Toast

The first thing that really stuck out to me about the 'Screwtape Proposes a Toast' reading is the different style it took. I was so accustomed to reading a personal letter towards Wormwood, the young tempter, that the different format kind of threw me off guard. But nonetheless, I found the Screwtape to be the very same demon that I found so humorous in the rest of the book. However, the commentary about the feasting on the souls that he makes during the first part of his speech I found to be quite grotesquely entertaining. The talk about feasting on adulterers and other type of sinners was both digusting and quite humorous. Yet, the point Screwtape makes about the abundance of souls, despite the extreme lack of quality of them, really stuck out to me. He feels like there really aren't any 'great sinners' anymore, but rather just herds of simply somewhat bad people - those who have made a few mistakes in their life, but not becasue they are inherently evil, but rather for a number of trivial reasons. This point really stuck out to me, because many people who aren't exactly religious may still consider themselves to not be evil people so that must mean that they will get to Heaven, yet this is the opposite of what we see to be true. It's not just the horrendous people that are going to Hell, but rather just vast amounts of poor souls. The other comment that I found interesting was that Screwtape says that he can use the 'great sinners' to influence "tens of thousands of the huan sheep with him" (193). Today, it seems like many people tend to simply follow the celebrities and TV stars of the day, no matter what they do. Little girls flock to be like Paris Hilton, etc. Ultimately, I can really see how what Screwtape is saying with this point to be quite true. Overall, I found the toast to be quite shocking, but also amusing as a whole.

Chap 28

I really found the concept of life and death that was presented in Chapter 28 to be quite thought-provoking. In the chapter, Screwtape acknowledges the fact that it is the Devil's work to make humans believe that life is the "greatest good" while death is the "prime evil". In the Christianity point of view, dying is not exceptionally detrimental and could even be considered beneficial in attaining unity with God. Further, time spent living on earth could be considered somewhat of a trial perioid and a chance for Christians to share with the people of the world the 'good news' of the gift of eternal life offered through Jesus. While Christians are to cherish their their lives that God has given them, dying is but gain. In contrast, a Christian dying is the worst thing that can happen for the Devil, as it forever prevents the Devil from corrupting that person. Yet, while a person is still living in their temporary life here on Earth, there is still the opportunity for that Christian to be corrupted and turned into a non-believer. Ultimately, I kind of thought this was an interesting viewpoint, as life is normally considered good, and death not so much. However, it makes logical sense to see how through the Christian perspective that death can be considered the ultimate good. Overall, the chapter contained some interesting material on the concept of life and death.