Friday in the 3rd Week of Lent: Letter 19

Letter 19 is just full of some very interesting lines of thought.  Throughout The Screwtape Letters, Lewis asks and answers the question of Absolutes.  Are there universal rights and wrongs?  Are there certain truths, values, or principles which are unchanging, universal, and objective, regardless of time, culture, or personal perspective?

Now the heavenly perspective says “YES” there are those virtues that are absolutely or always GOOD and those vices that are absolutely or always evil.  I think that we can say in all certainty that love for God is always good.  Can you morally justify apartheid? 

On the other hand, Screwtape, Wormwood and all the other demons would prefer that we stay away from Absolutes – even something Absolutely Evil if there could be such a thing.  Demons are much better at corrupting GOOD.  Screwtape reminds Wormwood in many of the letters that he should always keep his Patient conflicted – and what better way than to create doubt about what is good and what is not.

If you doubt that something is absolutely and always bad, then the same is true for an ABSOLUTE GOOD.  Screwtape wants to create doubt about anything good in the Patient’s mind. 

Then there is the question of the GOOD of the INDIVIDUAL versus the GOOD for EVERYONE.   In The Screwtape Letters, the GOOD of the INDIVIDUAL is clearly the winner on the demon side.  If they can get the Patient to think only of himself, then they have won the day. 

On the other side, Heaven is more concerned with all of humanity and if it is good for the Whole then it must be good for me.  When we start thinking about others, then pretty soon we are thinking about God and this is NOT what a good demon wants to happen.

This why Screwtape calls God’s Love a “contradiction in terms.”  Love requires us to think first of the other person.  If, according to Screwtape, all of existence is competition – even for God, then “Their good cannot be His.” 

But first, please note that in the first paragraph, we begin to detect some growing tension between Uncle Screwtape and his nephew, Wormwood.  Remember, demons cannot love so there cannot be any real affection between Screwtape and Wormwood despite the way Screwtape closes his letters.  Remember this first paragraph because it is going to be important in a future letter.

As I was reading this letter, I could not help but think about the modern view that says its only wrong if you are caught.  If you drive 80 mph in a 70 mph speed zone and you are not pulled over by a State Trooper, is it still wrong?  Consequentialism would say it is not – the end justifies the means.  On the opposite side, Utilitarian ethics says you are wrong – the means dictates the end – so even if you are not caught – you are still guilty.

Now Screwtape is convinced that God cannot possibly love the humans and so all “his talk about Love must be a disguise for something else…”  Clearly the demons, including the father below, cannot determine, how God could love humans.  It is beyond their comprehension as demons.  Screwtape calls it an insoluble – means unsolvable – question. 

Screwtape goes into a discussion of a time when God forsaw the cross and Satan questioned this decision.  Screwtape calls it a “cock-and-bull story about disinterested love which He has been circulating ever since.”  It is important to distinguish between the words “disinterested” and “uninterested” in this case.  While we could call uninterested love and oxymoron, disinterested here refers to love that puts others first.  If I love you no matter what, then I have a disinterested love.

Screwtape is absolutely convinced that God must have ulterior motives when it comes to love.  In fact, all of hell cannot figure out why God would love you and me and so they have long ago determined that this heavenly love must all be a ruse to cover up the real reason God puts up with us. 

This brings up the question of if Satan and his demons could ever return to Heaven.  This question has been debated by Theologians and Bible scholars for centuries.  To make it a bit more simple, could Screwtape and Wormwood repent? 

Think about it.  To repent is to turn back to God – to remove whatever it is that is separating us from God’s love.  And if we repent then we must accept God’s love which in turn would fill us so that we would love others.  And if the demons started to love others, they would no longer be demons but rather rejoin the ranks of the celestial host.  Remember, with God nothing is impossible.

In this last section of this letter, Screwtape reminds Wormwood once again to use the extremes to raise doubt.  A human should be pushed toward an idea that something – in this case LOVE – is either Good or Bad.  Once the Patient commits then doubt can make him question his decision and plunge him into a constant state of uncertainty. 

Screwtape divides humans into 1 of 2 types.  First there is the Arrogant Man who believes that his purity and perfection of love makes him superior to his fellows.  He is suffering from that Gluttony of Delicacy that we talked about in Letter 17.

The second type of man is the EMOTIONAL, GULLIBLE man who believes that Love is both irresistible and meritorious.  Ultimately, this kind of human is what Shakespeare called the Tragic Hero.  He dies for Love because he does not know what else to do. 

Ultimately, Wormwood should drive the Patient toward a marriage of convenience that leaves him conflicted and always trying to reconcile his feelings with his faith.

 

Our first scripture reading for today fits in quite well with Letter 19.  Hosea was an Old Testament prophet whose message is one of both warning and hope emphasizing God’s love and faithfulness despite human failure.  In his prophesy, Hosea tells the story of how he was commanded by God to marry Gomer, a woman described as an unfaithful spouse symbolizing Israel’s unfaithfulness to God.  Despite her unfaithfulness, Hosea continues to love and forgive her just as God loves His chosen people.

Our reading for today is the final chapter of Hosea and calls for Israel’s repentance because God always promises restoration.  God’s love shall bring prosperity, stability, and life.

Psalm 81 recalls God deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.  The Psalm is a celebration of God’s faithfulness.

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus answers the scribes and the Sadducees who want to trick Jesus into saying the wrong thing.  One of the scribes comes asking which is the greatest commandment.  In Jesus’s day this was a hotly debated question in Judaism.  Jesus responds by quoting 2 foundational verses of scripture: Love God and love your neighbor.  Jesus places love at the very heart of the Law making it impossible for the Scribes and the Sadducees to dispute him.

This is at the heart of the ethical question we asked earlier.  Love for God must be expressed outwardly through love for others.  How else could you claim love for God if it were not seen in the way you treat others.  And if you love others then surely you are reflecting love received from and given to God.  As we can easily see, the moral absolute is love received and love shared. 

Let us pray

Grant us, O Lord our Strength, a true love of your holy Name; so that, trusting in your grace, we may fear no earthly evil, nor fix our hearts on earthly goods, but may rejoice in your full salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.