The Safe Road to Hell

Letter twelve of Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters is my favorite chapter of what is perhaps my favorite C.S. Lewis book. In the opening of the letter Screwtape tells Wormwood that his patient doesn’t see his position for what it really is as they do. The concept that there are demons around us trying to constantly lead us away from our God is a scary thought, one that we don’t like to think about. Lewis contends that it’s dangerous to deny their existence. One of the reasons that this is my favorite book is that it is from a demon perspective which is very abstract but also it illustrates our faith as a war, which in many ways it is. This book is important because it raises awareness to our disposition and reminds us that Christianity is not ‘safe;’ the devil and his servants want to pull us away.

Screwtape continues to tell the next stratagem for how Wormwood is to pull the patient away from God. The patient has just come to Christ and, as many of us, harbors sin and guilt. By not bringing this guilt to God, the patient would become less and less likely to come honestly before God in prayer. As Christians it’s important to put everything before God, even if we feel guilty or terrible about what we done. Not bringing before God creates an unhealthy prayer life and begins to separate us from God.

In their attempt to pull the patient from God, Screwtape is happy that the patient is still a churchgoer. This is alarming to me and should be to all of us. Screwtape says that this helps to hide his falling out with God from his consciousness, so just because we are still going to church and doing everything we typically do as routine doesn’t mean that our faith is still the same. Thinking that we’re still a Christian is good for our enemy. No strong Christian would say “yes” if asked to not be a Christian anymore, but if we are slowly pulled away while still thinking we are a Christian then this “yes” becomes easier and easier to being said. We fall further and further from sincerity in our faith till all of a sudden one might just say, “I don’t really feel like going to church anymore, what’s the point,” and the enemy has won. It’s my favorite quote from the book and one of my favorites ever, “Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” We need to think carefully about our lives and make sure we’re not on a gradual road to Hell.