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Author Topic: Can you believe C.S. Lewis wrote this the year I was born  (Read 454 times)

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Offline cassini

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Can you believe C.S. Lewis wrote this the year I was born
« on: March 28, 2022, 11:34:28 AM »
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  • "One young devil asked the old man: "How did you manage
    to bring so many souls to hell?" The old devil answered: "I
    instilled fear in them!" Answers the youngster: "Great job!
    And what were they afraid of? Wars? Hunger?" Answers the
    man: "No, they were afraid of the disease!" For this
    youngster: "Does this mean they didn't get sick? Are they
    not dead? There was no rescue for them?"
    The old man answered: "but no, they got sick, died, and
    the rescue was there." The young devil, surprised, answered:
    "Then I don't understand???" The old man answered: "You
    know they believed the only thing they have to keep at any
    cost is their lives.
    They stopped hugging, greeting each other. They've moved
    away from each other. They gave up all social contacts and
    everything that was human! Later they ran out of money, lost
    their jobs, but that was their choice because they were afraid
    for their lives, that's why they quit their jobs without even
    having bread.
    They believed blindly everything they heard and read in the
    papers.
    They gave up their freedoms, they didn't leave their own
    homes literally anywhere. They stopped visiting family and
    friends. The world turned into such a cσncєnтrαтισn cαмρ,
    without forcing them into captivity.
    They accepted everything!!! Just to live at least one more
    miserable day . . . And so living, they died every day!!! And
    that's how it was very easy for me to take their miserable
    souls to hell.                                                       "
    C. S. Lewis - "Old Devil's Letter To The Young" 1942_

    Offline Dankward

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    Re: Can you believe C.S. Lewis wrote this the year I was born
    « Reply #1 on: March 28, 2022, 12:19:25 PM »
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  • What's the source of this?

    This is falsely attributed to C.S. Lewis' book "The Screwtape Letters"


    Quote
    However, the passage in question about souls being led to Hell by their fear of disease does not appear in “The Screwtape Letters,” nor in or any other writing or work authored by Lewis. Like another statement falsely attributed to Lewis in 2020, this item is a 21st century fabrication that attempted to put contemporaneous commentary about the COVID-19 pandemic into the mouth of a respected writer from the previous century.
    https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lewis-old-devils-letter-young/


    Offline Charity

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    Re: Can you believe C.S. Lewis wrote this the year I was born
    « Reply #2 on: March 28, 2022, 12:28:24 PM »
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  • I imagine Lewis' writings have helped a good number of people avoid to some degree the wiles of the devil.  For instance somewhere in his writings he said to the effect that the devil is always happy (in a manner of speaking) if he can take away one of our vices (comparing them I think to the common cold) IF in so doing he could replace it with cancer (pride), the gold standard gateway to hell.  For example, the alcoholic who gives up drinking and glories in his having put the plug in the jug at every chance he gets to speak inside or outside of an an AA meeting, always maintaining a secret pride in his (not His) power in allowing him to do it, not withstanding his sometimes outward claims to the contrary.

    Query (irony?) as to where Lewis is now and what was the ultimate thing which brought him there.

    Offline cassini

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    Re: Can you believe C.S. Lewis wrote this the year I was born
    « Reply #3 on: March 28, 2022, 02:48:03 PM »
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  • What's the source of this?

    This is falsely attributed to C.S. Lewis' book "The Screwtape Letters"

    https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lewis-old-devils-letter-young/

    OK Dankward, I passed it on as given to me but your reference is quite convincing. Apart from who wrote it, it sure made a lot of sense these days.