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Do we have a free will? Or is what we do and accomplish already decided through whats stated above? Fëanor was decieved by the God of all Gods so how can you blame him? Really?
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Yes, I do think that we have free will. And that all of us are responsible of our acts, including Fëanor. I can understand why he acted as he did, because I am often too proud and irascible [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] ) as he was, but that does not mean that neither his acts nor mine could be justified by blaming the Valar or Eru. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] His acts were 'tolerated' by Eru. This is what Tolkien thought of free will:
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To conclude: having mentioned Free Will, I might say that in my myth I have used 'subcreation' in a special way (...) to make visible and physical the effects of Sin or misused Free Will by men. Free Will is derivative, and is.'. only operative within provided circumstances; but in order that it may exist, it is necessary that the Author should guarantee it, whatever betides : sc. when it is 'against His Will', as we say, at any rate as it appears on a finite view. He does not stop or make 'unreal' sinful acts and their consequences.
Letter No. 153
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And here there is an interesting debate on free will:
http://forum.barrowdowns.com/cgi-bin...c&f=1&t=002495
About how Eru turn evil into good, this is the same problem that has been faced by all Catholics for centuries (and probably by all other christians). In my opinion, in the Ainulindalë, he is only translating the beliefs of the Catholic Church into the language of his sub-creation:
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For almighty God. . ., because he is supremely good, would never allow any evil whatsoever to exist in his works if he were not so all-powerful and good as to cause good to emerge from evil itself.
St. Augustine, Enchiridion II, 3: PL 40, 236.
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"In time we can discover that God in his almighty providence can bring a good from the consequences of an evil, even a moral evil, caused by his creatures: 'It was not you', said Joseph to his brothers, 'who sent me here, but God. . . You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.'[Gen 45:8; Gen 50:20; cf. Tob 2:12 (Vulgate).] From the greatest moral evil ever committed - the rejection and murder of God's only Son, caused by the sins of all men - God, by his grace that 'abounded all the more',[Cf. Rom 5:20 .] brought the greatest of goods: the glorification of Christ and our redemption. But for all that, evil never becomes a good."
Catechism of the Catholic Church
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