What Is The Turning Point In The Screwtape Letters

The Screwtape Letters is a book made up of letters sent from one demon named Screwtape to another demon named Wormwood. Wormwood is a tempter trying to coerce a human away from Christianity, and Screwtape, his uncle, is attempting to assist him in his work though letters of advice. The human Wormwood tries to tempt, called The Patient by Screwtape, does end up defeating Wormwood’s attempts to trick him and makes it to heaven. However, it was not an easy process, and it was filled with strife, and in some cases, failure. He converted, relapsed, then returned to Christianity, but his second conversion was very much different from his first. His second conversion marks a major turning point in the book, from the Patient being easily fooled, and

There is nothing wrong about wanting something, but using theft to get it is not acceptable. In the same way, they corrupt pure intentions and wants by suggesting they be satisfied by forbidden or selfish means. Screwtape writes to Wormwood exactly how he achieves this corruption of pure intentions and pleasures. He writes,”All we can do is encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden.” (pg 44) Thus, these otherwise innocent pleasures and intentions become twisted and wrong through their meddling. All the while, Screwtape tries to fool humans into thinking these are the only pleasures, and that only through those pleasures humans will find happiness. Through this, he fools many and enslaves even more to unfulfilling habits and harmful lifestyles that centralize upon only getting more. Screwtape admits he uses this strategy, writing, “An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula.” However, there is a key flaw in Screwtape’s plan. Positive pleasures are superior to corrupted pleasures in every way. They entertain, relax, and refocus the participant. This purity in positive pleasures allow the Patient to see past Wormwood’s lies, and reveal Wormwood’s “pleasures” for what they are,

This information is relevant despite what time period it is. Far to many times, people change themselves to be the “right” person, to like the “fashionable” things, and to fit in, but this is all wrong. God has given humans wonderful traits, skills and virtues inside of them, yet far too many are deceived into being obsessed with something they do not have. Throughout the entire book, Screwtape tried to coax the Patient into being someone else. If the Patient had fallen for it, his life would only end in disappointment, disillusionment, and failure. For example, if a random person with no acting skill wished to be the Doctor from Doctor Who, they would most likely fail. There would be disappointment from that failure, of course, but extend that analogy to someone’s entire life. It would be nothing but an endless attempt to become something unattainable and unachievable, ending in only despair. That is what Screwtape was aiming for, but that does not only apply to the world of The Screwtape Letters. Satan himself seeks to kill, steal, and destroy, and draining a person’s life of meaning would destroy them. Through the undulations and changes in a person’s life, Satan seeks to pull them away from who they are, and through fake pleasures he ties them to harmful habits and lives. These attempts are visible in 2018, and sadly, they have lead many astray, and more