Inherent Evil

[Nils]

Is that not precisely what we are doing here? As I said, this thing is a personal idea of Tolkien's, and does not neccessarily have much to do with his work.

vs.

Yet evil, I believe, is present in Eru as well.

Evidently you don't believe that Middle-earth is Tolkien's world. If you did, then you wouldn't believe certain things were just Tolkien's personal ideas. According to Tolkien, Eru is good and is not evil. Eru is not in a fallen state. It seems to me that you are introducing your own personal view of God (at least 'if' God exists God must be both good and evil).

The fallen state is an important aspect of evil in Tolkien's Myth. It is a concept that Tolkien brought into his works from his Catholic beliefs. If evil is defined in the context of the 'fallen state', then the original state was good. Eru has not fallen. Eru is not evil.

It seems to me that you are trying to say that since Eru gave his creation free will that any decision that his creation makes must be one Eru himself would have made. The only way one could draw such a conclusion is through a faulty view of free will.

Lord of Angmar,

I concur. How else could Melkor have been so corrupt and malevolent, if the seed were not sown in him somewhere by Illuvatar.

It is called free will.

[ July 30, 2003: Message edited by: Nils ]

[ July 30, 2003: Message edited by: Nils ]