[Tirned Tinnu]

Yes, in fact, I'm looking right at it. In it Tolkien brings up some decidedly "pagan" attitudes, as it has been put in this thread. To believe in "The Path to The Land of Faery" is far and away a "pagan" belief. What I am getting at here is that anything other than what is taught in the Bible is considered by many to be blasphemy. What I have wanted to know throughout my postings is why people can believe one thing and yet do another. That is heretical. In my opinion Tolkien was reaching far outside his "beliefs" in order to continue to live his dreams. I cannot speak for him but to quote him:
"Art has been verified. (Speaking of the validity and history of The Gloria) God is Lord of Angels, and of men - and of elves. Legend and history have met and fused."

So here we see Tolkien making obvious reference to the fact that The Bible is mythos just like any other legend. He states that "it has been proved". So he is making the assumption that since the validity of The Bible is "no longer in question" then God is there, presiding over even elves, Tolkien's work, even his world. Apparently he did not shun the idea that we can walk around in a world of our own making and yet can still be redeemed. Why then, as I have asked before, how then, in fact, does Tolkien gain the power to rewrite the attitudes of many Christians? Or CS Lewis, who now since we know he married a divorcee and has sinned - how can we take his word for it either?
Do you see what I'm getting at?

If we shun the myths or the doctrin of other beliefs from our minds (Because they are pagan) we limit our belief in God. We limit the way in which we get to know Him. Tolkien wrote about Faery and myths as a path to knowing God. So, in essence, to label other people as Pagan is not what Tolkien sought to do. He sought to make up his own world, with decidedly Paganist ideas (the middle road of imagination), that others might learn about myths and compare their origins to the way the Bible was made up, to see the actual pieces unfold, and understand why Christianity as a whole operates so efficiently! I wonder, though, as I have said before, why anyone in this thread would seek to tell others to "listen at their peril" to the teachings of men, who in my opinion, have done more for myth and Christianity than any others. Do any of you doubt that Lewis and Tolkien were not redeemed? And what of Campbell, who in his very presence seemed to give off peace and harmony, a completeness with the universe, an innocent and loving heart for God? Was he not taken into the loving embrace of Christ, even though he may have gone by a different name?
I realize these questions are hard to face. but face them as Christians we must, in order to understand only a small portion (that which man can try to comprehend) of the mind of God.

[ September 23, 2002: Message edited by: Tirned Tinnu ]