Why didn't Eru and/or the Valar intervene when Sauron corrupted Númenor?
Given that Sauron spent a whopping 47 years (Second Age 3262-3319) in Númenor corrupting the people and making them do unspeakable things (burning Nimloth, human sacrifice, Morgoth worship, slaughtering the wild men of Middle-earth, the Great Armament), why didn't the good Powers stop him at the outset?
One wonders if the Powers truly cared about the race of Men, the Secondborn Children of Eru...
tolkiens-legendarium
asked 4 hours ago
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Given that Sauron spent a whopping 47 years (Second Age 3262-3319) in Númenor corrupting the people and making them do unspeakable things (burning Nimloth, human sacrifice, Morgoth worship, slaughtering the wild men of Middle-earth, the Great Armament), why didn't the good Powers stop him at the outset?
One wonders if the Powers truly cared about the race of Men, the Secondborn Children of Eru...
tolkiens-legendarium
asked 4 hours ago
RexRex
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Given that Sauron spent a whopping 47 years (Second Age 3262-3319) in Númenor corrupting the people and making them do unspeakable things (burning Nimloth, human sacrifice, Morgoth worship, slaughtering the wild men of Middle-earth, the Great Armament), why didn't the good Powers stop him at the outset?
One wonders if the Powers truly cared about the race of Men, the Secondborn Children of Eru...
tolkiens-legendarium
asked 4 hours ago
RexRex
111
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Given that Sauron spent a whopping 47 years (Second Age 3262-3319) in Númenor corrupting the people and making them do unspeakable things (burning Nimloth, human sacrifice, Morgoth worship, slaughtering the wild men of Middle-earth, the Great Armament), why didn't the good Powers stop him at the outset?
One wonders if the Powers truly cared about the race of Men, the Secondborn Children of Eru...
tolkiens-legendarium
tolkiens-legendarium
asked 4 hours ago
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asked 4 hours ago
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asked 4 hours ago
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asked 4 hours ago
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asked 4 hours ago
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The first thing you need to understand about Tolkien's writing is that even though he was being influenced by Norse mythology, he himself was a Catholic and that shaped what he wrote. It's why he waffled so much on the nature of orcs, because Catholic theology said that the Devil couldn't create but he needed the orcs to be a race of disposable mooks with no moral agency for the plot. It's why Gandalf got a power upgrade after his death and resurrection, because contact with holiness topped up his spiritual tank.
And in Catholic theology, God is not a micro-manager. He allows humankind to choose our way into corruption. Eru (who is God) would not directly intervene or allow his servants to intervene until they were being directly challenged.
answered 3 hours ago
David JohnstonDavid Johnston
2,193919
Without free will, man has no choice weather or not to love God, and if man had no choice, then man’s love of God would be meaningless. That is my understanding of the Christian explanation of free will. This is why there was a tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of eden in the first place. Adam and Eve has to have the ability to choose or else they are not separate entities from God and there is no point in creating them.
– Todd Wilcox
2 hours ago
add a comment |
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1 Answer
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The first thing you need to understand about Tolkien's writing is that even though he was being influenced by Norse mythology, he himself was a Catholic and that shaped what he wrote. It's why he waffled so much on the nature of orcs, because Catholic theology said that the Devil couldn't create but he needed the orcs to be a race of disposable mooks with no moral agency for the plot. It's why Gandalf got a power upgrade after his death and resurrection, because contact with holiness topped up his spiritual tank.
And in Catholic theology, God is not a micro-manager. He allows humankind to choose our way into corruption. Eru (who is God) would not directly intervene or allow his servants to intervene until they were being directly challenged.
answered 3 hours ago
David JohnstonDavid Johnston
2,193919
Without free will, man has no choice weather or not to love God, and if man had no choice, then man’s love of God would be meaningless. That is my understanding of the Christian explanation of free will. This is why there was a tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of eden in the first place. Adam and Eve has to have the ability to choose or else they are not separate entities from God and there is no point in creating them.
– Todd Wilcox
2 hours ago
add a comment |
The first thing you need to understand about Tolkien's writing is that even though he was being influenced by Norse mythology, he himself was a Catholic and that shaped what he wrote. It's why he waffled so much on the nature of orcs, because Catholic theology said that the Devil couldn't create but he needed the orcs to be a race of disposable mooks with no moral agency for the plot. It's why Gandalf got a power upgrade after his death and resurrection, because contact with holiness topped up his spiritual tank.
And in Catholic theology, God is not a micro-manager. He allows humankind to choose our way into corruption. Eru (who is God) would not directly intervene or allow his servants to intervene until they were being directly challenged.
answered 3 hours ago
David JohnstonDavid Johnston
2,193919
Without free will, man has no choice weather or not to love God, and if man had no choice, then man’s love of God would be meaningless. That is my understanding of the Christian explanation of free will. This is why there was a tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of eden in the first place. Adam and Eve has to have the ability to choose or else they are not separate entities from God and there is no point in creating them.
– Todd Wilcox
2 hours ago
add a comment |
The first thing you need to understand about Tolkien's writing is that even though he was being influenced by Norse mythology, he himself was a Catholic and that shaped what he wrote. It's why he waffled so much on the nature of orcs, because Catholic theology said that the Devil couldn't create but he needed the orcs to be a race of disposable mooks with no moral agency for the plot. It's why Gandalf got a power upgrade after his death and resurrection, because contact with holiness topped up his spiritual tank.
And in Catholic theology, God is not a micro-manager. He allows humankind to choose our way into corruption. Eru (who is God) would not directly intervene or allow his servants to intervene until they were being directly challenged.
answered 3 hours ago
David JohnstonDavid Johnston
2,193919
The first thing you need to understand about Tolkien's writing is that even though he was being influenced by Norse mythology, he himself was a Catholic and that shaped what he wrote. It's why he waffled so much on the nature of orcs, because Catholic theology said that the Devil couldn't create but he needed the orcs to be a race of disposable mooks with no moral agency for the plot. It's why Gandalf got a power upgrade after his death and resurrection, because contact with holiness topped up his spiritual tank.
And in Catholic theology, God is not a micro-manager. He allows humankind to choose our way into corruption. Eru (who is God) would not directly intervene or allow his servants to intervene until they were being directly challenged.
answered 3 hours ago
David JohnstonDavid Johnston
2,193919
answered 3 hours ago
David JohnstonDavid Johnston
2,193919
answered 3 hours ago
David JohnstonDavid Johnston
2,193919
answered 3 hours ago
David JohnstonDavid Johnston
2,193919
2,193919
Without free will, man has no choice weather or not to love God, and if man had no choice, then man’s love of God would be meaningless. That is my understanding of the Christian explanation of free will. This is why there was a tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of eden in the first place. Adam and Eve has to have the ability to choose or else they are not separate entities from God and there is no point in creating them.
– Todd Wilcox
2 hours ago
add a comment |
Without free will, man has no choice weather or not to love God, and if man had no choice, then man’s love of God would be meaningless. That is my understanding of the Christian explanation of free will. This is why there was a tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of eden in the first place. Adam and Eve has to have the ability to choose or else they are not separate entities from God and there is no point in creating them.
– Todd Wilcox
2 hours ago
Without free will, man has no choice weather or not to love God, and if man had no choice, then man’s love of God would be meaningless. That is my understanding of the Christian explanation of free will. This is why there was a tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of eden in the first place. Adam and Eve has to have the ability to choose or else they are not separate entities from God and there is no point in creating them.
– Todd Wilcox
2 hours ago
Without free will, man has no choice weather or not to love God, and if man had no choice, then man’s love of God would be meaningless. That is my understanding of the Christian explanation of free will. This is why there was a tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of eden in the first place. Adam and Eve has to have the ability to choose or else they are not separate entities from God and there is no point in creating them.
– Todd Wilcox
2 hours ago
add a comment |
Rex is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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