Was Eru a Sadist?

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Saurreg

I can think of several reasons why Eru inflicted suffering among the population of Middle-Earth.

1. He was a sadist. He derived self gratification by inflicting pain and making the sufferers acknowledge his supremacy without question. A case of absolutie devotion and obedience, or else...

2. Evolution. Survival of the fittest. Eru did what he had to to weed out the weak and ensure that only the most adaptable inherited Middle-earth. A good investment for the future.

3. Preparation for the great beyond. This applies to men. Eru never stated that his final gift for them beyond Arda was going to be a bed of roses. The trials and tribulations could have been a form of training or selection process to prepare men for the afterlife.

I can think of a fourth:

4. A means of allowing those in Arda to earn their eternal reward, their place in the afterlife.

This seems rather more likely to me. After all, Tolkien was Catholic, and his work is fundamentally Catholic, as he said himself. Eru is God, the same God Tolkien worshipped at Mass, the same God who according to Catholic theology places crosses in our lives for us to bear, so as to earn His graces and a place with Him in Heaven.