“Anything, even a sin, which has the total effect of moving him close up to the Enemy [i.e. God], makes against us in the long run.”
The Screwtape Letters – XXVII – The Historical Point of View
(First published in The Guardian on 10/31/1941)
QUOTE: October 3, 2013
“The earliest converts were converted by a single historical fact (the Resurrection) and a single theological doctrine (the Redemption) operating on a sense of sin which they already had.”
The Screwtape Letters – XXIII – The Historical Jesus
(First published in The Guardian on 10/3/1941)
Quote: July 26, 2013
[Screwtape Advises:] “I would make it a rule to eradicate from my patient any strong personal taste which is not actually a sin, even if it is something quite trivial.”
The Screwtape Letters – XIII
(first published in The Guardian on 7/25/1941)
Quote: July 21, 2013
” The feeling of being, or not being, forgiven and loved, is not what matters. One must come down to brass tacks. If there is a particular sin on your conscience, repent and confess it. If there isn’t, tell the despondent devil not to be silly.”
Letter to Mary Willis Shelburne
(from Collected Letters, Volume 3 on 7/21/1958)
Quote: July 18, 2013
“The only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing.”
The Screwtape Letters – XII
(first published in The Guardian on 7/18/1941)