Inherent Evil

[Lord of Angmar]

The problem I have with your view is that it means that there is a component of evil within God. This does not fit with the Christian belief of God and as I said earlier, Tolkien's writing was heavily influenced by his Christian beliefs.

Your definition of 'component' is obviously very different from our own. You see the fact that Iluvatar can conceive of and fully understands evil as a flaw. We see it as simply a necessary reality. His mind reflects all ways of thought and every possible idea formed in the minds of his creations. Since Melkor was rebellious against Iluvatar's plans, Iluvatar therefore must understand rebellion and recognize evil within his world. This is not to say that he is evil or that he condones evil. He simply understands the workings of the mind of Melkor and all other evil beings within Ea.

Since Melkor recognized the potential for rebellion and seized the opportunity to rebel against Eru during the singing of the Themes, it can be concluded that Eru conceived of the possibility of rebellion against his will and recognized this as 'evil' before Melkor. The creation of an All-Knowing Being such as Eru cannot think of rebellion without the Creator conceiving of the idea as well.

While it is true that the Christian God does not show signs of being 'evil' (it was he, after all, who came up with the ideas for what is considered 'evil' in the Ten Commandments), it can surely be said that He could see and understand the mind of Lucifer as he descended into Darkness. He knew of evil before Adam and Eve and even before Lucifer, as is shown (and this is open to interpretation) by the Tree which God forbade Adam and Eve from eating from, which represented (in the minds of many Christian scholars) evil, or rebellion against God. God understood evil, understood Lucifer's 'fallen' state, and understood the implications of Adam and Eve eating from the tree, yet that did not make him evil in any way, did it? And since Lucifer was surrounded by Angels and by the Lord himself before his fall, his evil must have been a product of the life given unto him by God.

What I am saying is, a god can conceive of and understand evil, and evil can be a part of the mind of a god, without that god ever acting or thinking in a way that would be considered 'evil.'