I find it interesting Screwtape talking about not wanting the patient to die before their work is done on him. I never thought of it that way. I always pictured the devil wanting people dead, but really he wants them to act in immoral ways and get others to do the same, to make the world an unhappy place. Therefore one must be alive for the devil to be able to have an influence on you. The devil is apparently visible in many different forms these days, many people do not even know that they are portraying themselves or other things that can be seen in that light.
The people that you associate yourself with will definitely have an impact on what type of life you live. Falling in love with someone of strong faith and moral values is going to help you to do the same. This has already been talked about, but Screwtape is kind of recapping the failures of their mission on the patient. It is also true that thinking about your distractions away from God will bring you closer.
I like the quote that Screwtape uses “taken out of himself.” It is talking about not thinking about oneself, but instead worrying about the well being of others. It is his effort of helping others because of a moral obligation that he may feel all on his own, but in essence brings him closer to God because it keeps him from other distractions and helps those people to feel better about themselves.
4 comments:
I have to agree that I never had thought about it that if the patient died then most likely the Enemy would win. I always thought that the devil would want people dead when really it makes more sense that he would want them alive in order to keep getting them to go to his side instead of the enemies side.
I agree with you also, I never thought about the devil wanting us to live so that we can influence others with unmoral behaviors as our own. That's deep! We are no use to no one dead other than God , because once we die we are able to enter into heavwn which gives us eternal life. The devil is very wise, but not wise enough.God is alsome and much more wiser than he.
I like how you talk about not wanting the patient dead, but rather alive to act in immoral ways. It's an interesting thing to think about...I guess the devil would want people to be alive and recruiting others to follow him too. I agree with what you say too, about associating with people who have somewhat similar beliefs and/or morals as you. It keeps you grounded and in the right frame of mind.
I wrote my post on pretty much the same thing as you. I really thought it was interesting too how the Devil doesn't want us to die, but rather to live, so that his corruptive influence can take ahold of us. If we're dead, we really are no use to him. Just kind of an interesting thought to think about...
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