(Advice from an experienced older devil, Screwtape, to his nephew Wormwood on how to tempt humans.)
I do not think you will have much difficulty keeping the patient in the dark. The fact that 'devils' are predominately comic figures in the modern imagination will help you. If any faint suspicion of your existence begins to arise in his mind, suggest to him a picture of something in red tights, and persuade him that since he cannot believe in that (it is an old textbook method of confusing them) he therefore cannot believe in you.
C. S. Lewis, 1898-1963, The Screwtape Letters, 7 (Harper Collins Publishers, 2001, p.32)
Is there a danger of confusing our picture of a thing for the thing itself? If so, how do we avoid it?
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I have found it very difficult to break free of old images and paradigms. I hang on to these unhelpful things long after they stop being helpful - if they ever were helpful.
ReplyDeleteI guess I began releasing these images and paradigms when I began wrestling with my theological essentials. During that season (and still today) I try to be open to the wisdom of God through people who are not like me. I have found it to be helpful.
I would agree. Looking at people who think differently than I do, if it does not change my viewpoint, at least clarifies it.
DeleteWell put Mike.
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