Postmodernism and Satan’s Mind, Part 1

Adam and Eve, Gates of Paradise panel of Baptistery, Florence, Italy, Author Kurtukov (CC BY-SA 4.0 International)

“Readers are advised to remember that the devil is a liar.”

-CS Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

From the very outset, it has been Satan’s purpose to corrupt and destroy mankind as a means of attacking God.  Lies are a primary tool in the adversary’s arsenal.  We see this as clearly demonstrated today as it was in the Garden of Eden.

Unfortunately, human beings are all too susceptible to Satan’s lies, particularly since the Fall from grace in the Garden.  Postmodernism both illustrates this, and give us a glimpse into Satan’s mind [1].

For those who may be unfamiliar with the term, postmodernism is a philosophy or worldview characterized by moral relativism [2][3].  Its growing number of adherents deny the existence of God and reject objective truth.

Postmodernism’s specific tenets are examined in this series.  We begin with absolutes.

Denial of the Transcendent
A. The Lie

“There are no absolutes.  Even if there were, we would have no access to them since we are bound to our culture and imprisoned in our language [4A].”

-8 Tenets of Postmodernism

B. Satan’s Reason for the Lie

“It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing.  Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick.  Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one – the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”

-CS Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

C. The Truth

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness…” (Isa. 5: 20).

When good and evil are indistinguishable, there are no limits placed on evil.  There are those today who would defend child abuse, claiming it somehow benefits the child.

Social Constructivism
A. The Lie

“Meaning, morality, and truth do not exist objectively.  They are constructed by society [4B].”

-8 Tenets of Postmodernism

B. Satan’s Reason for the Lie

“Nothing matters at all except the tendency of a given state of mind, in given circumstances, to move a particular patient at a particular moment nearer to the Enemy [God] or nearer to us.”

-CS Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

C. The Truth

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8: 32).

The search for meaning has been addressed by countless philosophers, among them the psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl [5].  Frankl concluded that love, work, and suffering can imbue our lives with meaning.  There is much truth in this.

Fundamentally, however, man’s search for meaning is the search for God.  We were created to know, love, and serve Him whether we realize that or not.  We draw our life and purpose from Him.

Our feelings are subjective and changeable.  Genuine and powerful though they may be, they do not define reality.

By contrast, the Bible provides us with objective truth [6].  It is a compass by which to successfully navigate our lives.  The Bible tells us both that the truth is knowable, i.e. capable of being perceived and understood, and that – in the Person of Jesus Christ – it is eternal (John 14: 6).

Satan’s false claim that morality is fluid and variable is an attempt to undermine the authority of God, and lead us away from Him.

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[1]  Far more brilliant individuals than I have, over the centuries, considered how Satan’s mind works.  CS Lewis is among the foremost of these.  The Screwtape Letters – Lewis’ fictional correspondence between a senior and junior demon on how to tempt man – is a tour de force.  I have quoted liberally from it here as a way of exposing Satan’s motivation, and articulating the adversary’s hate-filled logic.

[2]  Wikipedia, “Postmodernism”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism.

[3]  Britannica, “Postmodernism”, https://www.britannica.com/topic/postmodernism-philosophy.

[4A – 4C]  Quizlet, “8 Tenets of Postmodernism”, https://quizlet.com/6266751/8-tenets-of-postmodernism-flash-cards/.

[5]  Wikipedia, “Viktor Frankl”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Frankl.

[6]  Grace to You, “The Bible Is Objective Truth” by John MacArthur, 1/5/22, https://www.gty.org/library/blog/B191120/the-bible-is-objective-truth.

Part 2 in this series will be posted next week.

READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse  https://www.avoicereclaimed.com