Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis

This book was hard to get into but after about 3-4 chapters it was making more sense. It is actually a very funny book underlined with seriousness and reality of life as a mortal on Earth trying to get back to Heaven.

It is a series of letters written from a senior demon (devil) to his nephew who is working on tempting a normal person which they call "the patient". They try to get him to break all the commandments and go to hell or be damned. They try to break the patients faith and get him to sin. All this is really a good look at human nature and the christian faith. The two main devils in the story are morally reversed. It takes a while to get it straight which person the demons are referring to when they say, "the Enemy" and "the Father". The enemy is God and the father is the devil, it is opposite to what people think.

The funny part is that C. S. Lewis is so right on about peoples failings and temptations while making fun of it all in a serious way, I guess this is called satire. I even saw myself in a few of his examples. This book really made me think about how I pray, how I think about others and what my relationship really is to God. Am I just going through the motions or do I really live a Christian life? Do I give in easy to temptations or do I stand strong? Is every thought in my head my own or did the devil put it there? Is there a flaxen cord leading me down to Hell and I don't even know it? I sure hope there are angels near to help me out!

The book dives into subjects like pride, gluttony, war, and sex, to name a few. The devils are trying to confuse and trick us into doing what is wrong. If they can't get at us then they work on the people around us or the media and they are always working on family members and spouses. Interesting...very twisted and insightful.

I would call it a Broken Book and would highly recommend this classic despite how broken it is...

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