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Originally Posted by SpM
I accept that Eru is Tolkien's God. I also accept from what you say that he is your God. But, to me, Eru is not God.
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This about sums it up for me. And I won't be changing my vote because the poll asked if Eru was THE God, not Tolkien's God.
I envy those who can accept one view of God and stick with it, as I cannot. I see too many Gods and their most devout followers are not all bad people, so either they are all wrong or all right. I do tend to veer towards they are all right (hence my interest in Unitarianism) and I would defend to the last anyone's right to religious freedom.
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Originally Posted by Formendacil
If that makes you believe that Eru is not God, then clearly God as defined by most Christians (and Jews) is not someone that you believe in.
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I'd question 'most Christians'. I was brought up Anglican and Tolkien's God was not the God I learned about (though I knew of this God through my grandmother's fire and brimstone beliefs). My God was inherently good. Natural disasters were just that, and as Christians our role was to help out as much as possible (usually through the jumble sale
); likewise evil was nothing to do with 'original sin' it was the fault of misguided people. The role of God was to guide us, not to punish us; more a case of do good things to make God happy rather than avoid bad things because you'll get punished.
A final thought, somewhat random...Free will. Where do the Elves fit into all of this? They are denied the most basic free will of all, to die.