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Originally Posted by davem
This is not a case where an 'objective' interpretation can ever over-ride a subjective response. As Child & SPM have stated, this act of Eru's causes a serious problem for some readers, as it does not sit with his stated attributes of mercy & compassion. It is an act which many readers find unpleasant, yet those same readers love the world Tolkien has created - its just they feel that Eru is the wrong God for that kind of world - as if the real God of Arda has been kidnapped & replaced by some vengeful psychopath.
And so, we return back to the beginning - if Eru didn't exist, & the world was basically a polytheistic one ruled over by the generally decent & well-meaning Valar who get things right most of the time but occasionally cock things up big time (like trying to destroy the invading Numenorean fleet & going a bit too far & accidentally drowning the Island) it would be fine - but bring in an 'all wise, all powerful, benevolent & loving' God who also wreaks havoc & mass slaughter & the problems start...
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Eru's actions aren't really a problem for me. Why? Well despite Eru being entirely alien to my concept of what our own God might be like, it doesn't stop me accepting Eru as the god of another world, which Arda is - it's a creation in a book and not in any shape or form real (news - Hobbits don't really exist
). And Eru and his actions are consonant with what we're told about Eru as he creates the world, even as he creates what comes before the world. He's not like any God I know, this Eru also creates evil in the shape of Melkor, he's quite capable of doing things which seem 'bad' to my eyes. So smiting down a load of innocent kiddies isn't entirely out of character; it's part of his mystery, he's omnipotent so he can do it if he really wants to, and he's not a 'nice' character.
I think why so many people have a problem with Eru is that we love Tolkien's created world so much we believe everything about it must be perfect - and that includes the god of this world, who we firmly and rightly want to be beyond question, beyond doubt. We don't want Eru to do things like drown innocent children in Numenor! Despite the fact that I can accept it's consistent with his character as presented in the books, I still don't like what he does, I can find no justification for it beyond it being consistent with a god who would create Melkor (and allow Melkor to do what he wants, sing what he wants and then go on to create a world with innocent, organic beings within it, knowing that it will be tainted by Melkor). I want Eru to be beyond reproach but he isn't.
EDIT - and having seen what Thenamir has put prompts another thought or two...
Firstly, how interesting it is that some people who have encountered moral problems with the actions of the 'traditional' interpretation of the Christian God also have problems with the actions of Eru. It's that whole "But he killed innocent people! How can we call that just?!" that has led so many people out of the traditional church and into other faiths or none at all. And furthermore, how interesting it is that we don't just give up on Tolkien in the same way as the god of his world is like the traditional God we have turned from (cruel, to our minds) - I'd suggest that it's that Tolkien's Eru is just a character in a book that we can accept him as he is in the context of the book, or can just ignore him and think about the 99.9% of good stuff.
Secondly - no disrespect intended there! Just being honest. Now can we even say that a god like Eru is like the God known by all Christians anyway? No. So many Christians are like me and can only accept a wholly good God - anything beyond that is simply an act of nature or an act of evil (though there would be divisions over whether evil comes from other humans or from some devil figure).
Thirdly - the danger is that when you have people with strong faith who for some reason have come to associate Eru with their own God, that when you criticise Eru, they assume you're going after God. This is not the case. I see Eru as just words in a book, nothing more, so do bear that in mind when I talk about Eru.
