Screwtape Letter #24 – Discussion Guide

Screwtape Letter #24 – Discussion Guide is article #50 in the series: Screwtape Letters. Click button to view titles for entire series

Letter #24

The Screwtape Letters Study Guide

Uh Oh!
– is pride rearing its head?

 


 

My dear Wormwood,

I have been in correspondence with Slumtrimpet who is in charge of your patient’s young woman, and begin to see the chink in her armour. … Now the element of ignorance and naïvety in all this is so large, and the element of spiritual pride so small, that it gives us little hope of the girl herself. But have you thought of how it can be made to influence your own patient.

 

24.1) What might the Apostle Paul have to say about this situation and how to deal with it?

1Co 4:6 Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not take pride in one man over against another.”

 

Think about what Paul wrote on the topic of pride

The verse above is the start of Paul warning the Corinthians about the arrogance that is coming over some of them. The very beginning is the best place to deal with this, before it becomes so entrenched that it’s even harder to get rid of. Given the analogy of fish-knives and the belief that it’s more out of ignorance and less out of pride – that’s why he isn’t so hopeful about getting the girl. But – if she can be used to make him more prideful – that’s good for them.

1Co 4:6 Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not take pride in one man over against another. 7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

1Co 4:8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have become kings—and that without us! How I wish that you really had become kings so that we might be kings with you! 9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. 10 We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! 11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.

1Co 4:14 I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. 15 Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16 Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 17 For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.

1Co 4:18 Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. 20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 21 What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love and with a gentle spirit?

 

 

It is always the novice who exaggerates. … Can you get him to imitate this defect in his mistress and to exaggerate it until what was venial in her becomes in him the strongest and most beautiful of the vices—Spiritual Pride?

The conditions seem ideally favourable. The new circle in which he finds himself is one of which he is tempted to be proud for many reasons other than its Christianity. … He is like a dog which should imagine it understood fire-arms because its hunting instinct and love for its master enable it to enjoy a day’s shooting.

24.2) Screwtape’s logic now begins to reveal much about us

We talked about pride in the previous question. Screwtape wants Wormwood to take advantage of a “minor” flaw in the girl and turn it into a major case of Spiritual Pride in his patient. At the end of the paragraph, Screwtape makes an analogy between the patient and a hunting dog.

He is like a dog which should imagine it understood fire-arms because its hunting instinct and love for its master enable it to enjoy a day’s shooting.

Being someone who likes dogs, I actually do believe that a dog would enjoy a day’s shooting with his master – not because the dog likes (or knows how to) shoot, but because he enjoys being with his master.

First – compare my point of view to Screwtape’s as far as the analogy between the two.

Then – take it further to show how it’s not at all a forgone conclusion that the patient will pick up Spiritual Pride at all.

 

Check out one of my favorite O T Passages - The River From The Temple, in Ezekiel

Since the girl is along with him, it’s possible that he may see things through her eyes and come to more realization of what’s going on that he would without her. He may pick up on her joy – just as the dog does when going hunting with his master, even though the dog doesn’t have a clue. Of course – once he starts the journey, the Holy Spirit will also be there.

Once he starts the journey – there are also the other people as well. Looking at “The River From the Temple” – one can see the progression of the river from easy to pass all the way to impossible. But – along the way – others will help at first – and ultimately only God can help. The same can happen with the patient once he starts his walk.

The River From the Temple

Eze 47:1 The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. 2 He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side.

Eze 47:3 As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. 4 He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. 5 He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. 6 He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this?”

Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. 8 He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh. 9 Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. 10 Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Great Sea. 11 But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. 12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”

 

 

Here is your chance. … he must mean not ‘The people who, in their charity and humility, have accepted me’, but ‘The people with whom I associate by right’.

Success here depends on confusing him. … It is no affair of yours whether those theories are true or false; the great thing is to make Christianity a mystery religion in which he feels himself one of the initiates.

 

24.3) Now that he’s talking about us again, Screwtape is back on solid ground and beginning to get on a roll.

There are 3 thoughts in here – confusion – not putting thoughts into words – and making Christianity into some kind of mystery religion. How do these three work together – and what would a good Christian community do to them?

 

Think about the 'end goal' for Screwtape and work backwards

The end goal of having Christianity being a secret sect with an inner circle / trained minority of theocrats, Etc is so far from what it’s meant to be that it seems hard to imagine anyone could believe it. And yet – it’s not so impossible at all. It happens.

And – it can start from confusion – not knowing the real Truth – either misunderstanding and not being corrected or just plain led astray. Once that happens – and especially when questions don’t arise because any doubts are never expressed – there’s no telling where it can lead.

That’s why a good Christian community is so important – especially where there is discussion and accountability. Things would be open – Biblically based – and everyone would be free / encouraged to ask questions.

 

 

Pray do not fill your letters with rubbish about this European War. Its final issue is, no doubt, important, but that is a matter for the High Command. I am not in the least interested in knowing how many people in England have been killed by bombs. In what state of mind they died, I can learn from the office at this end. That they were going to die sometime, I knew already. Please keep your mind on your work,

Your affectionate uncle

SCREWTAPE

24.4) Screwtape all of a sudden ends that line of thought and goes back to chastising Wormwood.

Back in Letter #5, Screwtape also talked about war – as in this excerpt –

I know that Scabtree and others have seen in wars a great opportunity for attacks on faith, but I think that view was exaggerated. The Enemy’s human partisans have all been plainly told by Him that suffering is an essential part of what He calls Redemption; so that a faith which is destroyed by a war or a pestilence cannot really have been worth the trouble of destroying.

Earlier in this letter, Screwtape said the patient was a novice. He seems to be saying here that maybe the patient is beyond just the novice stage. What do you think?

 

Hint - go back to letter #5

In letter #5, it appears that a faith destroyed by war isn’t worth destroying – meaning that it wasn’t much of a faith to begin with. Even back in that letter, while he was talking about the war being “entertaining” – Screwtape wasn’t putting much stock in the war to corrupt the patient. Given that he believes other devils feeling about the possibilities from wars are overblown – plus his statement that a faith destroyed by war wasn’t really worth the effort – even then he seems to be saying the patient may be beyond novice stage, especially after him praying prompted letter #4.

Now – here in this letter, Screwtape doesn’t even want to hear anything about the war. It isn’t even entertaining anymore. Sounds more like Screwtape is getting very worried about the outcome.

 

Vocabulary:

Pedantic – It is always the novice who exaggerates. The man who has risen in society is over-refined, the young scholar is pedantic.

Pedantic – overly concerned with minute details or formalisms, especially in teaching. 

Venial – Can you get him to imitate this defect in his mistress and to exaggerate it until what was venial in her becomes in him the strongest and most beautiful of the vices—Spiritual Pride?

Venial – excusable; trifling; minor. 

Congruity – He thinks that he likes their talk and way of life because of some congruity between their spiritual state and his, when in fact they are so far beyond him that if he were not in love he would be merely puzzled and repelled by much which he now accepts.

Congruity – a point of agreement. 

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