2. What did you think of what Screwtape described in sections 3 and 4? Have you seen people behaving like that? Or do you think Screwtape is engaging in wishful thinking?

This is one of the reasons I love Lewis! He is so good at his wording.
I can honestly say I have been guilty of letting these types of things get on my nerve before, or make up in my own mind that "they did this on purpose because they were annoyed with me."
Even though they had no intention of this.
It is always nice to read this part of Screwtape's letter and to remember to check myself and not let these little lies get into my head, and to remember that I can do the exact same thing if I'm not careful.

1. Screwtape relates a story about a patient of his that could go from praying impassionedly for his wife’s or son’s soul to insulting them or beating them without a qualm. What do you think about this?

I think we should be wary of doing such things ourselves. We might be concerned about someone, but anger can cloud such a concern until the other person thinks you hate them and don't care for them at all... We need to make an effort to be loving and not angry because anger causes hatred which breaks down relationships.

2. What did you think of what Screwtape described in sections 3 and 4? Have you seen people behaving like that? Or do you think Screwtape is engaging in wishful thinking?

I've seen it all the time. It's like when you do something on accident and the other person thinks you did it just to be spiteful... Often you don't even realize you've offended the person, yet they think you're doing so purposefully... so they will lash out. And context is definitely everything. Sometimes you do try to be spiteful and then get angry when the other person gets mad because you make yourself believe that you are innocent, when in fact you are not.

3. Why do you think Screwtape uses the story of the Prodigal Son as an example here?

I think it's a very good example of how Christians tend to think they are better than everyone else and that because of this everyone else doesn't deserve their love or help. It's a good example of jealousy too. In truth everyone is a sinner and equal in God's eyes as such... We should not be jealous when God gives a blessing to someone else, no matter how hard we may have worked and how little we think they made have worked. God knows how difficult a task is for each individual and will judge them accordingly, it's not our job to do that. I think we should also be wary of letting such thoughts keep us from doing God's will. What would God want you to do if a homeless man asks for help? Should you help him as though he was your brother, or should you leave him because he not even good enough to keep himself on his feet? Is it really up to you to decide if you are better than he?

1. Screwtape relates a story about a patient of his that could go from praying impassionedly for his wife’s or son’s soul to insulting them or beating them without a qualm. What do you think about this?

I think it's easy to feel very "spiritual" when praying, and, like Screwtape encourages, think of the spiritual state of whoever you're praying for, and not any daily needs they have. In the latter case, we might have to do something about those needs ourselves!

"... always concerned with the state of her soul and never with her rheumatism" - perhaps she needs more help when her rheumatism is bad, and praying about it might remind him that he should give her that help. Which would cause a more friendly atmosphere in the home, something that Screwtape doesn't want.

2. What did you think of what Screwtape described in sections 3 and 4? Have you seen people behaving like that? Or do you think Screwtape is engaging in wishful thinking?

Little idiosyncracies may easily be irritating, and tones of voice may carry insult (I've seen an acting class exercise once, where the task was to pick a line from the Shakespeare play they were doing - any innocent line - and deliver it as an insult. I was amazed at how much the tone of voice could do). If we ignore our own tendency to put too much into words, and demand that we are always seen in the best light, while quite happily presuming that the other part is being deliberately nasty, the problem can become quite real. No mere wishful thinking on Screwtape's part - he sees humanity as it can be.

3. Why do you think Screwtape uses the story of the Prodigal Son as an example here?

I think the older brother resents the treatment his younger brother is given. He is made much of without having been humble enough, he has got it too easily. And so the mother might feel that that her son is "getting in on very easy terms". The father in the story seems to imply that the older brother has made a mistake in never taking out any of what he has the rights to, and perhaps even the mother here might not have realized enough of what grace means - even her rights are given her by grace, and she should extend that grace to her son as a new and unexperienced Christian as well.

1. Screwtape relates a story about a patient of his that could go from praying impassionedly for his wife’s or son’s soul to insulting them or beating them without a qualm. What do you think about this?
On a smaller level for most of us, I think, this happens frequently. How often to we pray for patience, and then blow up as soon as someone interrupts us at an inopportune moment? Or when we pray that a certain sin that plagues a fellow Christian would be removed, and yet gossip, mock, and tear down that person for that very sin the next day. It's easy to ask or say something (sometimes without even meaning it), but it's considerably more difficult to actually act on it.

2. What did you think of what Screwtape described in sections 3 and 4? Have you seen people behaving like that? Or do you think Screwtape is engaging in wishful thinking?
Yes... in myself especially. There was one person that would always grate on my nerves, even though their actions in another person wouldn't have bothered me at all. There was a certain way they'd twitch their lips (I'm guessing it was just a nervous tick), but it drove me crazy. It's a topic we've discussed regarding acting--just the slightest gesture, tone, or look can complete change (or appear to change) the meaning of a word. The way Aslan says "Myself. Myself. MYSELF" in HHB is a good example of this.

3. Why do you think Screwtape uses the story of the Prodigal Son as an example here?
Jealousy that this lost son (who had completely ignored Christ before) gets to be so happy, so In Love, while maybe the son who stayed with the Father is only just drifting through the relationship with the Church's Groom. Another parable tells of the unsatisfied workers:

":1u5obapj]“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; 4 and to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he *said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ 7 They *said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He *said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard *said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’ 9 When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. 10 When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, 12 saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’ 13 But he answered and said to one of them, ‘ Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.”

Even if we don't recognize it fully, easy as it is to assume that older Christians are the ungrateful First Workers, when it comes right down to it... We are all the workers that came in at the last minute, unworthy of the full payment--or even any payment. The glory is not to the workers, but to the generous Landowner;)