Letters from Down Below

[PuzzleGlum]

Why should Lewis get all the fun (though I use the term "fun" very loosely)? Based on C.S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters."

This "story" is one I feel I wanted to write as a means of personal reflection and bettering myself. Advice of all types (whether literary or theologically) are accepted.

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This letter is from Palegrit, a demon that resides in lower Hell, to my tempter Hailblud. I cannot say when it was written. It could have been from years ago, or could have been yesterday.

My dear Hailblud,
Looking over your progress, I have seen that you have been working hard on your patient since the last time you've written to me, and while your patient still subscribes to the Enemy's camp, I can see you chipping away at his defense.
I note that in your last letter, you have written that your patient is continuously praying for salvation from a sin he has continued to commit. Do not think that for a moment that this request for forgiveness is necessarily a bad thing to our cause. Though any prayer for repentance is poison, if performed right, you should be able to turn him away from the Enemy without him even knowing.
My advise for the present moment is this: keep your patient focused on that sin, and as few others as possible. What your patient seems to forget is that people commit many sins every day. Whatever you do, don't let your patient figure this out. What we want him to think is something along the lines of "If it wasn't for this sin, I would be 'good'."
This is a useful strategy because it not only leads your patient to commit more sins, it keeps them from repenting of those sins! When he focuses on one of them, the (many) others that he has will be thrown to the side, and, if you are lucky, quickly forgotten. It is like a student focusing their attention on passing a history course because it is their worst subject, and ignoring all other courses, despite them being just as bad.
In your last letter, you also stated that your patient has committed those sins over and over, and continues to ask for forgiveness. What do you mean by telling me this? Do you wish my advice? If that is so, your training, I'm afraid, must have been very poor, and I will have to write to your alma mater regarding that matter.
Nevertheless, you have succeed in making the first step. I see that you have isolated him, making him think that he is alone with this problem. Remember, the filthy vermin known as people are "social" creatures. They rely on each other for support. I applaud you efforts in making him feel alone, for this will make him even easier to manipulate. If possible, make him question his salvation. Make him think, "I cannot be a Christian because I am still sinning." While at the surface, this strategy does not work, built upon a foundation of isolation, it can become a powerful tool in your arsenal.
My associates have informed me that your patient is friends with many modernists and the like. While this could be a good thing in time, for now, your patient seems to be strong in faith. In fact, you describe him as wanting to bring them over to the Enemy. However, you can also use this opportunity to trap him.
Despite popular belief, you should encourage your patient that he is a Christian, and as such, should be a beacon to the world. The ironic thing is that is just wants the Enemy wants. He wants his "children" to be examples of Christendom. But quickly change what an "example" is. Mention any noble characteristics which your patient feels he has a lack of, charity, nobility, but especially sinlessness! Don't make it complete sinlessness, for even those with a basic trust in the Enemy will know that this is impossible, but a "relative" sinlessness. Talking only about a part of the truth can be just as dangerous as a lie. And here in lies your advantage.
Without your patient knowing, always make "relative" moral behavior one step higher that he is; an unobtainable goal. He should be ashamed of the fact that he sins all of the time. But the final blow, the snapping of the trap, comes next.
Because your patient commits sins, and feels he should should be a sign of Christendom (i.e. without sin), the next step you must perform is to make him think that to be a Christian, he must keep his sins bottled inside of him! That will be the delicious fruit of your labor. Keep his vice bottled up inside him. Make him think that announcing his sins would be a tragedy, for if he does, the materialist friends that look at him for a Christian example will be disillusioned. In this way, he makes himself a hero. He, at the sacrifice of himself, will save others. This image as him, as a Hercules or Arthur must be in his mind. He will feel he is acting like a noble man.
However, I must warn you that there is a way out for your patient. Remember, as I stated previously, that he must think a Christian should be as sinless as possible. You must, with all your ability, prevent him from remembering the whole truth. The Enemy, of course, does want those of his camp to be as moral as possible, but the biggest part, the real "example" He is talking about is showing others that they are saved. You remember with agony the Enemy's actions that allowed people to enter his domain. This is the true spirit of what Christians are to show. You must not let your patient see that his sinful nature do not keep him from doing good. For the entire plot unravels if he should do so.
Yours,
Palegrit
******

Now it's your turn! I didn't open up this forum just for me. I would like to see what your demon might say about yourself (at any point in your life), somebody you know, or just an "everyman". I may write more letters later, but I would really like to see you guys try this.

 

[Copperfox]

Some Screwtape imitations flop, but this one was really good. I especially like your bringing up the use of confessing one sin to avoid confessing others. MANY mortals play that game!

I may add something of my own later; thanks for creating this thread.

 

[PuzzleGlum]

Some Screwtape imitations flop, but this one was really good. I especially like your bringing up the use of confessing one sin to avoid confessing others. MANY mortals play that game!

I may add something of my own later; thanks for creating this thread.

Thanks. I didn't think I could capture the essence of what Lewis tried to depict, and I don't think it's quite right yet, but its nice to know that I didn't bomb.

 

[Copperfox]

I had a previously-written Screwtapian piece of my own which I knew could fit here, but I had to find it. I found it buried in "The Marketplace of Technique." So here it is. You'll notice that it even agrees with you about the sneakiness of "repenting" of a limited number of sins so as not to have to repent of other sins.


An Infernal Interdepartmental Memo
....intercepted by JOSEPH "COPPERFOX" RAVITTS

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Dear Gagsludge,

I applaud the excellent points you recently made in the demonic chatroom, concerning the use of moral distractors in society. Of course we wish that we could completely blind the humans to all injustices and abuses (except those which affect them directly and thus produce resentment and self-pity); but since the Enemy Above won't allow all sense of ethics to vanish from the whole human race, it is indeed our best course to concede just a few evils which the little creatures can be allowed to notice. Then, with a bone thrown to their internal moral watchdogs, we can smuggle all other types of wrongdoing past them completely unopposed. If the distractor issue is racism or air pollution, for instance, a political agent of ours can get away with any amount of election-rigging, bribe-seeking, etc.--provided he scores his brownie points by being against racism and air pollution.

All this favors us, as far as it goes. But remember: societies cannot be damned or saved eternally--only individual souls can. You should be paying more attention to using the distractor technique on individual souls. Naturally, a member of your far less organized department can't be expected to have thought things through as perfectly as I have done; but I don't mind helping you out a bit. A pair of examples may be sufficient.

What is an evil that Christian ministers ought to have no difficulty in recognizing? Greed for personal wealth and material possessions. Well, if we can get a minister to be satisfied that he is not unethically diverting church money to his own direct personal use, we can then prompt him to practice with a clear conscience what is only a more subtle form of the same greed. Make him believe that all Bible verses pertaining to tithes and giving are applicable _only_ to filling the bank account of a denominational church--that missionary and charitable donations do not in any degree fulfill monetary obligations to the Enemy Above. Then you can get him half-hypnotized with his own endless chant of "Bring the tithe, bring the tithe, bring the tithe, tithe, tithe," till he ignores all other moral or theological issues in his eagerness to make every member feel guilty about not giving enough. The church rakes in more money, which is used on building fancier facilities rather than on evangelism; the minister enjoys the intoxicating pride of his own success at fund-raising, but sees no sin in this because the excess money is not _actually_ going into his pocket. These mortals are mostly too stupid to realize that there's more than one way to be foolishly laying up their treasures on Earth instead of in Heaven.

For my other example, what is an evil that Christian wives ought to have no difficulty in recognizing? Sexually flirtatious behavior, intended to provoke desire in men other than a woman's own husband. Well, if we can get a good Christian wife congratulating herself for not being sinfully flirtatious, this can blind her to some other sins, even highly vicious ones. Consider this: a sexually chaste married woman, who really does not have any wish to arouse lustful desires in her male neighbors, may still have a strong wish to exert _social_ power over other people--to be respected, to be listened to. Now, let this woman meet some beautiful single girl, who wears her skirt an inch or two shorter than the married woman regards as proper. The single girl obviously possesses, in her physical attractiveness, a powerful weapon of social influence. The married woman does not for a minute wish to compete with this girl in _sexual_ seductiveness, and therefore would furiously deny any suggestion that the girl made her jealous. But without letting herself be conscious of it, the married woman does resent the girl for having an advantage in social influence. Any half-trained tempter can then induce the envious patient to believe that the girl is wantonly promiscuous, although this may not be true at all. Once the girl is perceived as a tramp, all negative emotional reactions to her take on a nice, fake halo of holiness. Thus, the very fact that the older woman is morally pure in directly sexual matters helps her to avoid admitting that, in a less fleshly sense, she is guilty of gross, green-eyed, hissing alley-cat jealousy against that young girl.

The Anti-Scripture Department, slow-moving though it is with Mushvenom in charge, has in this century finally grown more alert about promoting just this kind of mental defectiveness. Most Biblical warnings against the strategy I am discussing are found in the Old Testament, as where Isaiah warns about people falling into a pit, climbing out of the pit, and then being caught in a snare. We have numerous Christians convinced that nothing in the Old Testament matters except the 23rd Psalm, Isaiah 53, and Malachi's tithing references; as a result, they miss out on countless vital warnings from the Enemy. Being thus under-equipped, they fall for the distractors, think that their whole job is done when they reject the most obvious evils, and fail to understand that they must be on guard against multiple dangers.

You might be concerned that assigning more demons to exploit the moral- distractor phenomenon with individual patients will result in a neglect of efforts for the collective corruption of civilizations. If that's your worry, relax. Remember, civilizations are only as good as the mortals who make them. As long as the mass of humans are individually conditioned to self-deception and fragmented morality, this will always yield a payback in societal dishonesty and stupidity.

Your condescending colleague,
Viperspite