Since I am sort of getting lost in all these arguments, I'll just post one thing which I realized in reading
Valaquenta. I think (or: I SINCERELY HOPE) it will make an end to the disputation of whether Melkor's =>evil<= deeds were planned by Eru (for him) or not.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Valaquenta
The mightiest of those Ainur who came into the World was in his beginning Melkor; but Manwë is dearest to Ilúvatar and understands most clearly his purposes.
|
Manwë understands most clearly Ilúvatar's purposes. So Ilúvatar has some purposes, and whatever they are, Manwë understands them (and acts according to them) and Melkor does not (mostly). Thus, if for example Ilúvatar's purposes with Melkor were to destroy the lamps and battle with Valar, then according to what we know, actually Melkor would NOT destroy the lamps and battle with Valar (what Ilúvatar wanted) but he'd do something different (like not destroy the lamps or even help building them). Thus, in the reality, it was not Ilúvatar's will that Melkor destroys the Lamps - although, as with the snow, he could alter his primary plan and "make even greater things of it" (possibly later).
And:
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Valaquenta
Both [Aulë and Melkor] also desired to make things of their own that should be new and unthought of by others, and delighted in the praise of their skill. But Aulë remained faithful to Eru and submitted all that he did to his will.
|
I posted some post involving the part of creation of the Dwarves here some time ago, and as I can see, I could've saved me time by posting just this. Clear as day, in my opinion.
But Aulë remained faithful to Eru and submitted all that he did to his will. Melkor did not remain faithful to
Eru: not that he did remain faithful to some codex of morality or whatever, but did not remain faithful to his purpose given to him by Eru. Cf. above the example with lamps. So, even if Eru would've had evil in plan in the creation of the world, he didn't want Melkor to perform them. Which means, he possibly didn't have the evil in plan at all. When the evil came, yes, he dealt with it, after all, he was the omni-creator; and sometimes he made "even greater things" from evil that came. But he did not intend it in the first place.
Huh. And one last, general thought for this topic. I think it is important, when speaking about someone like Eru, to consider that he was "far above" and, even though just a book character, above
our, human thoughts. I think I could use a parallel with the real-world theology: we also are not able to reach God in any way (if you think he is), just look around, you don't know even from what atoms your table is made from and he'd create all of this. So the only way you can reach him is not by your reasoning (humanly limited), but only if he himself wanted to present to you. Thus, we are restricted to what he could possibly have let us know from his own intent (hence the term "revelation"). Why I am telling that is, that I want to show on this that we cannot polemise what and how Eru is in
"real" (whatever it might be), since you can 99% bet this does not show the truth at all. We can only rely on that how he's revealed to us: and this means, here, via Ainulindalë, Valaquenta, Silmarillion, Akallabëth etc.
Just to make some things in this topic clear.