Screwtape Letters 25-28

• Letter 25: Rhythm vs Novelty

• the horror for us of enduring the same old thing
• We love change; we love permanence. These things are contrary, and are balanced through rhythm.
• Novelty, on the other hand, is the continued desire for the 'new', without the balance for the old. The continual desire for the new puts us at odds with the familiar, and distances us from the reality of our lives.
• The demand for novelty "diminishes pleasure while increasing desire", passing from innocent sources of pleasure to those forbidden
• Be careful of what we are chasing (the 'new' for the sake of the 'new'), as well as what we are cautioning ourselves against (the old, familiar, permanent, because it is old, familiar, permanent)
• When trying to determine whether or not to do something, keep it simple: is it kind? is it pure? is it loving? Steer clear from is it couth? is it relevant? is it fashionable?
• "We have trained them to think of the future as a promised land which favoured heros attain - not as something everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is"

• Letter 26: The selfishness of being unselfish
• Opening paragraph: a bit confused. Maybe Lewis is saying that by ignoring today's issues under the codeword of charity, you are just delaying the inevitable (that said issue must be addressed), and that you are giving opportunity across time for unhealthy seeds to grow between you and the other. Or maybe he isn't???
• Unselfishness -vs- Charity, which look similar. The latter is actually for another person's benefit; the former may be solely for your own. 
• The battle of who can be more unselfish, beyond reason... leading to frustrated discourtesy, as each party refused to be out-unselfished, an "elaborate and self-conscious unselfishness"
• From AeB: I'm inclined to think that this issue is much more 'British' in cultural context than 'American', although I may just be fooling myself.
• Letter 27: The Forbidden Question: Is it True?
• When we acknowledge (to God) our distraction away from God, we are in a good position to return before Him. Our movements towards and away from God are of ultimate importance to Him. If a sin in us awakens us to our state, and motivates us to repentance unto life, then in its own way, said sin has been turned on its head for the purpose of good.
• In the battle of daily prayer, keep it simple. Do not over-spiritualize.
• The challenge of the value of praying to an all-knowing God... why bother?
• God "does not foresee the humans making their free contributions in a future, but sees them doing so in His unbounded Now. And obviously, to watch a man doing something is not to make him do it."
• In reading from those who have come before us, we ought to focus on the eternal question "Is it true?", rather than the intellectually stimulating questions "Is it contextually appropriate, culturally sensitive, applicable to our frame of reference...."
• Screwtape's advice: Cut generations off from each other. Prevent the passing of wisdom, and the learning from mistakes.
• Letter 28: Ultimate Importance
• Our misperception: death is the ultimate evil; survival the greatest good.
• If Wormwood cannot overcome the active faith and reliance upon the Enemy of his patient in his youth, then be patient, and allow "the long dull monotonous years of middle-age prosperity or middle-aged adversity [to be] excellent campaigning weather", to dreary the patient's soul away from the Enemy.
• "Prosperity knits a man to the world". Are you finding your place in this world, or is this world finding its place in you?
• Youth has the godly advantage of a lust for life and a acknowledgement that nothing is permanent in this life. Age can forgo both of those opportunities, trading living for security, and clinging to each day, masked as 'maturity'.

We lost a good man

Johnny Gaskins passed away 3 days ago, the first person in my daily life to have died (all before have been on my life’s periphery).

He was suffering, and is no more. Brenda and the family were suffering, tired; and while they are in a period of distinct mourning, they may soon find God’s peace and rest.

Johnny loved God. I believe God loves him, and has brought about his eternal healing. We mourn the loss of a truly great man whom we loved and admired. We rejoice in his personal deliverance.

I’ve had very few people I have allowed to mentor me. I am so fortunate and grateful of my time with Johnny. I am a better man for his presence in my life, as a man, a believer in Jesus, and engineer, and a business leader.

Duplicity

God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die'... the serpent said to the woman 'You surely shall not die!'... all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.
Genesis 3:3-4; 5:3-5

God told Adam he would die if he acted according to the serpent. But Adam fell curious about experiences beyond his Creator/Sustainer and trusted that he would continue to live: 'Surely if I touch and ate of this simple fruit I will not cease to be... such is irrational'. And you know, the serpent was correct; Adam's disobedience turned out not that big of a deal as he piles on another 800 years enjoying creation, fat and happy.

"This... bread..., one may eat of it and not die... if anyone shall eat of this bread, he shall live forever.'
John 6:50-51

Every person Jesus was speaking to here died. As far as we know, none of them extended their days beyond standard expectations. Ironically, those who chose to eat Jesus' bread failed to match the 800 years which the 'Surely you'll die' Adam enjoyed. Jesus was incorrect; the disciples were fooled... they ate of His bread oand did not live to see the fall of Jerusalem.
God has it backwards in both of these passages: He predicts death but allows life; He promises life but watches death overtake.
That is, unless life as God creates and defines is more than the blood flowing through our veins, neurons firing within our cranium. If by faith we believe that Jehovah Father and Jesus Son knew what they were speaking of regarding the death and life of 'life', we must search out what it is they understand of their creation.
We naturally estimate existence beyond matter... somehow beyond what we ourselves see and feel. Those who deny this seem to do so at great effort on their part, insisting such a belief and then finding a means to its end.

Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourself.
John 6:53
If by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who received the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus [the] Christ.
Romans 5:17

These claims are a-rational and ridiculous. However, they are at the root of the greatest single force in history. Life is duplicitous; there is some part of us both physical and not. There are answered and unanswered questions about what it is within us that is not physical... answers we have spent history searching, only to begin anew with the passing of generation to generation. We may have clean skin, fresh breath and pure lungs, yet be found an apostate. We may walk the land in frailty and leprosy, yet be sought out as a living saint.

Let us acknowledge the fullness of life in both the physical and spiritual, seek harmony with our Maker and look to His Spirit, His words and fellow saints for guidance to do so.

where is Thy Victory?

In my sophomore year at Tech, a friend of my friends was killed in a hunting accident - freak of nature, no one to hold blame. He was 20ish and a leader within the Jesus community. His funeral was uncommon... a time of worship and healing not bound by the physical arena in which we gathered. 12+ years ago, and I am still there.

O Death, where is your victory? O Sheol, where is your sting? - Hosea 13:14

Church is nice, generally. Stick around long enough and you'll find pretty good reasons to complain; but it is generally worth it. Folks seem to like having their kids there at least, even if they mind going themselves. After enough time and you can identify yourself as a christian: congratulations.

You can baptize, commune, give, offer, sacrifice... pick a faith and take a chance with it. We preach that sincerity is more important than the substance of your faith; as long as you meant to believe something good, you should be in shape for the next step.

And then let Death introduce himself. Not quickly, where pride and courage and adrenaline create an exoskeleton defense of your soul. Let Death come slowly, over months, with pain and numbness and lack of control, with people poking and prodding and praying and laying hands on you... with Death not stopping his advance.

He will win; you will die. Your flesh will be emptied and the who of who you are will change; it is going somewhere else... or is it? Your creed and tradition and hope may point your mind to a "belief". But a metaphysical intervention is required to face Death with hope. Our beliefs are pleasant, but they do not create redemption, nor do they overcome the world outside of us. Victory over Death does not come from within. We will all meet and be overtaken by Death... all of us. We are not capable of survival... we don't even understand what we are battling.

Litmus Tests:
Peace in the face of Death. Do you know the presence of God and rest in His care, not merely resolved to face Death with 'dignity'? This is a gift from beyond our selves, from beyond rational comprehension.
Joy in the grip of Death. This is ludicrous, and counters the instinct of the cells that intertwine to form us. The look forward to what is next, in a trust that the One is there, where you are going, and He cares for you, and will take care of you.

... we cry out, "Abba! Father!" - Romans 8:15

Sunday school and scripture memory and church attendance and gray hairs... an open mind and educated background, the words and works of those come before us... none of these birth Joy. It is a gift handed, poured over your head from One who knows and understands and gives Victory over Death.

He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord YHWH will wipe tears away from all faces. - Isaiah 25:8

thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ... therefore, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain. - II Corinthians 15:57-58

Not necessarily worried about what comes next, but rather how you face Death when he knocks: in the now, you can pretend... you can not worry about it, put it out of your mind. Lord knows it isn't a pleasant subject. And then you can hope that when your 'time comes', it is quick and you won't be given much time to think about it. You can put hope in your 'beliefs' and whatever direction they provide for you. I have never witnessed someone facing Death at peace and with joy from their beliefs; I'm skeptical of our power to prepare for Death. But I have witnessed Jesus reaching down with His peace and joy and calming one's soul down and readying His brother to come home.