Good Vs. Evil In The Screwtape Letters By C. S. Lewis

The Screwtape letters, was written by C.S.Lewis. In this paper, I will be examining the good versus the evil. In The Screwtape Letters Lewis is trying to talk somebody into doing something wrong or think something that is not true, when it is. Martin Luther King Jr. once said “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” If light is shown in the world more darkness would not be so abundant, if one loved more so much hate would go away. Sometimes it seems like you have a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other, this is how I pictured this whole story. Those figures are making one say which way should I go? Portraying the good and the bad. Through the failures of temptations,

It seems so hard for Wormwood to tempt a patient, he can never seem to succeed. Everything always fails for him. “He leaves them to ‘do it on their own’ … They become less dependent on emotion and therefore much harder to tempt.” (Lewis 4). By now the patient has learned to be less dependent on emotions so it makes it much harder for Wormwood to tempt. So now Wormwood knows he cannot get to the patient through unnatural liaisons so he will try fear. Fear is simply the fact of being “an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.” One fears because they know the devil is a lie, and he is dangerous. “Fear becomes easier to master when the patient’s mind is diverted from the thing feared to the fear itself, considered as a present and undesirable state of his own mind; and when he regards the fear as his appointed cross he will inevitably think of it as a state of mind.” (9) Once the patient has figured out the states of fear, then they can conquer it. They immediately transfer paths so they do not get pulled into the dark forces. 1 John4:18 says “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love”

“How valuable time is to us may be gauged by the fact that the Enemy allows us so little of it. … it is obvious that to Him human birth is important chiefly as the qualification for human death solely as the gate to that other kind of life” (45). Darkness does not see the value of life, “the enemy” (God) does. Darkness is death, God is eternal. 1 John 1:5 says “… that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all”. Not a bit of darkness abounds near or in God. He defeated darkness a long time ago, no need to try again. The demons do not desire the value of life or change. The love of change is another thing the devil does not care for. In letter XXV talks about the love of change, one thing that stood out to me was “He has balanced the love of change in them by a love of performance. … by that union of change and performance which we call Rhythm” (39). If you have the love of God in your heart, you will have a love for humans and your actions will change. Everything about a person will change once the love of God is in them, one will automatically want to change for the better for God. John 1:12 says “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” Love and power comes when Christ is received. God defeated darkness a long time ago when he gave up