For my Myths of Hate and Evil class, we are reading C.S. Lewis' classic The Screwtape Letters. I read this one years ago, shortly after I became a Christian, and remembered thinking it was 'just ok' as the wit of Lewis far exceeded my own and I found it hard to understand. Even though I had had a great deal of experience with the occult I still did not understand the reference point in which he wrote.

If you are ignorant to the fact, the book is about an older demon (Screwtape) writing letters to a novice (Wormwood) as how to direct a young man away from God and towards the Devil and eternal damnation.

Having just begun it again this morning, I was on Screwtape's 2nd letter to Wormwood when I read "All you then have to do is to keep out of his mind the question 'If I, being what I am, can consider that I am in some sense a Christian, why should the different vices of those people in the next pew prove that their religion is mere hypocrisy and convention?'"

As a Christian I am struck by the level of humility needed to forsake a path we had carved for years and years on our own and submit ourselves to a God who may possibly have a whole different path we had never even considered, much less wanted, in times past. The humility needed to admit out inadequacy in all matters of this life is as remarkable as it is short-lived, in many cases.

Our path from self-reliance enters into a dramatic realization that we are indeed sinners walking a path abhorred by a creator God which will end in our ultimate destruction. Humility is a key to forsaking this self-righteous path and turning (repenting) of this and entering into a life that seems, for the moment, so foreign but so Divine. Quickly though, we are then taught that we are now the 'righteousness of Christ', 'as He is, so are we in this world', greater is He that is in us than he who is in the world', we are 'the apple of His eye', and so on and so on and so on. Unbeknownst to us, our foundational humility is coated with layers of pride which gives lip-service to a memory of our past but distances ourselves from a practical methodology of it.

Suddenly, instead of being able to relate to other people in this world who hold different opinions or views, we become their judge and instructor, conveying a prideful attitude of 'you need what I have' rather than a humble 'I am only a Christian because I have acknowledged my inadequacies which still keep me turning (repenting) to my Savior everyday'.

The Church has taken the 10 Commandments (or the Law, to be a bit more exact) and used them/it as a standard by which to attain, suggesting 'we' do it and 'they' need to do it. We have suggested that we are the examples by which to emulate. That isn't a problem, if we ourselves have actually lived the morally exemplifiable life. Now we have positioned ourselves into a place where we are telling the world to do one thing while we ourselves are not doing that exact same thing. And this is where the commonly asserted argument of 'Christian hypocrisy' is brought into account. It is also a great reason why a multitude of human beings remain 'unbelieving' in our society.

I think a much more humble, wise, holistic, compassionate, empathetic, friendly, Christlike manner of communicating the Gospel could be to exemplify a lifestyle of repentance, not throwing off the humility that was needed to accept the Gospel, in our serving the rest of the world. We should get off the throne we have erected and cast off our crowns at the feet of Jesus, recognizing that if theology is all we have, that we are deficient in matters of service, ethics, and most things practical that the world is actually in need of. I am a huge proponent of orthodoxy (right belief), as are many others in the Church, but I am also a huge proponent of orthopraxy (right practice), which sadly does not seem to have as many champions in the environment I inhabit.

The goal of the Church in our present age, society, and culture is how can we contextualize the Gospel with compromising it. We first need to stop worrying about converting people and start loving and serving them for no other reason than the love of Christ compels us to. Lets set aside out ulterior objectives and let the Holy Spirit do His work in others by letting Him do His work in us. All the glory is His alone anyways. Lets cloak ourselves in humility once again, as we seek the salvation we have begun to take for granted.