Does someone still think that the screwtape letters by C.S. Lewis are legitimate? If so, try to understand.
What is the trouble with argument is that it moves the whole struggle onto the Enemy’s own ground. He can argue too; whereas in really practical propaganda of the kind I am suggesting He has been shown for centuries to be greatly the inferior of Our Father Below.
When I say arguing with a dog, I have more defence. Then the dog becomes defensive(of that nature). ” and the second is that He has been shown in real practically practical propaganda of the kind I am suggesting that He is also very superior”. Does not
make any sense.
All argument moves the wrestle onto enemy’s own ground. It is not as if nothing happens. He can argue too; ” i.e. ” Is one good or evil? If yes then why? Logic and rationale find their source in God. What are HIS tools? If you are a logic teacher, then you are at an immediate disadvantage if you are trying to fight against him.
“…whereas in really practical propaganda of the kind I am suggesting…” i.e.? In the art of creative embellishment (“he has been shown
for centuries to be greatly the inferior of Our Father Below,” i.e., “Our Father Above has not created any new charades,” but was instead a charade for generations. Is God unable to be truthful?
Screwtape does not say that the enemy will be more “defensive” but that the struggle will be carried on “terrain” where the Enemy is stronger. In rational arguments, will God win?
In “practical propaganda” —that is, appealing to irrational motives or is superior to the Devil? “Practical propaganda” is therefore what Screwtape is suggesting: he advises Wormwood not to try to persuade The Patient that materialism is “true” (an appeal to logic) but to make him believe that materialism “is strong, or stark, or courageous — that it is the philosophy of the future” (an appeal to emotion).
