CS Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, Class 6
Chapters 17-21
Another story of spiritual warfare: 1 Kings 18: 20-39
Chapter 17
It seems that there are two types of gluttony: Delicacy and Excess. What are the differences? Is one worse than the other? In Lewis’ time, gluttony of delicacy was more prominent. What about now? Knowing that sin is not about rules, but about living a spiritually healthy life, why is gluttony sinful? What is the relationship between gluttony and vanity? [St. Matthew 6:25-34 and Philippians 2:3,4]
Screwtape writes that; “Keep him wondering what pride or lack of faith has delivered him into your hands when a simple enquiry into what he has been eating or drinking for the last twenty-four hours would show him whence your ammunition comes…” Have you noticed a link between your physical condition and your susceptibility to various temptations?
Chapter 18
Hell is based on the axiom that each thing is separate and unique; nothing can truly be shared. Heaven is based on the shared unity of God’s love; everything becomes perfected through its mutual enjoyment. The first encourages selfishness, the second encourages self-sacrifice. Where on the continuum between these things would you put our modern culture? How do sex and marriage fit in? [1 Corinthians 6: 15-17]
Chapter 19
When asked whether “falling in love” was good or bad, Screwtape responds; “Nothing matters at all except the tendency of a given state of mind, in given circumstances, to move a particular patient at particular moment nearer to the Enemy or nearer to us.” What does he mean by this? How does it apply to marriage? Is there anything that is unambiguously good or bad?
Chapter 20
Screwtape claims that the demons try to shape our culture to direct our desire towards things that hurt us, and that as part of that strategy they have managed to get men to desire (and expect!) a kind of woman that never existed. He also described how we sometimes desire a “terrestrial Venus” and other times are tempted towards the “infernal Venus”. How does our culture lead us to desire men and women that do not exist? How does it encourage us to desire the “infernal Venus”? What is the ideal man/woman of our current age? The ideal relationship? [See Proverbs 9 – are the two women there real or representative of something else? See Romans 7: 14-25 – how does this explain the dichotomy between the two Venus’?]
Chapter 21
Is Screwtape right that we get upset when people take things we feel we have a legitimate claim to (i.e things that we expected were “ours”)? If God came to you and reminded you that all your time is really His, how would you feel about putting up with a few minutes of inconvenience? If He did the same about the money in your account, how would you feel about charity? Dues? Tithing? Why is it so hard for us to live with this kind of feeling all the time? [James 4: 13-17; 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20].
Next week: Chapters 22-31
