Last month, I was asked by a peer to come address his class on the problem of evil. It is perhaps the most challenging question asked of a Christian. As I shared with them, really part of a conversation between myself and the professor, then later with the students, I took my comments towards J.R.R. Tolkien and his wonderful world of Middle-earth.
I think at one level, the question about “the problem of pain” (as C.S. Lewis put it) is not really a question about evil, but rather confrontation about whether God exists or not. If God exists, so the thinking goes, then nothing ill or wrong should ever happen, certainly not “to me personally.”
And really, it’s not even about bad things, as in shootings or rape or cancer, but rather it’s about life not going the way “I want.” The frustration is that each of us wants our life to unfold in the way that we wish.
Sadly, life never does….or rarely does it, and not for long even when it feels as if life is moving well.
Into this frustration, comes the theology from some well-meaning Christian that “God has a wonderful plan for your life.” Taken at face value, then either God is mean since his “wonderful plan” stinks or there must not be a God.
The problem with this theory of life is that it ignores a very deep aspect of understanding how to really find success in life. The idea of the Divine is that God is beyond us…beyond our mental capacity to understand. God is infinite. The mind of God is vast. I, and my mind, have limits; I am finite. Thus, at crucial moments of life, especially when things go poorly, I simply cannot make out how the event is positive. Yet, because there is a God, I can learn to trust that how things are moving along have a deeper purpose.
Tolkien presents this concept throughout his world of Middle earth. His first work from this world, The Hobbit, showed this often. Again and again, Bilbo is said to possess good luck “far exceeding the usual allowance.” Critics of Tolkien’s writings point to this sense of luck as an escape hatch for the characters of Middle Earth; whether it was Bilbo stumbling upon the ring of power, just happening to come to Elrond at the time of the precise moon or the eagles showing up again and again to save the day….events work out.
Yet we have good things like this happen to us all the time, but in those cases, when things are going well (exactly has planned?), we don’t notice to give God credit. Or, we don’t notice. We should. You may not think you’ve found a ring of power, or been saved by eagles, but you have….more than you know.
If, though, you know Tolkien’s Christian background, then the idea of good fortune is not too surprising at all. In the opening of The Silmarillion, the reader is presented with a clear theology of Middle Earth meeting Eru, or as he is called by the elves, Iluvatar, “The One” who created all things. Through Eru, the chief angelic beings, the Ainur came to being, and ultimately were given the task of maintaining Middle Earth. And while it appears that things just unfold as they do with no interference or action from Eru, the reality is that Eru acts in certain ways for His own purposes of good to the benefit of Middle Earth.
Throughout the remainder of Tolkien’s works, Eru played key roles in the lives of the many who inhabited Middle Earth. However, the One could not simply show up in the world for risk of destroying it in full. The Ainur also could not capriciously show up. However, he could impact what happened through the story, a concept the wizard Gandalf alluded to time and time again.
In The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf reminds Frodo that “Bilbo was meant to find the ring, and not by its maker. In which case, you also were meant to have it as well. And that may be an encouraging thought.” Gandalf’s last statements to Bilbo in The Hobbit indicate that he understands the power of Eru. He teaches Bilbo that “You don’t really suppose, do you, that all your adventure and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit.”
Perhaps the best illustration of the point comes as Bilbo makes his way through Mirkwood with the dwarves. Gandalf had told them to stick to the only road through the very dark woods, warning that if they got off the trail, they would get lost and die. Unfortunately, the travelling party does get lost in the woods due to a variety of situations, concluding with find themselves imprisoned in the castle of the Wood Elf King. Later, after some weeks in prison, Bilbo is able to get everyone out, but the escape is not an easy one, nor is it comfortable. Thus, for some period of time, to all apparent observation, the group has been near death, under threat from evil creatures, starving and suffering from a variety of physical ailments. And yet….
As they come to what appears to be a conclusion to their torment, Bilbo discovers to his surprise that the road that Gandalf had sent them on was flooded. Tolkien then explains for the benefit of the reader that, “Bilbo had come in the end by the only road that was any good.” Had the “evil things” NOT happened, then the implication is that the WOULD have died in the woods, undone by events going exactly as they planned.
And that’s where it’s really hard for most of us. In the end, for those who are after God’s heart, things most often do work out in a way for good. Not that we can always see it, but that’s a blog writing for another day. Just remember, even if we think that we can’t see any good from an event, the entire story has not yet been told.