XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: hayesmstw@hotmail.com   
      
   On 2 Nov 2003 09:39:22 -0800, yzetta@yahoo.com (zett) wrote:   
      
   >Stan Brown  wrote in message news:<   
   PG.1a0e5e50478ae8f798b68e@news.odyssey.net>...   
   >> In article <4bb40450.0311011810.891a6b0@posting.google.com> in   
   >> rec.arts.books.tolkien, zett  wrote:   
   >> >For me, the single most fascinating thing in all of Tolkien's writing   
   >> >is the idea of death as a natural part of man, not a punishment for   
   >> >sin.   
   >> >   
   >> >Does anyone know where he might have gotten this idea?   
   >>   
   >> I think it is a natural extension of his religious faith.   
   >>   
   >> As I understand them, Christians believe that death is part of the   
   >> original punishment for sin. However, death is also the means by   
   >> which believers enter into the presence of their god.   
   >>   
   >> From that it's not much of a stretch to make death the means of   
   >> entering into the presence of a god _without_ having it be a   
   >> punishment for sin.   
   >[snip]   
   >   
   >I see what you are saying, but based on the kind of Christianity I was   
   >raised with, it *is* a stretch, a huge, wonderful stretch. I much   
   >prefer the idea over official Christian doctrine -at least the way the   
   >church of my childhood put it. Also, as creation stories go, I prefer   
   >the Sil. over the Bible.   
      
   There's little difference in the meaning of the creation stories, since   
   Tolkien's was based on Christian tradition.   
      
   The idea of death as a punishment for sin is not in the Biblical accounts of   
   creation, and the account of sin's entrance in the Silmarillion is pretty much   
   in line with that in Genesis.   
      
      
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