Don Knoup dot com

I’m not much of a reader.  In fact, besides the bible I read almost no books at all.   I could blame it on the fact that I’m part of generation x and we were raised on cable tv…but that would be a cop out.  I just don’t read much.

My good friend Justin recomended that I read Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis.  So on my friends recommendation, I bought a copy and finally finished it.  It literally took me months to read this tiny little book.  (I told you I don’t read.)  Part of what took me so long is the fact that this is not an easy read.  Definitely NOT light reading.

I’m not sure it’s a book I would recommend, mostly because it’s so hard to read, but it is really quite thought provoking.  The concept of the book is that it is written from the perspective of a demon working for satan. 

The underlying message that I got from the book is that the enemy more often uses techniques that are subtle, passive, and moderate.  Rather than tempting us to murder, he’d rather tempt us to a life filled with indecisiveness and no strong feelings about anything. 

In the follow up to the book, Screwtape Proposes a Toast, Lewis describes how our society is constantly pushing what he calls “democracy” as though it is the equivalent of freedom.  In this so-called “democracy” people pursue being like one another so that no one feels left out or slighted by the fact that someone else is smarter, wealthier, or better looking.  As if something is actually accomplished by the dumbing down of the intelligent and the diminishing of the remarkable in order to maintain some similance of a status quo.

This got me fired up when I read it.  Why do we take what God has made exceptional and convert it into mediocre?  I believe the framers of our Declaration of Independence were correct when they stated that “all men are created equal”, but I disagree if the premise becomes that we are all created the same.  God has uniquely created you to be who you are.  You are specially designed by God to accomplish the purposes that he has for you.  No one makes a better you than you do!

1 Corinthians 12:16-18