[Child of the 7th Age]

Ancalagon's Fire-

Sorry if I sounded too harsh. When you post at 1:30 a.m. you can go a little crazy. But I still stand on my basic premise: given the inner consistency of Tolkien's story and his characters,the whole fabric of the Ring war, I believe that such a dichotomy in the Godhead is a difficult position to maintain.

This is true even if you leave aside the whole question of Tolkien's Catholic viewpoint. And to tell the truth, I do not feel you can totally ignore that viewpoint. While I am not a Christian, Tolkien was very hesitant to put anything into his picture of Middle-earth which could be construed as a blatant rejection or negation of his Catholic views. This is one reason so much of the spiritual content of the work is in symbolic terms, rather than an explicit depiction of ritual or even theology. And there are many questions such as the end of days where he largely keeps quiet rather than spelling out anything which could be seen as being at odds with the later Christian revelation.

As far as Frodo goes, it's precisely because of Tolkien's views as a Christian author that Frodo had to fail at Mount Doom. Since no human being or hobbit is perfect, including Frodo, the final step must be taken not by Frodo but by Providence. However, this could not have occurred unless the ground had been prepared by the pity and mercy shown first by Bilbo, then by Frodo, and, at the end, even by Sam.
Frodo's job was to get the Ring up to the Crack of Doom. Then other forces simply took over. sharon, the 7th age hobbit [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[ May 07, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]