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Originally Posted by burrahobbit
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Originally Posted by somebodyElse
As christian, it's obvious that Tolkien's view of a god is that of the Christian/Jewish(/Muslim/Buddhist etc. as all gods are the same according to many people) and he's been influenced by that of course.
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NO. WRONG. God is God, the other ones are NOT God. That is the same sort of reasoning as saying the Black Numenoreans the worshipped Sauron/Morgoth were actually worshiping Eru, because it's all the same anyway. It is not the same, it is idolatry.
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Idolatry or just plain confusion. For it to be idolatry (in the Christian sense), one would have to be aware that the god in question wasn't YHWH and worship it anyway. That's why the first two commandments are to separate ones; 1) No other gods before me; 2) no idols. The reasoning for the wrong choice can vary.
It seems like splitting hairs and in some sense it is, I guess. But it also seems to me like Tolkien set it up pretty cleary, so that those who worshipped Sauron (even in unintentional confusion, thinking him good) were led to do what they should have known was wrong (human sacrifie, etc) and so should have realised that worshipping Sauron was wrong. In that case I would have called it idolatry.
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Originally Posted by The Saucepan Man
Why should "Tolkien's rules" bind the reader when they have no direct bearing on the story?
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Once more, the canonicity thread reappears, continued here, again, still.