# C.S. Lewis



## ComeFrom? (May 21, 2004)

I have a few questions: Has (does) anybody read C.S. Lewis? If so, have you read "The Screwtape Letters"? If so, what have you gotten out of it and do you recommend it? tia, CF?

BTW, here is a synopsis of "The Screwtape Letters:

"The Screwtape Letters" is fiction. But only fiction in the sense that the characters and the dialogue sprang from the imagination of one of the greatest modern Christian writers. Yet in our terrestrial reality the issues confronted in this book play out in our lives every day.

The book contains thirty-one letters from Screwtape to his nephew, Wormwood, who is screwtape's underling in fiendishness. Screwtape is an upper-level functionary in the complex bureaucracy of the underworld. The "Screwtape Letters" are friendly advice from this elder statesman to a front-line tempter on how to procure the soul of his "patient", a young Christian man just trying to live out his everyday life.

We get the letters only from one side of the correspondence (Screwtape's), yet the story of the meanderings of the Christian "patient's" soul is clearly read between the lines. The letters begin with Wormwood's failure to keep his subject from becoming a Christian. The urbane Screwtape informs him that, although this is an alarming development, his patient is by no means lost to the dark forces of evil.

World War II serves as the backdrop for the Letters. Yet war and strife do not play a significant roll in the work. The book is about more everyday and universal problems. Problems every individual must deal with even today.

Thus, each letter addresses various aspects of the travails of the human soul and how the devil tempts that soul away from goodness and toward evil - not evil on a grand scale, but evil on a petty scale. They show how evil can seep into a Christian's relationships with friends and family, in his views on the church, even in his practice of prayer.

As each letter unfolds, we find the Christian "patient" slipping more and more out of the hands of Wormwood and his temptations. Screwtape's advice to the tempter becomes more firm and yet more subtle. And, by degrees, we come to see the workings of evil in our own hearts. "The Screwtape Letters" is a book that entertains while it instructs. It is a book to be treasured and studied."


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## Tall Steve (Jun 22, 2004)

I have,

What I probably got out of it most was the roll the evil one plays in temptation. Also how often distraction is his best weapon rather than direct confrontation.


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## huntinguy (Aug 22, 2005)

I have as well. Very good read IMHO. Points out many ways in which Satan works. Often we want to talk and think of God as being "at work" in our lives....but fail to realize that Satan is at work as well.


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## luv2fish (Mar 21, 2005)

I think it is awesome how C S Lewis turned his life over to the Lord Jesus Christ.


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## ComeFrom? (May 21, 2004)

huntinguy said:


> ....but fail to realize that Satan is at work as well.


My studies and learnings have revealed that the only thing Satan can do since the resurrection of Christ is LIE to everybody and that's all. His days are numbered. CF?


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## ComeFrom? (May 21, 2004)

luv2fish said:


> I think it is awesome how C S Lewis turned his life over to the Lord Jesus Christ.


Laura;

I found his Bio online at the C.S. Lewis Foundation site. I couldn't believe his achievements in literature. I ordered the two book collectors set on Amazon that included "Mere Christianity" as well as "Screwtape." I'm going to be needing an eye exam soon! LOL! CF?


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## MrsG (Jan 20, 2006)

ComeFrom? said:


> Laura;
> 
> I found his Bio online at the C.S. Lewis Foundation site. I couldn't believe his achievements in literature. I ordered the two book collectors set on Amazon that included "Mere Christianity" as well as "Screwtape." I'm going to be needing an eye exam soon! LOL! CF?


 Excellent choices! My kiddos all have to read "Mere Christianity" before they finish high school. It equips them for life and all the things they will face in college and beyond. It also helps to remember that Satan is always looking for a toe in the door and he can be very, very subtle indeed. You will be blessed for life by these books.


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## ComeFrom? (May 21, 2004)

MrsG said:


> Excellent choices! My kiddos all have to read "Mere Christianity" before they finish high school.


Sounds like something I should have read before I graduated in 1970. If you only knew! Better late than never. CF?


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## Tall Steve (Jun 22, 2004)

"Mere Christianity" is an excellent place to start reading Lewis. Besides the aformentioned "The Great Divorce" is an interesting read as well.


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## MrsG (Jan 20, 2006)

ComeFrom? said:


> Sounds like something I should have read before I graduated in 1970. If you only knew! Better late than never. CF?


 Ah, but God works in His own way and He knocked on your door at just the right time and you opened it. You weren't late...you were right on time.


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## luv2fish (Mar 21, 2005)

Divine is HE


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## Mrs Backlasher (Dec 19, 2004)

ComeFrom? said:


> Laura;
> 
> I found his Bio online at the C.S. Lewis Foundation site. I couldn't believe his achievements in literature. I ordered the two book collectors set on Amazon that included "Mere Christianity" as well as "Screwtape." I'm going to be needing an eye exam soon! LOL! CF?


I think you may be able to get his books in audio (tape or CD) as well. Then you can listen and save your eyesight! LOL


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## huntinguy (Aug 22, 2005)

ComeFrom? said:


> My studies and learnings have revealed that the only thing Satan can do since the resurrection of Christ is LIE to everybody and that's all. His days are numbered. CF?


This is true, what is dangerous however, is that many if not most of his lies....include an element of truth. Lying may be all he can do, but when we believe them, when seeds of doubt produce fruits of discouragement and discord......then it has been enough. Be wary 1 Peter 5:8

"Good is the enemy of Best" Oswald Chambers


"If life were a matter of choosing between good and evil, our choices would be simple. The matter of chosing between good and best is where we falter" 

Adrian Rogers

I give glory but to God alone. Soli Deo Gloria!


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