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Originally Posted by Child
The problem with focusing attention only on the question of whether or not Eru is just is that it pulls our personal beliefs from the twenty-first century into the equation. For those posters who’ve been here a while, I can pretty well predict what side of this question they are going to take. It depends how they feel about "religion" in real life. (And undoubtedly, you folk could predict my own answer as well). To keep the discussion from going in circles like a dog chasing his tale, aren’t we better off trying to look at this story not merely in terms of modern political/religious sensitivities, or the believer versus non-believer framework, and instead think in terms of myth itself?
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And in arguing with myself I can only say we are 20th century readers of a book written by a 20th century man. The fact is we can only stomach what we can stomach. And what Eru does is too much. Well, too much not to be subject to our moral judgement. For all your points are true, Eru is responsible for his actions. Our ancestors burned people alive & felt it to be just - & it was. Yet we at the same time judge them harshly & call their actions barbaric.
The point is that Tolkien's heroes do not behave like our ancestors - they conform to our modern concepts of what heroes are & behave likewise. Now, the heroes of BoLT do behave in a more 'heroic' manner, but over time they develop into more 'modern' figures who we can relate to & sympathise with. Eru doesn't. He remains a simplistic 'jealous' deity, & is thus increasingly isolated within the Legendarium. The destruction of Numenor stands out as wrong because we don't think in that way anymore. Aragorn did not lead his armies on a crusade into Harad & embark on genocide, & while our ancestors may have approved of him doing so, we wouldn't.