Emily Moenning ‘17 Selah
MY DEAR WORMWOOD,
You asked me to elaborate on the “Divine Design” principle
that I mentioned in one of my previous letters. I want to
first admonish you, however, for failing to retain any of the
knowledge afforded you by the Tempter’s Training College.
You have been taught a great deal, and yet you have learned
nothing.
How human of you.
I will, however, honor your request. As I have mentioned
before, the Enemy has “formed man from the dust of the
ground” [5]. Nevertheless, he has also created them “in
His own image” and “after His own likeness,” explaining
how these mutts manage to exist both as animals and as
spirits [6][7]. I can just imagine you shaking your head at this
conundrum. Well, Wormwood. Consider this: In their science
classes, the humans are taught that light exists both as a
particle and as a wave. The poor fools have never stopped to
consider that the same could be said about them.
YOU HAVE BEEN TAUGHT A GREAT DEAL,
AND YET YOU HAVE LEARNED NOTHING.
It gets worse. Even though the Enemy has sprinkled a couple
billion copies of himself across Earth, no two of them are
exactly the same. Each and every one of the little brutes is
endowed with specific gifts, talents, and abilities that neither
anyone one before them, nor anyone after them, will ever
possess. Physically, they exist in more heights, hues, and
hair colors than I care to mention, and their personalities are
equally distinct. They are, in a word, unique.
The Divine Design is this. Mankind is one hundred percent
the product of the Enemy (who else would concoct such
a slobbering species?), but one hundred percent different
from one another. Fortunate for us, Wormwood, is that they
often forget this fact. What they fail to realize is that their
only commonality is that they are constantly influenced both
by Enemy and by us. These self-aggrandizing animals have
called this phenomenon “the Human Experience.”
My dear Wormwood, your goal as Tempter is to ensure that
your patient remains ignorant of this truth. Should he know
of the uniqueness in which he was made, he would laugh at
every attempt you made to tempt him with the Twin Virtues.
How can you corrupt a man with Envy or Jealousy when
he is truly grateful for what the Enemy has given Him? Our
researchers have found no solutions. Neither have I.
As always, we have resorted to corruption. By manipulating
the minds of these monsters through morals and media, we
have convinced these humans to spend their lives trying to
achieve an unachievable goal: to become like each other.
We have taught them what is “good,” what is “legal,” what
is “right,” and they have simply taken us at our word. It’s
magnificent. We must continue to do so, lest they turn their
eyes from one another, and turn them towards the Enemy.
This is to be avoided at all costs.
These humans may exist in variety, but their souls taste the
same,
Your affectionate uncle,
SCREWTAPE
[5] Genesis 2:7
[6] Genesis 1:27
[7] Genesis 1:26
Sources:
Bible. New International
Version. Selected Verses
from Genesis, John,
Luke, and Galatians.
“Envy vs. Jealousy”.
Diffen.com. 22 October
2013. http://www.
diffen.com/difference/
Envy_vs_Jealousy
Lewis, C. S. The
Screwtape Letters: With
Screwtape Proposes a
Toast. San Francisco:
HarperSanFrancisco,
2001. Print.
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