I go to church to remember how unChrist-like I’m and how much work I have to do in regards to loving God and neighbor. This is why I don’t go to church for the word of God. Of course, I judge the people in the next pew–– that hat is so ridiculous! But my favorite thing is arguing with the preacher, silently in my head–– well, I don’t think that’s what the verse is saying. Judging a book by its cover is thus automatic and unconscious.

We inhabit societies where presentation is highly valued, often more so than what’s below the surface. Keep everything hazy in his mind now, and you will have eternity wherein to amuse yourself by producing in him the peculiar kind of clarity which Hell affords. Never let it come to the surface never let him ask what he expected them to look like. Provided that any of those neighbors sing out of tune, or have boots that squeak, or double chins, or odd clothes, the patient will quite easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous. Your patient, thanks to Our Father Below, is a fool. Lewis expresses in the second letter how ridiculously shallow the new Christian can be. One ought to consider as church, the body, heart and mind of the believer (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). All the same, it’s worth mentioning that the church is not limited to an external structure and its congregation. The letter brings around the question, is it absolutely necessary for the modern Christian to be part of a congregation? Especially now when it is quite common for a believer to practice faith without stepping outside of her apartment? One may also argue that perhaps the point of the second letter is not so much the church but rather the vulnerability of nurturing a new faith and maintaining a community that helps one stay motivated and encouraged. Yet I feel Lewis’ treatment of the subject is merely a scratch on a surface. Thus the second letter’s focus is the new Christian and the church.Īs a current non-church going Christian, and a one who in the past refused God partly because of poor examples set by churches and Christians, the second letter speaks to me in many ways. The church itself works against itself, continues Screwtape. Because many who convert in Christianity do give up the faith. All is not lost, though, Screwtape advices Wormwood. Right, let’s start with a brief synopsis of the second letter: Screwtape, the senior devil writes to Wormwood, the junior devil, informing him that he would be punished for not having prevented his patient from becoming a Christian. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters: Letters from a Senior Devil to a Junior Devilfor the gist on its conception and purpose. Please refer to the introduction to this series on C.

Cs lewis letters from the devil