This is an interesting topic for me to view, seeing as how I am what most might consider "Christian". I am interested in the "Lord of the Rings" series, and it is a very nice work of literature that Tolkien wrote. There is no problem with searching for metaphors that can relate to one's beliefs, but the only way one can really see a metaphor is to understand what the author's viewpoint of life was. You need to understand what his intention was while writing the book. I assume that Tolkien's greatest intention to write the book was... probably to make it interesting and magnificent; to send the reader into a world that isn't ours, and to simply make a great piece of literature. He could've used elements from his religion, and from his morals, but we don't know wether or not he really intended to tell people of Christ's death for our sins. It's ok for people to explain their viewpoint of a story. It helps to look at things from a different point of view... how are you supposed to discover any truths without keeping an open mind to what people have to say?
I'd like to add also, so you may continue the topic, something that may offend you, but I just want to give people a clear view of what the Bible explains christianity to be:
Daniel, a prophet who lived during the time when Babylon took over Jerusalem under king Nebuchadnezzar, prophesied the coming of what the Jews called 'Messiah'. He prophesied this:
"... from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be 7 sevens and 62 sevens..." "...then after the 62 sevens the Messiah will be cut off..."*
Daniel made that prophecy more than a thousand years before Christ's birth.. Christ was probably born not long before the AD years, and lived a perfect life. He was born in a manger, and lived as a servant for his parents. When he grew up, he served the sick and diseased, healing each one who had faith that Jesus was, infact, this "Messiah" character. He called 12 to be his apostles and they followed him everywhere he went, learning from him and writing about their three years with him. Everyone knew about Jesus(seeing as he healed incurable diseases), so if the apostles wrote anything wrong down, then someone would definitely be sure to know. But anyway, as I was saying, the bible explains that Jesus went around teaching what the pharisees considered "blasphemous" doctrine, and was in the end betrayed by Judas (one of the twelve disciples), brung to Pontius Pilate, where they released Barabbas, a murderer, instead of Jesus. They spit and beat him up, and was then scourged (beaten with a metal-tipped whip from head to toe) He then had a crown of thorns placed on his head, and was forced to carry a tree to the top of a hill (he had the help of one of his apostles), where he was then nailed to the tree, where he ultimately died. The bible also teaches that he was risen on the third day and that he ascended, returning to where he came from. Christianity points out that Jesus saw what was going to happen before it happened, but became obedient to it, and went through it not for his glory, but for us. Jesus died so that he could give us a gift. Wether you believe such a thing or not does not discern wether it's truth or not, but I'll leave you to your thoughts. I just wanted to get the point across at what christianity was, seeing as how this is a topic on christianity.
*Daniel uses the term "sevens" to refer to a group of seven years. 7 + 62 sevens = 69
69 x 7 = 483 years. The decree came in 445 B.C. from Artaxerxes, the King of Persia. So, using 360-day years, as the Hebrews did, we add 483 years and come to A.D. 32(plus or minus 1.5 years)
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