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Originally Posted by Inziladun
What I might wonder about is where the "ethical or moral standard" comes from. Must it not be of Ilúvatar to be "right"? If the standard is up to the individual, all bets would seem to be off.
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Well, Ilúvatar didn't issue a Torah or some such to His Children. He gave laws
(axani) to the Valar which they in turn taught to the Elves (and they in turn to the Númenoreans?), but the majority of Men in Middle-earth received no such instruction. The only way their ethical standards could be derived from Ilúvatar (and not just cultural tradition, like e.g. the warrior ethic of the Rohirrim) would be if he somehow 'programmed' it into them when he made them - which is I think imaginable and would more or less boil down to what we call individual conscience.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Inziladun
I still can't get past the Númenóreans, and their simple form of formalised "worship" with the Meneltarma ceremonies. Moreover, that form of worship seemed to be acceptable to Ilúvatar, while it lasted. Favour was shown to the Men of Númenor, and they lived under the protection of the Valar. After the Kings hardened their hearts and stopped the custom, things went downhill for Númenor very quickly.
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Yes, the Númenóreans are cum grano salis the Jews of Middle-earth in this respect (also in their language, which has a strong Semitic flavour in my ear). But as you noted yourself earlier, the Elvish 'proxy' worship was acceptable to him as well, and we don't see him getting angry with anybody because they did
not worship him in any ritual way. I think what really did the Númenóreans in was turning from non-worship to active Morgoth-idolatry - so it would seem Eru was OK with people not worshipping him as long as they worshipped no false gods in his stead.