This book never ceases to amaze me. It discusses so many different topics on levels I have never even come close to thinking about. I still have some difficulty reading the letters because of the format in which they're written, but I'm starting to understand the concepts better.
This week, I chose to concentrate on Letter 8. I found this to stick out the most out of the three letters assigned. One of the ideas that I would like to expand on is on page 38, when he states, "He really does want to fill the universe with a lot of loathsome little replicas of Himself..." I found this quote to be very powerful. It describes how Wormwood feels about God giving us these troughs and peaks to overcome. The paragraph before that quote also states that "One much face the fact that all the talk about His love for men, and His service being perfect freedom, is not mere propaganda, but appaling truth." This quote ties into the other one because it talks about the expectations that God sets for us. The way I interpretted the quote was that God doesn't have to sell anything to us, we'll believe anything that we see as being acceptable. It seems that in the perspective of C.S. Lewis, God isn't making humans unique and giving them their own personalities and opinions, but He's doing what he can to make humans most like him. Is this the thruth?
I personally don't see this quote as being entirely truthful because look at the amount of crime and sin we have in this world. However, I do believe that Lewis has a very little amount of truth in the quote. The Ten Commandments give us basic guidelines in which to live our lives. Would He have made these if sin wasn't something he expected? I just believe that He forgives us of our sins, knowing ahead of time that we will make mistakes along the way and by Him forgiving us, does he hope that we will learn to forgive and love others?
I'm sure that I've rambled on about nonsense, but just thinking into it a little deeper!!
Any insight?....
3 comments:
I am glad that you choose this letter, because I did not really understand it and your thoughts have cleared up the confusion that I had. I also do not agree with C.S. Lewis' idea that God is trying to make us all like him. I believe that in some ways he tries to make our faith be as strong as his, but that in other aspects of our lives he want us to be unique.
I agree with your thoughts on the ten commandments and that He hopes that by forgiving us we will learn to forgive others. I also think that he has forgiven our sins as a type of way to put faith and trust in us in hopes that we do not take advantage of our privileges (which is sad that most people do take advantage of this). I think that by him forgiving us, it opens the door for us to forgive others.
Hey, I chose the same letter and I agree with alot of what you said. I think that C.S. Lewis might think that in some ways however in other ways he says differently. A little later Lewis writes, "the Enemy wants a world full of beings united to Him but still distinct." I think when he says this here it shows that God wants us to follow Him however think on our own. We must make our own choices in order to get to Him. I also think Lewis is saying that our belief in him should be the same. I don't know, I just thought that might help.
I never really thought about the 10 commandments in this way before, and you've really made me take a step back and reflect about it now. I love the idea you brought up of how because God forgives us for our sins he is only trying to teach us to forgive others and love them as he still loves us as sinners. It's a good way of thinking if you ask me. So in a sense I can see how Screwtape says that God is trying to make "mini replicas" of himself in that he wants us to follow his forgiveness and love by doing as he does. Thanks for your insights and connections, I wouldn't have thought to make them myself.
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