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Originally Posted by The Saucepan Man
I rather think that the debate might proceed more constructively by taking up the gauntlet thrown down by Child. How can those of us who cannot accept this intervention by Eru as just, or who find it difficult to perceive him as a credibly drawn fictional character, reconcile this with our love of Tolkien’s works and how does it impact upon our understanding of them?
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Hiroshima.
Or reality intrudes. Sodom & Gommorrah is not the example we're looking for. The problem modern readers have is that we've seen destruction & devastation on a truly horrifying scale. The destruction of a whole society of 'bad' people is no longer part of the mythic world of Dragons, Balrogs & Elves.
Or, lets look at 9/11 & the shockwave that has produced. And that 'shockwave' is the real issue. I'm not comparing the Twin Towers to Numenor, or those killed to the 'evil' Numenoreans, btw, but considering the effect on the reader of an event like the destruction of Numenor.
Think about it. We cannot be 'casual' about such an act, or about someone (God or otherwise) who commits it. We can't shrug our shoulders & say 'its just fantasy', or God is said to have done something similar in the Bible. We exist in a post Hiroshima, post 9/11 world & the sudden death of thousands of human beings will elicit a response from us about anyone who does something like that.
We will require a proper justification, not clever arguments. We can't accept the 'Angry God' justification. Numenor shocks us (or should) because we've seen the effect (if not the cause) played out in in our lifetimes. 'Well, they were all bad people.' doesn't work.
Eru's act does not 'fit' in a world like M-e where mercy & compassion is played up to such an extent. I think what most of us do is simply not confront it. We basically ignore the fact that Tolkien has his God slaughter tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of human beings - men, women & children.
But this is probably the single most significant event in Middle-earth history, & (after the Creation) the single most significant thing Eru does. What does this tell us about the God of Arda?
My frustration all along has been with the argument 'Well, the Numenoreans were bad & deserved it.' (which is less of an argument & more of a refusal to think through the implications). Rotting human corpses would have been floating on the ocean. Pieces of bodies. Pieces of babies. Rotting animals. This is a 'fact' of M-e history. The fall of Numenor would have been quite possibly the single most horrible event in the History of Arda.
What we have is, admittedly, yet another scene of horror in a catalogue of such horrors - but this one is caused by Eru, & is thus unique.
Its as though the Fall of Numenor confronts us with a very difficult answer to the old question which is always asked when humanity is confronted by scenes of devastation: Where was God? - in this case the answer is 'Right here'.......