[Macalaure]

Originally Posted by Legate

In any case, on the other hand, even the "I will rip the world apart and look, as collateral damage it destroyed Númenor" explanation does not seem satisfactory, as Eru would surely know so we cannot label it as "accident" and the story even makes one think that it was not a mere "accident", right? Now I am a little exaggerating of course, but in any case we cannot avoid the question "so why did Eru do this?" and cannot just say "it just happened to be that way". Or so I would think.

Well, calling it an "accident" was a little bit of an exaggeration itself, that's why I put the quote marks around it. My idea is not Eru saying "Oops, I guess that was a little too much to the right.", but that his intent was only to destroy Ar-Pharazôn's fleet and army and to remove Valinor into eternal safety. He probably could have done this without destroying Númenor, but didn't. He also could have let the great rift go straight through Númenor and make the character of punishment uncontestable, but didn't either. This leads me to speculate that Eru has become indifferent to it. I can't find a quote stating that Eru wanted to coldly punish the Númenóreans or destroyed it in wrath.

Originally Posted by skip

As for why Eru chose to destroy Numenor and remove Aman from the circles of the earth it is hard to say. Personally I feel that Tolkien thought not so much about Eru's inner motives and the theological implications when he wrote the story but rather about how good a story, or myth, it was, tying in with the Atlantis myth as it does. He probably pondered the theology as well, but imo this was more likely an afterthought and not the prime motivation behind the story.

With this I completely agree. And that is why it makes such a good topic for discussion. However, if you think this, then how do you know that

Originally Posted by skip

The Numenorians were not allowed to come to Aman. They did come however with the intention to make war upon it and were severly punished.

While it certainly was a punishment to the Númenóreans, how can you tell that it was Eru's intention to punish them? This is more than just splitting hairs: Only if it was Eru's intention to punish them, it makes sense to ask who the lesson was directed at.

In the Silmarillion there are many deeds worthy of punishment by Eru, especially by Morgoth, yet he never comes to punish them. Why would Eru make such an exception? Why does he count the trespasses of those who are supposed to rule Arda in his stead less than the trespasses of his Children that live in it? Would it not make more sense the other way around?

Originally Posted by skip

I don't think it is difficult to answer. I believe Tolkien made it quite clear that Eru is limitless or omnipotent in relation to his creation, Eä, and that he (is it he btw?) could have chosen to spare all those who were innocent with a thought only, had he wished to do so. The destruction of Numenor was no accident.

Well, whether he could have spared the innocents with a thought only is debatable. Seeing how long it took the Valar, even without the interruptions of Melkor, to build Arda, it might have been quite toilsome. That's why I get the impression that Eru didn't care about them enough to choose the scalpel over the broadsword.

Originally Posted by Legate

This is actually a good point, because it seems to me this far we managed to fall into the trap of Morgoth together with the Middle-Earthians and take death as something negative. While it's actually a Gift, for the Men. So we shouldn't maybe worry about the death of the "innocent" (?) inhabitants of Númenor too much.

This is certainly true, however, removing a person from life forcefully is considered to be evil. As I said in my last post, if indeed this was supposed to be a lesson, it was one of ambiguous content.