[Saraphim]

I agree with Kronos in that if Faramir had gone to Rivendell, things would have spiraled down much faster and to the destrucion of all. It shows that evil contains the seeds of its own destruction, since Boromir fell victim to the Ring, which actually inadvertantly led to the saving of Middle-Earth. (This is portrayed with Gollum too)

But about the Valar and Eru. The Valar seem to me to be like Greek/Roman or Nordic gods. They don't know the future, they're just really wise, like Eorl said. Even Mandos (to a certain degree) did not know the future in exact terms. They had enough wisdom to do wise things to help out, but not enough to know exactly what to do to acheive victory.

As for Eru, to debate whether he knew what he was doing would border on a thoelogical discussion, and I've become afraid of doing that.