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davem · 03-25-2007, 01:24 PM

Its interesting. We read The Illiad & The Oddysey (& Gilgamesh & Mahabharata if it comes to that) as tales of Man 'at the mercy' of the gods, who are temperamental, tetchy, selfish & pretty juvenile. Eru is the God that the inhabitants of M-e have, & they must make do.

One could, I suppose, read the OT in the same way - YHVH is hardly always kind, tolerant & compassionate. Yet we live (in the West at least) with 2,000 years of Christianity in our psyches & because of this we 'expect' a God who is loving, self sacrificing, compassionate - one who would not behave in such an 'Old Testament' fashion. Christianity has shaped our perception of how 'God' is supposed to behave, so we (Christian or not) will judge Eru by that standard, & in the destruction of Numenor he does not.

Hence, the only thing we can do is to put aside this idea of 'equivalence' & simply accept Eru for what he is - not good or evil, but a 'force' of nature, conscious, directing, ultimately in control, but not the God of Christianity by another name.

03-25-2007, 01:24 PM	#311
davem Illustrious Ulair Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: In the home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names,and impossible loyalties Posts: 4,240	Its interesting. We read The Illiad & The Oddysey (& Gilgamesh & Mahabharata if it comes to that) as tales of Man 'at the mercy' of the gods, who are temperamental, tetchy, selfish & pretty juvenile. Eru is the God that the inhabitants of M-e have, & they must make do. One could, I suppose, read the OT in the same way - YHVH is hardly always kind, tolerant & compassionate. Yet we live (in the West at least) with 2,000 years of Christianity in our psyches & because of this we 'expect' a God who is loving, self sacrificing, compassionate - one who would not behave in such an 'Old Testament' fashion. Christianity has shaped our perception of how 'God' is supposed to behave, so we (Christian or not) will judge Eru by that standard, & in the destruction of Numenor he does not. Hence, the only thing we can do is to put aside this idea of 'equivalence' & simply accept Eru for what he is - not good or evil, but a 'force' of nature, conscious, directing, ultimately in control, but not the God of Christianity by another name. __________________ “Everything was an object. If you killed a dwarf you could use it as a weapon – it was no different to other large heavy objects."