# Imaginary benevolence (C. S. Lewis)



## Reformed Covenanter (Jan 17, 2021)

The Devil and his angels seem particularly diligent at promoting imaginary benevolence. The very same people who boast of their compassion to those whom they have not seen are often consumed with malice those towards whom they do see. In the _Screwtape Letters_, Screwtape advised Wormwood to tempt his "patient" along these very lines:

Do what you will, there is going to be some benevolence, as well as some malice, in your patient’s soul. The great thing is to direct the malice to his immediate neighbours whom he meets every day and to thrust his benevolence out to the remote circumference, to people he does not know. The malice thus becomes wholly real and the benevolence largely imaginary.

C. S. Lewis, _The Screwtape Letters: Letters from a Senior to a Junior Devil_ (1942; London: HarperCollins Publishers. Kindle Edition, 2009), p. 28.

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## Taylor (Jan 17, 2021)

I know we all have some theological differences with Mr. Lewis, but wow, he certainly had a particular insight into the heart of man. Thank God for him.

Reactions: Like 2 | Amen 2


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## Reformed Covenanter (Jan 17, 2021)

Taylor Sexton said:


> I know we all have some theological differences with Mr. Lewis, but wow, he certainly had a particular insight into the heart of man. Thank God for him.



I read four of his shorter books last week, which are mostly collections of articles, and noticed how well he understood human nature and how relevant much of what he was saying is to the current climate.

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