The Bible, J.R.R. Tolkien And The Meaning Of LifeНамуна

The Fall 

A question that never goes out of fashion is, how did evil enter the world?

In the world that Tolkien created, God (Illuvatar) gave all his angels (Ainur) a grand theme of music and gave them the freedom to weave in their creativity. As the music unfolded it was magnificent - nothing like anyone had heard before. However, when it came to Melkor’s (chief of all Angels) interpretation of the theme, he decided to change the theme and the tune in order to set himself apart from the rest. Following this attempt, cacophony arose. 

This is comparable to a football player who thinks he is too good to play by the rules of the game. When he gets the ball he decides to shift the posts; instead of aiming for the goal he kicks it towards the cheering crowds. What surprises everyone is that he now expects to be rewarded for engaging the audience and a goal to be granted to his advantage. Even if he is significantly more talented and experienced, you can imagine the confusion that will ensue. 

As unlikely as this example might seem, there is the potential to change the rules of the game, when free-agents are involved. We might have to stop calling it football but we must be aware of this possibility. While the game is exciting because free-agents are able to tackle and dribble the ball to creatively score a goal, it also comes with many unforeseen possibilities.

God thought it worth our while to give us the freedom to weave our creativity into his theme. Genesis 1:28-31 basically says, be fruitful and multiply, look after the earth and its creatures, and cook food in as many ways as possible. Genesis 2: 15,16,19 &20, says, eat from any tree (except from one tree), and give creative names to all the animals, birds and reptiles. There are a lot of interesting things for us to do. 

But Satan wanted us to play his corrupted version of the theme. He tricked us into thinking that tackling and dribbling is not enough but kicking the ball wherever we like is the best part of the game (Genesis 3:4-5). We too had a choice and we chose otherwise. Just as one bad gene can have far-reaching consequences, that one act of disobedience resulted in many others. 

However, all of these consequences are merely corruptions of the original. God can step in and correct the mistake and that is what the whole Bible up until Christ is about!