C. S. Lewis 'The Screwtape Letter'

Told in the famous C.S. Lewis The Screwtape letter, a well-known demon informs his nephew, Wormwood, of a struggle that the Christians face still today. A well lesson to all Christians, Screwtape advises Wormwood to go and let the patient talk like a parrot without discipline when in prayer.

As explained by Screwtape, “When the patient is an adult recently reconverted to the Enemy’s party, like your man, this is best done by encouraging him to remember, or to think he remembers, the parrot-like nature of his prayers in childhood.” (p15). Wormwood is advised to let the patient continue his wrong ways as a Christian. By letting the patient have his acts in his life without discipline, Wormwood can make the patient closer to his “father’s” home.

This weakness is one of, if not, the biggest thing that other people see Christians as. When the non-religious see Christians, they tend to see a one say and pray one thing but then turn around and completely go and do the opposite. Most people see that Christians are very prideful and have no discipline like a teenager. As it reflects on God’s people, one is need to be humble and have discipline in one’s prayer. Being prideful and “parrot-like” can tend to lead to being called hypocrites and thusly hated even more. This weakness is also described in the Bible as Jesus advised us not to be like the Pharisees but to be like a humble and caring person like Jesus himself. 2 “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. 3 So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. 4 They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.” (Matthew 23:2-4). The Pharisees had prayed loudly, used church money, and never followed their own rule just like a hypocrite. Jesus never was rich, he followed the poorest of the poor, and gave everything he had to the poor. “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice