You can never make yourself "un-guilty" once you are guilty, unless you are pardoned by the law-giver. Therefore the conditions of becoming un-guilty are set by the law-giver.
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Is it NEVER possible to redeem oneself through conscience, voluntary acts of contrition or compensation?
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I say no, and here's my reasoning: what good are acts of contrition or compensation if you have not changed your intention to do evil? If your conscience has changed, then your intention has changed, and that was all Eru required. Just as in the Judeo-Christian view, Eru is not looking for recompense, he is looking for repentance, a change of heart that results in correct behavior.
Think of this: which is the more serious crime, punching one of your peers, or punching a policeman? Is it considered a greater crime for someone to murder a co-worker or the leader of their country? Insofar as the victim is higher in lawful authority over the perpetrator, even so is a crime against that authority more serious. It follows logically that if a Being is infinitely high in authority over a subordinate, a crime against that Being would be infinite in its seriousness and require an infinite punishment.
Now take Eru, the Infinite, Almighty, Just, and Benevolent lawgiver of Arda and Middle Earth. Violating Eru's principles would be a crime of infinite seriousness against a Being of Infinite Authority. Melkor, a finite being, can NEVER make any acts of contrition or compensation to atone for himself in this case -- he is completely at the mercy of the lawgiver. The Lawgiver is, at any time, perfectly just in inflicting upon the perpetrator whatever punishment he sees fit to impose, for as long as he wishes.
And yet Eru does not -- he has mercy. He stays his judgement. He says all that you need to do is "stop being bad," or better yet, "stop
wanting to be bad," and you are welcome, and gives opportunity after opportunity to come back into the fold...opportunities that are rejected again and again. After waiting a suitable period so that none can doubt his justice, the unrepentant one is removed to a place where he can do no more evil -- the void.
The point is, in Middle Earth as in the real world, doing what *you* think will "make up for" whatever you did wrong will get you nowhere, unless it coincides with what the lawgiver says is to be done.
Thenamir of Rohan
Chaplain, Rohan Theological Society
[ December 06, 2002: Message edited by: Thenamir ]