Why have I no report on the causes of his fidelity to the parish church? Surely you know that if a man can't be cured of churchgoing, the next best thing is to send him all over the neighborhood looking for the church that 'suits' him until he becomes a taster or connoisseur of churches
In the first place, the parochial organization should always be attacked because being a unity of place and not of likings, it brings people of different classes and psychology together in the kind of unity the Enemy desires. The congregational principle, on the other hands, makes each church into a kind of club, and finally, if all goes well, into a coterie or faction. In the second place, the search for a 'suitable' church makes the man a critic where the Enemy wants him to be a pupil.
Screwtape Letters - Chapter 16
Showing posts with label Screwtape Letters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Screwtape Letters. Show all posts
Sunday, July 25, 2010
By this method thousands of humans have been brought to think that humility means pretty women trying to believe they are ugly and clever men trying to believe they are fools.
To anticipate the enemy's strategy, we must consider His aims. The enemy wants to bring the man to a state of mind in which he could design the best cathedral in the world, and know it to be the best, and rejoice in the fact, without being any more (or less) or otherwise glad at having done it than he would be if it had been done by another. The enemy wants him, in the end, to be so free from any bias in his own favour that he can rejoice in his own talents as frankly and gratefully as in his neighbour's talents.
Screwtape Letters - Chapter 14
To anticipate the enemy's strategy, we must consider His aims. The enemy wants to bring the man to a state of mind in which he could design the best cathedral in the world, and know it to be the best, and rejoice in the fact, without being any more (or less) or otherwise glad at having done it than he would be if it had been done by another. The enemy wants him, in the end, to be so free from any bias in his own favour that he can rejoice in his own talents as frankly and gratefully as in his neighbour's talents.
Screwtape Letters - Chapter 14
Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, "By jove! I'm being humble", and almost immediately pride - pride at its own humility - will appear. If he awakes to the danger and tries to smother this new form of pride, make him proud of his attempt.
CS Lewis - Screwtape Letters - Chapter 14
CS Lewis - Screwtape Letters - Chapter 14
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