Screwtape Letters 4

The author concentrates on prayer once more. Prayer after all is a very important aspect of a Christian life. If prayer life is healthy, his or her spiritual life will be sound; and if prayer life is unhealthy, the spiritual life is affected. So Screwtape advises Wormwood to disrupt the prayer life and the quality of the patient's spiritual life.  This may be classified into three points: 

1. So the advice was that Wormwood should work to let the prayer of the patient be of the sort where the will and intelligence have no part; that it be a prayer which is mere repetitive and ritualistic, bearing no real content.

2. Let the patient also try to produce faith, courage through his own will. "When they meant to pray for courage, let them really be trying to feel brave." This way the patient will realise that his prayer has finally no utility as he would then be realising on his own will to produce virtues rather than rely on God to work in his life. 

3. Let the patient also focus the content of his spirituality and prayer to an object, say, an image of Jesus. So the prayer is not directed towards the God who is a spirit but towards an objectified entity. This way the distorted understanding of the patient will remain as it and his spiritual life will not grow. 

This objectification of God is not uncommon in many people's imagination. But CS Lewis must have written that objectification of God is what the evil one likes because God is spirit and objectification of God amounts to idol worship. God hates idolatary and the evil one likes it. Islam does not allow use of images or even statues. Having said that the question is whether using of the picture of the incarnate Jesus amounts to idolatary or not remains pertinent. Children learn better by using pictures and images. I think using Jesus' films, pictures or images does not amount to idolatary. We cannot construct Jesus exact images as there is no photograph of him. However, the fact that he lived and walked the shore of Galilee is a reality and therefore given this fact, it is theologically okay to use pictures and images of Jesus primarily for education. Islam does not have the concept of an incarnate God and therefore Christians do not necessarily share our views with Muslims in this regard.