Thoughts on chap. 1&2

Wow. I've only read two chapters and I'm already hooked! I will try really hard not to race ahead!

There were two things in the first two chapters that especially stuck out to me. One was this sentence: "Never having been a human (Oh that abominable advantage of the Enemy's!), you don't realize how enslaved they are to the pressure of the ordinary." It's not really the sentence itself that stuck out to me, but instead what is in the parenthesis. Think about that! It is exasperatingly frustrating to the devil that God has such an advantage over him - he has been a human! He understand how we work! I just think that the way that is structured - a devil being frustrated about God understanding the human view - is really neat.

The other thing that stuck out to me was when Screwtape was talking about the people in the church. He was telling Wormwood to make sure the guy kept focus on the congregation's outward appearance, without ever thinking about how mighty they might be in God's kingdom. That kinda struck me...cause that's the way I look at a lot of people at church. I don't see their heart or their relationship with God...I just see their fatness or their ugly clothes or whatever it is, and I judge. So that part was really good for me to read!

Oh, and one more bit I really liked: "I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy." Wow. I love that description of the Church!

(btw I think it is kinda cool that the book is dedicated to J.R.R. Tolkein. :)