The Absence of Light
“Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts” ( Lewis 61). Hell: A place everyone knows about. A place seen in horror movies, we hear thrown in profanity: hell is a place that is not fake place that only exists in our minds, a fantasy, or in Hollywood horror movies. It is a REAL place; a place that exists and was made not for people, but for Satan and his demons (Bevere, Driven By Eternity). One of the most respected authors in modern day literature and the Christian circuit, C.S. Lewis, wrote “Screwtape Letters” in 1942. After sleeping in and missing the 8:00 AM church service in July of 1940, Lewis went to the midday
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service where he heard a sermon which he found boring. Through this idle time in his mind, the concept for Screwtape Letter’s was born. Lewis was fixing to write about the ways of darkness, yet, it actually brought people to the light. We meet Screwtape, a high ranking demon who is counseling his nephew, Wormwood a new demon assigned to his first task. They are both in the business of making sure human’s souls are taken into the grasps of the “Enemy” who is Satan (Lewis 1). Wormwood has just been assigned a new project: a male who is still discovering himself as a person in the midst of Britain set in WWII. Since we are not given a name for this specific man in the book, we will merely call him “the Assignment” from this point forward. Lewis set the book to align with the current events of the world, as WWII was going on as Lewis wrote this novel. Screwtape, who paints Tardibono 2 himself as loving and affectionate, places heavy value on the Assignment explaining to Wormwood that is will be important to not just attack at his assignment all at once, but to slowly sneak into areas of his life; areas that he would never notice were becoming infiltrated negatively. With the 31 letters, Lewis sets a line of themes out for the reader to become familiar with. Themes of temptation, deceit, manipulation, and malicious intent, especially towards others and situations, are found through the letters, but are hidden well if you do not know how to look for them. I believe Lewis did this to prove his point to the reader as he proved it in the book: the Enemy hides in order to deceive. From the very beginning, we see Screwtape beginning to tell his nephew that attacking an area that is already weak is a way to enter the Assignment’s mind with ease. Screwtape instructs Wormwood in the beginning to make the Assignment become overly critical with multiple different things in his life. Having a perfect idea about the church is one of them (Lewis 6). This specific topic is relevant in today’s world, especially in Christian culture. Numerous people become offended with the church and have misconceived perceptions of how the church is supposed to run, that when something does go array, they become offended and leave. Lewis does a great job in this novel of not writing about lofty ideas, but true subject matters that one may struggle with daily. Throughout the course of the book, we are met with many different issues that correspond with one’s everyday life. Yes, this book is fiction, but the message and truths woven into the characters and writings are all but fiction. Areas that one may struggle with on a daily basis are addressed at the beginning of the book, and are turned into attacks. Take relationships for example. Wormwood tries and distracts the Assignment by hurting his relationship with his Tardibono 3 mother (Lewis 11). Temptation, in Letter 21, Screwtape states that sexual temptation is if not the strongest, sneakiest way to sneak into someone’s life (Lewis 111). The Assignment is also faced with disbelief: the idea that Christianity is a hoax as Wormwood tries and pulls him away from the church and his Christian influences, like his faith believing girlfriend we meet in Letter 23 (Lewis 123) which Screwtape is livid about, as we see in the following statement made by Screwtape himself. “Through this girl and her disgusting family the patient is now getting to know more Christians every day, and very intelligent Christians too” Lewis 123. In the last letter, we discover that Wormwood did not complete his task, as the Assignment fell through his grip and ended up becoming a full-fledged believer of the Christian faith (Lewis 171). Screwtape, just as he was angry above, is now almost sympathetic with Wormwood, as he knows his punishment for not keeping the Assignment on track to be handed over to the Enemy is a failure that will not end well. The dialogue between Screwtape and Wormwood gives us a glimpse into the spiritual realm that is spiritual warfare. As demons, their one and only focus in their entire life is their Assignment. Screwtape has successfully managed to keep his Assignment in the path to hell, but Wormwood is struggling. One may ask, are demons really fighting over us every day? Do demons really have “assignments?” A topic that is not talked about lightly, demonic warfare and activity is real. Whether you are a Christian, Atheist, or Muslim, you know that there is a force in the world, a constant battle between good and evil. In today’s culture, people seem to believe more in the fact that there is more evil in the world than good by all the horrible things happening in the United States and around the world. Due to the fact that Screwtape Letters is a Christian based book, my opinions and reasoning will be found in the Christian faith with support from Tardibono 4 various sources.
The use of demons is not just only seen in the Christian faith. “Oh he’s acting like a little demon.” Someone that isn’t a Christian, may say this about another person who is acting ill behaved. Demons and demonic showings are seen all throughout movies, even being featured on clothing items or video games. Without realizing it, the world has embraced this certain spiritual side of Christianity, but only sees bits and pieces of the full story behind demons.
Demons originated from deception and rebellion, which is what their character traits are, even now. Isaiah 14:12-14 states the first fall of the angel, Lucifer, from Heaven. Even here, he was assigned to a job, not a person in Heaven (The Bible, NIV). Lucifer was in charge of all the music in Heaven. But when his pride stepped in the way and he tried to overthrow his authority, he was sent to Hell and all the angels who supported Lucifer went with him, then becoming demons. Their mission in life is the one of Satan, their master: to lead people away from God at any means necessary. In the Bible, the New Testament is filled with multiple stories of Jesus casting out demons from people; especially in the four gospels. In the book of Mark, Jesus cast out a “legion” of demons from a man who was demonically possessed (The Bible, NIV). In that time, a legion of Roman soldiers had anywhere from 3,000-5,000 people involved. This means that there were close to over 3000 demons taunting one
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man alone. In modern day time, hearing about a man who is demon possessed is not something you hear casually on the nightly news while folding laundry. Not directly, anyways. With all the terror and horrible acts against humanity happening in our society today, one may believe that these are the acts of Satan and his demons, working through people to carry out their works. In Letter 6 of the Screwtape Letters, Screwtape uses a worldly event of war as an Tardibono 5 example for Wormwood to use against his Assignment. He stresses to Wormwood that if the Assignment feels worrisome and un-trusting about the situation at hand, this would be a great time to attack him and grasp his soul (Lewis 25). This one point, in itself, is one of the strongest in the book. How many times have you seen situations happening in everyday life affect the way people act? Take the 2016 Election for example. Insults were slewed at people left and right, friendships that were strong for many years were demolished because of political views. Racist slurs and attacking of one’s character was seen almost daily on the news, for our children, teens, and adults to hear. Many may ask the question “How did we get here?” It was not a quick jog to this spot, but a slow walk that lead up to an explosion of hate. I do believe that the Enemy uses worldly situations and events to bring out the worst in people, but to also lead them away from their beliefs. This would be a sneaky thing to do, wouldn’t it? The hatred that has been placed inside man’s heart did not just show up there overnight, but it grew slowly, rooted deep in their heart. One offense after another, it begins to suck the life out of everything around it. Think of that one person in your life, that one person that is critical about everything, always negative, and never looks at the good in situations. Their attitude didn’t become sour overnight. It was a slow process. This my friends, this, is the way the enemy works. Just like Lewis wrote, the way the enemy works is a sneaky one. He slips in, one offense at a time, and uses those against you. How could you not be bitter about your parent’s divorce? Your boyfriend cheating on you? These certain types of situations are bound to happen in our life, old or young. In those hard times, it is a true test of character to see how one will react. Act in the flesh by succumbing to your feelings of anger, wrath, or lashing out? Or, simply taking it with grace and moving on without harboring ill feelings. By the end of the book, Wormwood had failed. His Tardibono 6 Assignment saw through the works of the Enemy and the tricks they had up their sleeve; he was not fooled.
There were multiple situations, where Wormwood could have made his move very successfully. With the Assignment’s mother, the friends, the sexual temptation, the stress of the war. Yet, he was unable, because the Assignment had deep roots in something bigger than himself. So, when “himself” began to fail, he was able to latch on to something stronger: faith. Faith is believing in something that is not physically there. Demons are not here, in the flesh, we do not see them like you are seeing these words on the paper. Yet, in the spiritual realm, they are there. Constantly battling against you to bring you down and make your life on Earth, well, hell. I always take it as a compliment, honestly. To know that someone sees me as so valuable, they’re willing to dedicate their whole life to making sure I don’t succeed? This must mean one of two things. One, that I am valuable and have a purpose here on Earth to do good and share kindness, and that scares the Enemy. Or two, the Demon’s just have nothing else better to do than obsess over someone they
envy.
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis is a book of thirty –one letters in which a retired, senior demon named Screwtape coaches his newly educated nephew, Wormwood. Wormwood is quite troubled when it comes to tempting his “patient.” Nevertheless, he need not fear because faithful uncle Screwtape has offered his services. A unique character featured in the letters is, “The Enemy.” This character refers to God, the natural enemy of Satan. Of course Satan is referred to as “Our Lord.” In the letters, and Wormwood and Screwtape try their very best to please Satan and bring him glory. Although the book is written from the demons’ perspective, Lewis naturally uses it to highlight important truths of the Christian faith.
At the end of the book we see that wormwood ended up turning in Screwtape to the police. This story is something that the whole world should read because it shows that we need to pray daily that God keep us away from the temptation that comes our way. In the book, once the patient became a Christian, the demons were trying really hard to attack him and get into his mind. 1Peter 4:12 says, “12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to
Overall, The Screwtape Letters should hit home for its target audience (Christians looking for more ways to follow God and steer from the devil), and judging by its success, that’s exactly what it does. For outsiders looking in and trying to get a glimpse at Christianity, though, it’s hardly a good place to start or even continue. Spreading paranoia about demons and devils controlling every aspect of life is not a good way to start to be taken seriously, but unfortunately, it seems that authors of Christian literature and creators of Christian films have
Nearly the entire book’s perspective is given to us by Screwtape, a senior demon who corresponds with his nephew, Wormwood, to mentor him on the damning of his charge. Wormwood’s task is to tempt a man living in 1960’s Britain (Known only as “The Patient”) to sin and eventually have him lose faith in God altogether. Screwtape is cunning, intelligent, and extremely twisted, going so far as to partake in his nephew’s punishment when he fails his tasks. Wormwood, from the information given and what extrapolations can be made, is naïve and fresh out of Hell with little experience and a greater amount of mistakes much to his uncle’s growing and violent disappointment and rage. He does, however, try to take Screwtape’s advice regardless of h...
We learn from Screwtape?s many letters of advice to his nephew Wormwood (thirty-one letters to be exact) the many strategies that evil spirits and demons employ in order to secure human spiritual morality. Contrary...
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlett Letter, the nature of evil is a prevalent theme that is depicted throughout the novel. Hawthorne is considered by many to be one of the most significant writers during the romantic period of American literature. Many of his writings countered the ideas of Transcendentalism, which was a popular belief during his time. Trancendentalism is described as “an idealistic philosophical and social movement that developed in New England around 1836 in reaction to rationalism . . . it taught that divinity pervades all nature and humanity, and its members held progressive views on feminism and communal living”().
Wormwoods goal in this novel is to get the patients converted back to the devil, which he fails to do. Screwtape was the encourager and Wormwood was the follower, the one who must learn the process of redirecting a patient to the wrong path. In the novel, it is obvious Wormwood never got the patient where he wanted him to be, Wormwood later realized they had free will and a conscious to make a decision on which path to take on their journey. Pleasures in this world of sin can affect the young and the old just alike, fashion can be used as a tool of lust to distract the patients, both men and women. This type of behavior can have a strong hold on people, that is very hard to break, or get loosed from. Throughout this whole novel Wormwood never succeeded, so in the end he failed. The patient found, and found true love, the patient stayed on the right path until the end of his life. Either Screwtape was not a good encourager or Wormwood just was not a great transporter to make them all follow the devil. Therefore, Wormwood was not a “good” demon, because he never got someone to convert over to the dark side and go to hell with
In the novel, Screwtape explains to Wormwood about how sinners are predestined to go Hell. Screwtape gives Wormwood a
Light often comes from a lamp. Mostly, it comes from the sun. Sometimes, it comes from within. In The Great Gatsby, light is shown through the story. First, the author shows this through the seasons and the light displayed through them. Then, he shows the light that shines through hope at proud moments. Finally, he shows how the wonderful mood of love shines bright with light. Throughout this novel, The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald, the imagery of light is shown through the mood of the story.
Prior to open practice of Satanism, the Roman Catholic church used Satanism as a label for individuals and groups who held views or ideologies that conflicted with those of the church. This was an attempt to delegitimize their opponents and to strengthen the Church’s following. While these accusations were initially harmless and limited to heretics, they became increasingly frequent and extreme. These wild accusations spread to rumors of violent rituals claimed to be performed by Satanists which built up to widespread fear and panic. Ultimately, this would result in events like the Salem Witch Trials where innocent people were put to death due to false suspicion of individuals performing witchcraft and becoming possessed by the Devil. Ironically, while the church merely intended to bolster both its image and following with these accusations, the widespread panic that resulted put Satanism on the map, and “several scholars identify fundamentalist Christianity as one of the major influences shaping and driving the” onset of the Satanist movement (Underwager and Wakefield, 281). This sheds light on the true relationship between the conflicting belief systems of Christianity and Satanism. Although the two are at odds on even the most basic levels, their relationship is largely codependent. Christianity uses the fear surrounding Satanism and the
In scripture, we can see that more than once Jesus cast out demons from people and had the power to shut their mouths. In Luke 11:14 one can see the power of Christ over demons, “And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute; when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed.” Another place in scripture that we can see where evil gets its power from is in the book of Job. Satan had to ask for God’s permission to torment Job. We know by this that any authority Satan has, has been given to him by God. God has given him the authority over worldly things as mentioned in John 14:20; however, it is important to remember that Satan cannot do anything that is outside of God’s will and purposes. In 1 John 4:4 we are reminded that as long as we have Christ in us, we ...
Ask anyone to draw Satan and you 'll get a red snake-like figure with horns and a pitchfork. Satan, as introduced in the Hebrew bible is an unworthy adversary of God. His longing to be like God is quickly recognized and dealt with. God banishes him from Heaven and sends him to Hell. That 's the last we see of him until he talks with God about his faithful servant Job. In each interaction we see Satan in, we get only a glimpse of who he really is. Satan 's motive is not developed and we assume he does evil simply because he is evil
Satan introspects in the first soliloquy (lines 32-113), searching for the motivation and reasoning behind his fall. He struggles with why he felt the urge to rebel. This very doubting suggests that his rebellion does not originate from a conscious effort; it is part of his internal makeup. Therefore, God created a flawed angel from the beginning (this is also supported by the fact that Sin comes from Satan's head while he is still in Heaven).
Where did Satan come from? According to the Christian Bible it is clearly taught that the Devil and the other demons are spiritual or angelic creatures created by God in a state of innocence, and that they became evil by their own act. It is added that man sinned by the suggestion of the Devil, and that in the next world the wicked shall suffer eternal punishment with the Devil. Satan and the other demons are part of an angelic creation, and their natural powers do not differ from those of the angels who remained faithful. Like the other angels, they are pure spiritual beings without any body.
Milton shows that the potential for evil was innate in these beings and was not the result of corruption from an external force. Lucifer believes himself to be God’s equal and desires omnipotence for himself. Lucifer’s pride is his undoing, and he is cast into hell where he becomes Satan. The pride is intrinsic to Lucifer’s nature and results from God giving angels free will. Indeed, Satan later considers repenting and seeking God’s forgiveness upon seeing Earth and all of God’s creation and being overwhelmed by emotion. However, he realizes that even if he did receive forgiveness, he would grow dissatisfied with his position in heaven once again and fall a second time “book four quote “ . This establishes evil as being a constant part of Satan; the evil could not exist without the good, but it is an inherent part of