Modern Screwtape Letter #1

My dear Wormwood,

I am concerned about your worry. You wrote and said that your subject has been engaging in so-called “Christian apologetic” and rational studies. I know I taught you to keep your subject distracted from such things at all costs. However, I did say that there is one exception. If you can get them into logic and analytical thought about the enemy to such a degree that they do nothing else, then this position is just as well, if not preferred, to them never engaging the mind at all.

These foul creatures that the enemy loves are not meant to function on the life of the mind alone. Their constitution cannot handle an overload of merely one of their functions. I have said many times that it is very easy to get them to only think about their emotions without ever being rational. But in this case you’ve gotten your subject to only be rational without servicing his emotions. We have caused entire church factions due to an instigation of these imbalances.
This will eventually end of the downfall of your subject, a break of the mind, a hubris when he looks at our enemy and believes he has Him completely figured out. Do not let him think emotionally about our enemy and certainly don’t let him have room for mystery. It will eventually break him. Remember, our enemies greatest commandment was to love Him with all of their heart, soul, and mind. You have done well. Do not take a break.

Please note: this strategy is not the same as what we use for the atheists. With them we like to make them think they are only using the rational mind when they’re only, in actuality, using their emotions.