Eru letting Melkor go..

[doug*platypus]

Wow, Mandos/Bill, that looked like a tennis match for a while! Excellent to see discussion resume on this thread, though.

If you have Good you MUST, MUST, MUST have an Evil.(period)

Absolutely, without question, entirely and utterly... a matter of opinion. Neither right nor wrong.

If you question that, your questioning a big part of the laws of physics.

The laws of physics which apply to Middle-Earth? The same Middle-Earth where Gandalf uses his staff to create fire? The one where a circular piece of gold contains the malevolent spirit of a demi-god?

???

In my earlier post I wrote:

One or two people on this thread have painted a picture of a benevolent creator who only desires peace and well-being for all his creatures. Apparently this isn't the case.

To which a response was:

Are you saying Eru is not good?

The answer is "not exactly". I'm saying that possibly he is not entirely good. Of course, this may upset Bill and the others on the side of the Evil = Lack of Good theory. But in my opinion, Eru and to a greater extent the Hebrew God of the Old Testament, also Allah and a whole bunch of other less well-known gods, did things at one time or another that range from thoughtless to abhorrent. Eru's only fault as far as I can see, was allowing Evil to enter the world. To reiterate, it's most likely he had a higher purpose in this, but it's fair to say the event in itself was not "good" at all, causing death and suffering to many of his Children. As for some of the deities of our own world, the slaughter of entire peoples, in some cases to the last woman and child, is not only sanctioned but aided by the deity. I don't wish to stray too far from the Tolkien topic, but if you asked me whether Old Testament God was entirely good I would say "NO!" And perhaps Eru is not either.

Here's a related thread called Melkor - Evil by Will or Nature?.

[ January 06, 2003: Message edited by: doug*platypus ]