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Re: Eru Illuvatar and his nightime job as the Devil

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  Posted by DAVID on April 09, 2000 at 00:58:18
In Reply to: Eru Illuvatar and his nightime job as the Devil posted by Dave aka Don Quixote on April 07, 2000 at 17:34:26:



I work on high volume copiers for a living. Obviously I come across broken copiers all the time. This begs the question, according to your line of thought, where did this broken copier originate from? Did the manufacturer make it "broken"? Or was it made (created) functioning (perfect) and simply got "broken" through some means other than the original plan for this copier? Evil, to me, is NOT the equal opposing force to counteract good, like you see in eastern philosophy (think yin and yang), but "broken good". If something is broken or working in a way NOT orignally intended by the designer then the designer cannot be blamed for the faulty operation of the "whatever".

The analogy, like all analogies, breaks down at a certain point but gets across the general point, which I hope I have done. God/Eru having all knowledge/foresight doesn't make Him evil just because He created something He knew would go bad. You must remember the "something" that went bad or got broken got that way through personal choice. It didn't have to be that way nor was it supposed to be. But God/Eru seeks truth and reality above all. He doesn't want mindless/choiceless obediance. Who wants a guy/gal who is your friend because they are incapable of being anything other than your best friend?

If evil is broken good then like all other broken things it will eventually self destruct and the properly working things will continue on because they are working "properly". So despite evil's intentions it will fail because "evil carries w/in itself the seeds of it's own destruction". Good, read "God's will", will always win out in the end. In fact God/Eru can use evil to further His purposes because, ultimately, evil will self destruct and good will win out and be shown the stronger as a result of the contrast between the self destructiveness of evil and the ultimate working out of a "properly working mechanism" that is "good".


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