The atrocity of the Akallabêth

[Hookbill the Goomba]

The Pagan legends he loved had Gods, the Religion he followed had a single God. In the Legendarium the two powers sit uncomfortably -

Perhaps...

Tolkien stated in the forward to the Lord of the Rings that he wrote it mostly for his own enjoyment. To me, this suggests that he would probably have wanted to get all (or as many as he could) of the things he loved about mythology and the Bible and mix them into one big bucket of fun!
I myself have experienced the process of taking different aspects of different things to build a pseudo mythology. Take all the bits you like and not the bits you hate and you have something that you yourself will enjoy, and if others like it then that is an added bonus.
I think the fall of Numenor is a perfect example of this; the mixture of a famous myth and the concepts of Judaic derived beliefs. I think there are many other examples of Tolkien wanting to get both and finding a way.

Certain stories from myth and from The Bible are present side by side. An interesting side note to make is that in one of (I think it was) Paul's letters he quotes a Cretan Prophet who said that 'Cretans are all liars and drunkards' or something and then he affirms that what he said was true. Perhaps Tolkien's intention was to sort of explore the ways in which something doesn't have to have the label 'God' or 'Christian' or anything in order for it to be good or true.
An american writer called Rob Bell once said,

"Is the greatest truth about the Adam and Eve story the fact that it happened or that it happens? The story resonates with us because we've all been there, we've all taken the 'fruit' we've all lost our way. Or the story of the Exodus; a lot of us have been in some kind of slavery or trouble and we've been brought out. It happened then... it happens now."

I think the same concept can be seen in Tolkine's work. Some stories can connect with people and some concepts can move us. Just look at the Barrow Downs alone. In the end, Tolkien's Legendarium is a fantastically enjoyable tale that seems to affect and keep affecting people, weather your just reading The Hobbit or are on your tenth History of Middle Earth.

After that random tangent...

But it all comes down to the fact that the Akallabêth was a story. Like the story of Atlantis. Its a story about some people who get greedy and want more. Again, if Akallabêth is framed after Atlantis we can't just copy and paste the God of The Bible and expect him to fit perfectly.