Tolkien was a very strong Christian and in his wonderfully written "Silmarillion," the Old Testament to the New Testament of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the opening chapters parallel the first book of Genesis creation ex nihilo.
In Tolkien's universe Illuvatar is the personal Divine Creator who sings the universe into existence from nothing. Here is the opening paragraph:
"There was Eru, the One, who in Arda is called Illuvatar; and he made first the Ainur, the Holy Ones, that were the offspring of his thought, and they were with him before aught else was made. And he spoke to them, propounding to them themes of music; and they sang before him, and he was glad...."
The themes of music became the world's creation. Illuvatar transformed the music into material reality.
As you probably know, Lewis credits Tolkien among others, with bringing him to Jesus Christ. During the years of his walk Lewis rethought everything he previously held as true. By the time he wrote the Narnia Chronicles Lewis embraced the literal and historical elements of Scripture beginning with Genesis. In the second book of the Chronicles, "The Magician's Nephew," Lewis beautifully illustrates the creation of Narnia from nothing as Aslan, his Christ figure, sings it into existence. As Aslan sings, all life forms arise fully formed, each after its own kind.
LOL!! Love your humor, Sister in Christ!
I, too am a Tolkien and Lewis fan -- but, I find that Scripture alone (bolstered by insight from the Holy Spirit) suffices to convince me of the truth of ex nihilo creation.
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I feel that our differences may be rooted in interpretation of the timing of creation.
In fact, I'm amazed that Alamo-Girl and betty boop have not already convinced you that an understanding of relativistic time can free you from a dogmatic, "It took exactly this long" position to the soul-freeing -- and God-exalting -- position that we share:
1) From our Creator's Heavenly viewpoint, ('looking' "forward" in time, at His expanding universe) creation took six of His "workdays".
2) From our viewpoint ('looking' "backward" in time -- from a moving position within that expanding universe), we see some thirteen + billion elapsed "years" -- measured by the annual orbital time of our planet around our sun -- of elapsed time.
Both interpretations are correct -- and worshipful.
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As far as I can discern, none of the above is in the least disrespectful of our Creator, His awesome creation, or of Scripture.
Furthermore, being freed from the "either/or" false dichotomy promulgated by those who can (or will) see only one side of the timing issue, I find myself liberated to truly worship, adore and admire the incomprehensible majesty of our God! -- through the evidence of His mighty works of Creation!
Now, every time a new bit of evidence of His intricate, planned creation is revealed to me, I rejoice in praise and adulation! Every time I read His Word, my heart leaps with joy and new comprehension! And every time I am confronted by the Amazing Grace of our Saviour's loving sacrifice and His promise of eternity, my eyes fill with tears of profound gratitude!
And the God I now worship is immeasurably more magnificent and grand than my pitiful concept of Him when what I had been taught by men kept my concept of Him "squashed" within a "box" built of human egotism, misinterpretation and 'tradition'...
A wise, God-inspired Sister in Christ says it well:
P.S. A-G & bb: I realize that I have not maintained the relativistic rigor of spatiotemporal "reference frames" herein -- but, in the interest of communication, I believe I have adhered to the principles...