This chapter starts out with the very interesting concept of the patient creating problems by not being pleased with his church. At first glance it would seem that Wormwood and Screwtape would be rejoicing about the patient being skeptical about his church. If he is skeptical about one church, what stops him from searching other churches with a sour taste in his mouth? Assuming the patient continues to have a hard time finding a church he likes it would seem that eventually he would just give up. Yet, this is not the way both look at the patient's situation. They are anxious for the patient to find the absolute crummiest, most hate filled church that he can love. It strikes me as being interesting that they are more worried about the patient not finding a church than finding a crummy one. The reason seems to be that as long as the patient continues to think critically and intelligently about religion, he will find a way to do what is right, even if the church search is going terrible.
This enforces the concept that critical thinking is such a powerful tool that should not be compromised. Screwtape sees that the second the patient becomes attached to a bad church, things will get really easy for Wormwood. The preacher will basically take over the role that Wormwood is supposed to be taking. Instead of the unattractive demon telling the patient what to do, the appealing and evil preacher will get the job done, and the patient will have a great time falling into the pits of ignorance. The lesson here seems to be one of thinking critically about the religious doctrine one is subscribing to. There are plenty of religious people who can do plenty of harm, and they are helped in this by people forgetting to think critically about what has been said. While the thought of falling for harmful religious teaching is not pleasant and having to think critically about what has been said by someone who one thinks of as a mentor is not pleasant, it is a lot better than not critically thinking and falling for the tricks of a Screwtape.
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The Screwtape Letters
If you're reading this, you're most likely a classmate from RELI 220 so welcome. I'll be interested in reading what you think of my reactions to The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis and look forward to good conversations over the course of the semester.
3 comments:
I agree with your statement about thinking critically and intelligently about religion and how it does not matter what church you are at as long as you are able to have this skill. I think that the reason that they are not pushing him to find a crummy church is because not being connected to that supportive community is better than being connected to a crummy one. I always enjoy reading your blog, it always has such a good message behind it.
This reminds me of me and trying to find a church that i feel most comfortable with and not what others want to me go to. I like your description of this chapter. I guess I didn't read it hard enough to get this much information out like you did. I look forward to reading more of you ideas.
I really agree with your points about having a bad preacher. I feel like a lot of times, people simply will take every word that a preacher says to be complete truth, without analyzing that the preacher himself is actually human and can have faults and misunderstandings of the text as well. Simply listening to what one man has to say week after week and not critically analyzing the message can be very, very dangerous. I completely agree that one should critically analyze and think about everything they hear and learn.
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