting enough wood for the Ark because there was a ban on cutting the trees, to save the Spotted Owl. I had to convince the U.S. Forest Service that I needed the wood to save the owls. But, they wouldn’t let me catch any owls. So no owls. Then the carpenters formed a union and went out on strike. I had to negotiate a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board before anyone would pick up a saw or hammer. Now we have sixteen carpenters going on the boat and still no owls.

“Then I started gathering the animals, and got sued by an animal rights group. They objected to me taking only two of each kind. Just when I got the suit dismissed, EPA notified me that I couldn’t complete the Ark without filing an environmental impact statement on your proposed flood. They didn’t take kindly to the idea that they had no jurisdiction over the conduct of a Supreme Being. Then the Army Corps of Engineers wanted a map of the proposed new flood plain. I sent them a globe.

“Right now I’m still trying to resolve a complaint from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over how many Croatians I’m supposed to hire. The IRS has seized all my assets, claiming I’m trying to avoid paying taxes by leaving the country, and I just got a notice from the state about owing some kind of use tax.

“I really don’t think I can finish your Ark for at least another five years,” Noah wailed.

The sky began to clear. The sun began to shine. A rainbow arched across the sky. Noah looked up and smiled. “You mean you’re not going to destroy the earth?” Noah asked hopefully.

“No” said the Lord sadly, “The government already has.…”  1Morgan, R. J. (2000). Nelson’s complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes (electronic ed.) (475–476). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

What does this tell us about these unplanned intrusions on our time and the consequences of not handling them well?

 

Are interruptions always a problem? Or maybe something else?

For one thing – 

The Interruptions Are the Ministry

A minister once observed that sometimes “interruptions are the ministry.” In the book, Before Burnout, the authors point out that Mark’s Gospel provides many examples of Jesus handling interruptions well. After he healed a man with an unclean spirit (Mark 1:21–26), Jesus was suddenly interrupted by an entire city who demanded his attention (1:33). He was then interrupted in the midst of his teaching by four men carrying a paralyzed man (2:1–5).… Later Jesus was pursued and interrupted by a large multitude (3:7–9). At one point, after being interrupted by Jairus, Christ was almost immediately interrupted again by a woman with a long-term illness. The Savior compassionately handled all of those interruptions well.

A study of the way Jesus handled these kinds of interruption can teach us several things:

1. Christ always responded graciously. He never conveyed the attitude that people did not have a right to interrupt Him.

2. He made people a priority. For the most part, those who interrupted Him were not prominent individuals, yet Christ treated them as important.

3. Although frequently interrupted, Christ did not allow those interruptions to deflect Him from His ultimate purpose. For example, after dealing with the woman with the issue of blood, Jesus immediately went on to raise Jairus’ daughter.

4. On occasion, the Savior actually initiated an interruption himself. He interrupted His teaching of the multitude to call Levi the tax collector to follow Him.

5. Fifth, when important priorities made it necessary, Christ isolated Himself from interruptions.  2Morgan, R. J. (2000). Nelson’s complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes (electronic ed.). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

“Learning to handle interruptions in a Christlike fashion,” say the authors, “will take us a significant distance down the road of handling life’s circumstances.”

 

 

 

You have here a delicate task. … When I speak of preserving this assumption in his mind, therefore, the last thing I mean you to do is to furnish him with arguments in its defence. There aren’t any. … Wrap a darkness about it, and in the centre of that darkness let his sense of ownership-in-Time lie silent, uninspected, and operative.

 

21.2) Screwtape’s now going to say that what seemed so easy, is now not so easy.

It seems like we never have enough time. I certainly feel that way. And yet – is this right?

Ps 31:14 But I trust in you, O LORD;
I say, “You are my God.”

Ps 31:15 My times are in your hands;
deliver me from my enemies
and from those who pursue me.

Ps 31:16 Let your face shine on your servant;
save me in your unfailing love.

Ps 31:17 Let me not be put to shame, O LORD,
for I have cried out to you;
but let the wicked be put to shame
and lie silent in the grave.

Ps 31:18 Let their lying lips be silenced,
for with pride and contempt
they speak arrogantly against the righteous.

If we believe what David wrote – how should we really feel about this lack of time and the intrusions on what we perceive as too little time in the first place?

Maybe sometimes interruptions should be avoided?

But – from a different point of view, there are times when we need to avoid the interruptions –

Jesus Walks on the Water

Mt 14:22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

Mt 14:25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

Mt 14:27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

Mt 14:28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

Mt 14:29 “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Mt 14:31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

Mt 14:32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Mt 14:34 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him 36 and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.

For us – the task is to determine which is which – time to be interrupted so God can use us – or time to be focused / uninterrupted to spend time with God.

 

 

 

The sense of ownership in general is always to be encouraged. The humans are always putting up claims to ownership which sound equally funny in Heaven and in Hell and we must keep them doing so. … Even in the nursery a child can be taught to mean by ‘my teddy bear’ not the old imagined recipient of affection to whom it stands in a special relation (for that is what the Enemy will teach them to mean if we are not careful) but ‘the bear I can pull to pieces if I like’. And at the other end of the scale, we have taught men to say ‘my God’ in a sense not really very different from ‘my boots’, meaning ‘the God on whom I have a claim for my distinguished services and whom I exploit from the pulpit—the God I have done a corner in’.

 

21.3a) Screwtape now moves from time to the ownership of physical things.

How does Screwtape manage to get from ownership of a shoe to ownership of a teddy bear to essentially ownership of God?

 

 

Screwtape himself gave us the answer to this one

As Screwtape says –

We produce this sense of ownership not only by pride but by confusion. We teach them not to notice the different senses of the possessive pronoun

 

 

 

21.3b) Is this sense of ownership equally funny in both Heaven and Hell? Or do you think God looks at it differently?

 

Jesus' temptation tell us of how He views ownership

We can look at how Jesus views “ownership”

For example, when the devil offered to give Him everything –

Mt 4:8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.

Mt 4:9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

Mt 4:10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’’”

Or –

See The Beatitudes

The Beatitudes

Mt 5:1 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him,

Mt 5:2 and he began to teach them, saying:

Mt 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Mt 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Mt 5:5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Mt 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Mt 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Mt 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Mt 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Mt 5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Mt 5:11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Mt 5:12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

 

And so – 

The conclusion is ...

 God wants us to realize that everything is His – we are stewards of things here on earth – and ultimately we can share in everything, because He has offered us the opportunity. I expect that He’s actually sad when we don’t get it.

On the other hand – Satan has nothing to offer, so can afford to think it’s funny when we claim things that we don’t own – but neither does he.

 

 

 

And all the time the joke is that the word ‘Mine’ in its fully possessive sense cannot be uttered by a human being about anything. … Our Father hopes in the end to say ‘Mine’ of all things on the more realistic and dynamic ground of conquest,

Your affectionate uncle

SCREWTAPE

 

21.4) We get to the heart of the matter here: will everything go to The Enemy or to Screwtape’s Father Below? Will ownership be determined by Who made everything – or by conquest?

Some interesting concepts are in here too:

•Screwtape says his Father Below “hopes” to claim victory in the end. How does this differ from our hope.

•Screwtape’s Father Below also looks at his expected conquests as more realistic than The Enemy’s claims as Creator. Ultimately, who will decide what happens to (a) everything except people and (b) each individual person?

 

Screwtape's words

There’s that little matter of who will find out what in the end –

They will find out in the end, never fear, to whom their time, their souls, and their bodies really belong—certainly not to them, whatever happens.

God's Word

And the bigger surprise may be for Screwtape.

There’s the judgment of the dead in Revelation –

The Dead Are Judged

Rev 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

But – just preceding that, there’s Satan’s final end

Satan’s Doom

Rev 20:7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 9 They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

So there’s plenty of surprises to go around.

 

 

 

Vocabulary:

None

Footnotes

  • 1
    Morgan, R. J. (2000). Nelson’s complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes (electronic ed.) (475–476). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
  • 2
    Morgan, R. J. (2000). Nelson’s complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes (electronic ed.). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

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