Quote: Screwtape Letters

The Screwtape Letters are written from the perspective of Senior Devil to a Junior Devil. This quote talks about the Junior's subject facing trials (or troughs) in faith.

"He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles. Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys." -C.S.Lewis

C.S.Lewis writes to me in profound ways. I'm not sure what I think of the Screwtape Letters, yet-but regardless of how I view the entire book there are pieces that echo with truth.

Some of my Confirmation kids have a lot of trouble with the concept of Hell. Why would God create this if he loves us so much. I keep trying to explain it, but it never seems to work. I don't know that I really understand myself. It is related to this quote... It's about "taking the hand away."

The first part of my explanation is that in my mind Hell is nothing more than eternal separation from God. I don't buy into Dante, despite the elegance of his writings. Heaven and Hell are spiritual places... New bodies? Maybe... but I don't really know.

The second part involves God "Taking his hand away." He grants us free will. We can either stumble to or away from God. In short, we get to decide how we spend eternity.

I'm not sure how, or when all our chips are put onto the table. It could be that we are conditioned by the choices we make. I remember playing a Star Wars Video Game (KoTR?) and your character's alignment with the force was deteremined by your actions: Light or Dark. The other side I think might be likely is that come Rapture (not exactly how I invision Rapture), Christ will ask you where you stand with him. Could it be that some would walk away from Christ standing in his Glory? As scary as it is, I think that those people exist.

C.S.Lewis I think favors the prior. We are beings learning to walk like a son/daughter of God.