Please pardon a tardy reply to these interesting points about sin.
I suppose it could be argued that the privation of divine order began with Melkor rather than a fall of mankind (or elfkind, dwarfkind, entkind, etc). Eru is thus, like God, defined as good or perfect, and any creature who deviates from His thought or His music is moving away from perfection of form. However, as sin has been defined in Tolkien's Catholicism, it implies some form of conscious awareness that one is acting contrary to right reason or the moral order.
See "Sin", Catholic Encyclopedia for the full theological argument.)
Does a close reading of the Ainulindale suggest that Melkor was really fully aware of his actions? Was the Void procsribed to the Ainur? Did Melkor know that, having been given the greatest powers, his desire for full creation--which arises from his closer abilities to Illuvatar--was counter to the original creation of Illuvatar?
What is the nature of natural religion in LotR? Nothing has specifically been revealed to the Hobbits, although there are the tales of the elves (who are regarded suspiciously). Nor is the full Legendarium made explicit in the Ring narrative. Does conscience operate in the hobbits as it is claimed to operate in humans? Do Sam, Frodo, Merry, Pippin know who Illuvatar/Eru is?
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Originally Posted by CE
Since the morality of a human act consists in its agreement or non-agreement with right reason and the eternal law, an act is good or evil in the moral order according as it involves this agreement or non-agreement. When the intelligent creature, knowing God and His law, deliberately refuses to obey, moral evil results.
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Always there is, in the concept of sin, this idea of will, of a wilful act of defiance. Adam and Eve were clearly given the boundaries and they choose to step outside them. But when religion has not be revealed, well, ....
Another way of considering this question, though, is to recall that in popular culture 'sin' is highly connoted with the shamefulness of nakedness and sex. This connotation of sin is rather absent from LotR, as sex is absent also, or at least is relegated to the Appendices.
