Discuss J8 & J9.
Tonight, read Letters 1-4 and complete J9.
Journal 9 (Preface and Letters 1-4)
Preface:
1. According to C. S. Lewis, what two mistaken beliefs about devils can human beings hold? What do you see as the dangers inherent in each view? What is your own belief about the literal existence or non-existence of devils? Why do you believe as you do?
2. The Screwtape Letters is an epistolary novel-that is, a novel told in the form of letters. Authors use this style to create verisimilitude - to make it look as real and true as possible. What details in the Preface allow Lewis to create verisimilitude?
3. Why do you think Lewis bothers to tell us that the narrator is unreliable?
After reading the letters
4. Start a list now of the scriptures that get twisted or parodied throughout the book.
5. How would you describe the strategy that Screwtape suggests Wormwood adopt in these four letters?
6. Why do you think Lewis used the name "Wormwood"? Consider a few verses: Jeremiah 9:15 Lamentations 3:15, Amos 6:12, and Revelation 8:10-11. What connotations does this name have?
7. In Letter 3, Screwtape implies that true conversion is not merely an internal process. What is to be one of the results of true conversion? Have you actually seen this in professing people around you?
8. How might you apply Jesus' words in Matthew 7:1-5 or Romans 12:10-18 to the patient's relationship with his mother?
9. In Letter 3, Screwtape notes that Wormwood's patient has tricked himself into praying for "an imaginary person": his mother's "soul," rather than the body-and-soul mother with whom he actually lives. Why do you think it is so easy to "spiritualize" our prayers, emptying them of an reference to our daily experiences and concerns?
10. In Letter 4, Screwtape tells his nephew, "teach them to estimate the value of each prayer by their success in producing the desired feeling; and never let them suspect how much success or failure of that kind depends on whether they are well or ill, fresh or tired, at the moment." Do you think we often judge the quality of our spirituality by how we feel? Is that biblical? How does this become a useful tool for Screwtape.
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