Don't you think, that like Boromir, relying on strength can sometimes be a problem when confronting the purposes of God??
Tolkien was a man interested in the 'spiritual', and realized that God often uses the --least, or smallest or the foolish to confound the greatest or strongest or the wise?
Just a thought, but I was continually awed by the spiritual depth in these books.
I don't see the Lord of the Rings books as being distinctly Christian. While there is a spiritual element to them, it never appeared to be me to be Christian. I understand that good versus evil is ultimately about God and Satan, but many works of literature and events in real life have featured that struggle without a distinctly Christian message.
It's fine to do something on faith that God will choose the weak to confound the strong and the foolish to confound the wise when you know that you are following God in making that decision. However, when you really don't have a clear direction from God, I think you need to try your best to put the appropriate people in the appropriate situations. If someone broke into my house at night and I knew that God wanted me to confront the person unarmed, I would do it. Without that clear direction, I'd be holding a revolver.
WFTR
Bill
This is really a question of faith. Faith in yourself versus faith in something more-or-less unseen. Denethor and Boromir both made the same mistake: they both assumed that *they* were of central importance, and that their strength of will (Denethor) or body (Boromir) were necessary ingredients to saving the West. Both realized that they were overmatched, and so desired something that would give them the power to match the strength of their enemy: the Ring.
Both were wrong. The difference between Boromir and Denethor is that Boromir realized his mistake in the end, and sacrificed himself (whether consciously or not) as atonement. Denethor, OTOH, rejected faith and so came to utter dispair.
Against these examples, we have the examples of Aragorn, Frodo, and especially Gandalf, who showed more faith than anyone and, due to his deeper wisdom and understanding, had more reason for despair than anyone else, but repeatly rejected it and rejected the idea that he himself had to deal with Sauron directly; that was the path Saruman took.
Anyhow, I didn't mean to go on so long about this. It's an interesting topic that can be discussed at any point in the story.
Tuor