Sorry for the multiple posting, but I felt my responses needed to be broken up by topic and original poster (more or less).
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Originally Posted by Macalaure
Even though death is the Gift of Eru to Men, I think this moral standard should also hold for him, regardless of the quality of the afterlife and regardless of whether life for the children would inevitably become very bad.
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If Eru became subject to this moral standard, then the moral standard would be greater than Eru, which is an impossibility, as if:
"In the beginning was Moral Standard, and Moral Standard created Eru."
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Originally Posted by Macalaure
But maybe, at the time, the Drowning was simply the best choice that was left to Eru? This is possible. In fact, it would perhaps solve our dilemma. However, I think it leads to another question: Is Eru omnipotent or not? If he is, then he must have had the possibility to punish the evil and/or remove Valinor while sparing the innocent Númenoreans (I confess I'm growing increasingly uncomfortable with this black-and-white painting of the society of Westernesse). Is there any textual support for either one of the positions?
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The Ainulindalë does nothing if it does not indicate the omnipotence of Ilúvatar. The oft quoted phrase, "no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me", indicates this. However, "sparing" the innocent Numenoreans (if such a thing exists in the context of what Tolkien presents), is unnecessary, as death is a Gift.