Nebulous "It" and Absolutes

[Hookbill the Goomba]

I must agree, Firefoot, Eru's Mercy is what saved Frodo from utter 'brokenness'. If Frodo had been driven completely mad by the ring, alike to Gollum, then the quest would not have been achieved. There again we can go into the idea of Devine intervention, as Gandalf says about Bilbo's finding of the ring;

"There were other powers at work that day, besides the will of evil"

Gandalf : The Fellowship of the ring - The shadow of the past

Then again it can be referring to the fact that Bilbo said, "What have I got in my pocket" at precisely the right time.
That suggests that Ilúvatar intervened in some way. So Then people begin to argue that this again removes the free will of Mortal races. But, as I have argued many times, the divine intervention is a guide, but men, elves and hobbit can use those guides wisely or unwisely depending on their choose.

Then again we can come around the fact that Iluvatar knew what was going to happen, he knew what they were going to chose to do, but I don’t think we can fully understand his mind.

As you said Firefoot, God sent his son to die for us to make up for the fall and the treachery of Satan so that his children may have salvation. (This is very appropriate being Easter, sorry i thought I’d point that out), So no, the blame does not belong to Eru / God, he obviously loves his children, and sent his son to die for us. and in the words of Gandalf "That is an encouraging thought".

Ps: This is my 51st post, so I’m now a haunting spirit! (Does ghost gestures and then sits down in embarrassment)