Sermon Tone Analysis

OK, so before we jump into tonight’s letters and discuss them, let me ask, who can give a quick summation of what has transpired thus far in the book.

Just a very quick and simple overview?

WAIT FOR SOMEONE, OR SOMEONES, TO ANSWER.

Great, would anyone like to share anything that you have received or gleaned from any of the letters in this book, that we have studied, thus far.

Anything that has really stood out to you or seemed relatable in your own life, or of someone that is close to you?

Letter 13: (Summary) - In this letter, Screwtape is not pleased with Wormwood.

He has allowed his patient to awaken from his spiritual drift and into reality by experiencing real, simple pleasures.

Screwtape understands that this repentance and renewal can have a more profound effect on the patient than his original conversion.

However, all is not lost says Screwtape, as long as Wormwood can keep the patient from acting on his new feelings.

Highlighted thoughts and statements and questions:

“The more often he feels without acting, the less he will be able ever to act, and, in the long run, the less he will be able to feel.” - Screwtape

Question: Screwtape refers to the man’s spiritual change as a “second conversion”.

Some would call such an instance, a “rededication of one’s life”.

Would you agree with this terminology and have any of you ever had such a similar experience?

Answer: (ANSWERS WILL VARY.)

READ THIS QUOTE: “As you ought to have known, the asphyxiating cloud which prevented your attacking the patient on his walk back from the old mill, is a well-known phenomenon.

It is the Enemy's most barbarous weapon, and generally appears when He is directly present to the patient under certain modes not yet fully classified.

Some humans are permanently surrounded by it and therefore inaccessible to us.”

Question: What is the “asphyxiating cloud” that Screwtape is referring to ?

Answer: The “asphyxiating cloud” is God working through the Holy Spirit.

Read and and tell how these verses support Wormwood’s inability to attack his patient.

Answer: Wormwood could not attack the man because God was shielding him.

This does not mean that God will protect us from every temptation or shield us from the consequences of our choices, but rather God knows that for us to be free and still make right choices there will be times when we need His intervention and help.

Question: What does Screwtape say about the dangers of “real” Pain and Pleasure?

Answer: Screwtape says that the dangers of pain and pleasure are that their characteristics "are unmistakably real, and therefore, as far as they go, give the man who feels them a touchstone of reality."

Wormwood’s goal was to convince his patient of false pains and pleasures—ones that have no lasting positive effect but destroy us in the end.

However, once someone experiences the real thing, the false pains and pleasures fail by comparison.

Question: Screwtape says that Wormwood has failed, in this letter, to employ either Romantic or Worldly methods of temptation.

What does he mean by Romantic and Worldly temptations?

Answer: Romantic – The Romantic method relies upon causing the patient to be "submerged in self-pity over imaginary distresses."

This strategy would involve the patient becoming disillusioned with a life of pleasures and thereby looking for distractions in foreign places.

The patient would become depressed about his current situation and feel a sense of hopelessness that is out of proportion to his situation.

The more he romanticizes about what another life would be like, the less content he becomes with his own.

Worldly –The Worldly method is based upon, as Screwtape said, "palming off vanity, bustle, irony, and expensive tedium as pleasures."

This method relies on convincing the patient that the world is the source of real pleasure, not God.

To both of these methods of temptation, the Bible says:

,

,

Question: What is the difference in the ways in which God and Satan want to detach people from themselves?

Answer: God wants us to abandon our self -will but not our individual uniqueness.

Once we do, God "gives us back all of our personality...and makes us more of ourselves than ever."

Satan wants us to “drift away” from our nature or our individual uniqueness and become something that we are not…a poser trying to find pleasures in the world.

Screwtape says it is “always desirable to substitute the standards of the world, or convention, or fashion, for a human’s own real likings and dislikings.”

Question: Why would Screwtape want to eradicate simple pleasures like “enjoying country crickets or collecting stamps or drinking cocoa” from our life?

What are some examples of innocent pleasures that if you stopped enjoying, might weaken your will?

from our nature or our individual uniqueness and become something that we are not…a poser trying to find pleasures in the world.

Screwtape says it is “always desirable to substitute the standards of the world, or convention, or fashion, for a human’s own real likings and dislikings.”

Answer: By enjoying the simple pleasures of life (even those without virtue) for their own sake, we become disinterested in the trappings of this world.

This somehow builds a wall that guards us against the attacks of Satan.

Question: What does Screwtape mean by, “The more often he feels without acting, the less he will be able to act, and in the long run, the less he will be able to feel”?

Answer: Habits are built by repetition.

If our habit is to continually recommit ourselves to God but not actually act on the commitment, our faith is useless.

In addition, our feelings will fade over time, and it will actually make it harder for us to act on our faith in the future.

Letter 14: (Summary) - In this letter, Screwtape is concerned because Wormwood’s patient has discovered real humility.

Screwtape tells Wormwood to draw the patient’s attention to himself and to just how humble he is being.

As the patient become proud of his newfound humility and false modesty, the actual virtue of humility becomes worthless and he becomes susceptible to temptation.

Question: Screwtape says that he likes it when people make “confident resolutions” at their conversion experience.

What confident resolutions might we make when we first accept Christ?

How might this change as we mature as Christians?

Answer: “Resolutions” will vary.

Generally, these confident resolutions are fueled by a certain amount of guilt.

Guilt can be a great motivator for change causing us to say, “I will never (fill in the blank) again.”

However, guilt is never the best motivator for true change.

As we mature, our motivation to change should be fueled more from our grateful reliance on what Christ has done for us and pleasing Him and doing the will of His Father for our lives!

Question: What does Screwtape mean by, “All virtues are less formidable to us once the man is aware that he has them…?”

What is the danger in making the man aware of his virtue?

Answer: If Satan can twist a humble person into being proud of his humility, the virtue of humility is now worthless.

Once humility is gone, the person is now susceptible to temptation and falling into sin.

The only danger in the man’s awareness is if he then becomes aware that he is being prideful.

However, if this happens, Wormwood should just make him proud of the fact that he figured it out, and it starts all over again.

Question: Why does Screwtape instruct Wormwood to confuse humility with low opinion?

Answer: The idea is that to have a low self-opinion, one must believe that his talents and abilities are less valuable than they really are.

Seeking to accomplish this keeps the man focused on himself.

In this way, he will be kept from attaining true humility.

People have the mindset that “humility” and “meekness”, as found in the Bible, is WEAKNESS of the person who clings to and lives under these virtues.

Remember what Jesus said in , “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

Well, pay close attention to the word used for “meek” in this quote from Jesus, because in the Greek, the word here is “praus”, and it does mean, “mild, gentle and meek”, but you also need to know that this word has another understanding, that emphasizes the life of a Christian.

The Greek word “praus” (prah-oos) was used to define a horse trained for battle.

Wild stallions were brought down from the mountains and broken for riding.

They retained their fierce spirit, courage, and power, but were disciplined to respond to the slightest nudge or pressure of the rider’s leg.

They could gallop into battle at 35 miles per hour and come to a sliding stop at a word.

They were not frightened by arrows, spears, or torches.

Then they were said to be meeked.

To be meeked was to be taken from a state of wild rebellion and made completely loyal to, and dependent upon, one’s master.

It is also to be taken from an atmosphere of fearfulness and made unflinching in the presence of danger.

These stallions became submissive, but certainly not spineless.

They embodied power under control, strength with forbearance.

So also is the Christian, who is “meek and humble”.

We retain the power of God and His Spirit in us, but we are bridled and brought under His control, to use this power in accordance to His will and not our own!

Question: Why is bad for a woman who is really pretty or a man who is intelligent, to believe they are not?

Answer: This line of thought ends up creating a false sense of humility.

Since what they are trying to believe is nonsense, it keeps their minds “revolving on themselves in an effort to achieve the impossible.”

In other words, by an intelligent person saying, “I am not smart”, they think that they are being humble.

In reality, they are focusing on themselves more and the gift of intellect, but verbally telling themselves that it is not there, so as to give the appearance of humility.

Humility would be giving God the honor and glory for the intellect and thanking Him for it and using it to glorify God, more and more!

Question: Screwtape said, “The Enemy wants him, (the patient), 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 neighbor's talents”.

How does support this statement?

Answer: Achieving that perfect balance of rejoicing in excellent work whether we created it or someone else did is a true sign of humility.

Question: According to , what is the type of humility that God wants from us?

And from , where does humility begin?

Answer: Humility means being patient and gentle towards others.

Christ wants us to be more interested in building each other up than we are in tearing each other down.