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Originally Posted by davem
We require Eru to display 'Infinite Compassion' if we are to accept him as 'Good' (even if we cannot fully understand the way that 'Infinite Compassion' works through in time)
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While you and I may agree to define good as infinite compassion, we would have no way to understand how this can be best achieved or applied in regards to one human or all humanity. In regards to what might have been the best marriage possible, Tolkien said:
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Originally Posted by Letter #43
Only a very wise man at the end of his life could make a sound judgement concerning whom, amongst the total possible chances, he ought most profitably to have married!
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Likewise, I hold that judging whether what happened during lifetime is an expression of good is possible at most at the end of it, but even that may have little value, since one's relation to God most likely extends beyond one human life, maybe beyond all creation. And we hardly have any insight into that.
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Or to put it another way, if you were a Man, or Elf in M-e confronted by Eru & Morgoth, both claiming to be the Supreme Being, & with no knowledge of who they were, how would you determine which one was Good & which Evil if you could not apply an objective standard of Good/Evil?
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Men have already been deceived by Melkor once, and he was worshiped instead of Eru. Lacking (at least) infinite knowledge, such a tragedy is rather possible on the human level.