Posted on 09/12/2011 4:17:08 PM PDT by HMS Surprise
Evidently John McCain couldn’t stay awake for the entire movie. If he had he would have discovered that the real heros in the battle for Middle Earth were not the kings, or queens, or any other establishment type. The real heros were the lowly hobbits of the shire, led by Frodo, a reluctant but lion-hearted and trustworthy warrior-poet who was capable of denying himself the corrupting influence of the ring of power.
John McCain, you are no Frodo.
(Excerpt) Read more at teapartytribune.com ...
McCain seems more like Wormtongue.
The corruption of the ring was that it was a forgery (pun intended). It was meant as a lock upon, and thereby a stand-in for, the true "ring of power" of divine Grace, which is alive and ever-free, and chooses it's own to work through.
From time immmorial, the fundamental sin has been to try to seize that power through force and will, rather than be chosen by it and serve it with humility.
That's why I laugh at people who look at Jesus as weak. Jesus stood on the banks of infinity, reaching out his hands to those going over a cliff, on fire, into hell, and as they passed by, in agony, they spit at his hands and called him weak and cursed him as they went over the cliff.
So who "won"?
You know more than I do, obviously. I love the LOTR movie trilogy, but in truth I seldom have time to watch anything from start to finish, and they are rather longish. I’m not sure if I have seen any single one in it’s entirety, but one or the other always seems to be on somewhere in the house.
It’s amazing how many times the narrative of the Christian Story finds its way into popular culture, despite the constant attempts by leftists in Hollywood and the MSM to keep it out. Agree?
Of course Gollum started out as a man, then metastasized slowly. I would say that McCain appears to be about 80% there.
Frodo succumbed to the Ring of Power. If Gollum hadn’t bitten his finger off (and taken the Ring with it), and then lost his footing and fell with the Ring into the lava of Mt. Doom, the Ring wouldn’t have been destroyed.
Yes, Frodo resisted for a long time, but Frodo wasn’t immune to its powers. Therein lies the moral of the story. No one (not even Hobbits) can resist the allure of Absolute Power, and all that it entails.
To follow up, in truth, Frodo failed. He was the Ring Bearer, but he didn’t destroy the One Ring, as he was tasked to do.....he was seduced by its power.
It was Gollum who destroyed the One Ring, though unintentionally.
I’ve always loved how Lord Of The Rings is quite likely the only work of literature named for it’s primary antagonist (Sauron); an unusual literary choice, but absolutely brilliant.
Of course, one could also say that he is casting himself as Saruman...
I do.
Jesus taught the Truth.
He didn't teach his opinion of the truth.
Therefore no matter how attacked, twisted, and even perverted His story has become across the millenia, it goes beyond mere words, and even human life itself. It is the Truth, and therefore it never changes - that's WHY it's the Truth.
I believe the actual story of Jesus's life is far richer and more amazing than what the Bible contains. As John 21:25 says," Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written."
But the Bible is a combat manual, something designed to go into battle, to survive down through the millenia, and to carry the power of Christ through it to reach the hearts of millions. It's literally a spiritual battle weapon, stripped of a lot unnecessary parts and dented by a million attacks. But it still works. It goes beyond its words, and carries the Light of God for those who are sincerely seeking that Light.
That's why, to me, the bickering of Christian sects is quite tedious. The point of the Bible is accepting the Christ shining through it and into our hearts, and living the life Jesus taught us to live. That's MORE than enough of a challenge for anyone I've ever seen - at least on this planet.
Frodo resisted mostly. I understand your point, but dang... Were you the hall monitor in school?
Hardly. Frodo WAS corrupted by the One Ring. It nearly destroyed him, and led him to attack Sam, forsake his quest, and ultimately even fight Gollum at Mount Doom. He was desperate to keep the Ring.
The only Ringbearer to escape the corruption of Sauron was lowly Samwise Gamgee, whose heart was so simple and pure that he actually held the Ring for a while, then, in an act even Gandalf could not match, willingly gave it up.
The hero of "Lord of the Rings" is not Frodo Baggins. It's Sam.
Yes, Frodo resisted for a long time, but Frodo wasn’t immune to its powers. Therein lies the moral of the story. No one (not even Hobbits) can resist the allure of Absolute Power, and all that it entails.
That's a good point, but there's a deeper moral there as well, which is that if one puts one's faith in doing what is right, the rest will be given by Grace as needed. For example, Sam wanted to kill Gollum, but Frodo knew in his heart that he'd contacted the shred of humity still in Gollum, and that that shred was (pun intended) precious. So he honored that small spark of light, and worked with Gollum out of compassion, to try to help him get his humanity back.
Result? When Frodo finally collapsed, when the power of the one ring overwhelmed him at last, despite all of his efforts to deny it, and he reached for the power, Gollum was there to fight him for it, and to seize it from him, and thereby protect him and destroy the ring at the same time, thereby fulfilling the quest and defeating the evil.
You could say that Gollum was just being Gollum, that all the touchy-feelly crap failed and that, in the end, he did exactly what Sam predicted he would do - he'd jump for the ring. But you could also say that God works in mysterious ways. That Gollum was rewarded for the fact that he, in his own way, tried to do good, and so was helpd by Frodo. And that by everyone doing their best, even though everyone lacked what was necessary, God made use of their efforts to bring them success (and even Gollum reached a release of sorts with his "precious").
Perspective is everything.
That's why the Powers That Be fight for people's perspective - because when they have that, they own them.
OK, it’s on. Frodo did not fail, if we use the generally accepted model for success. Let’s assume that in next year’s Super Bowl the winning quarterback throws an interception in the final seconds as he is driving his team down the field for the winning touchdown. He is a failure, correct? But, suppose that the cornerback who intercepted the ball immediately fumbled it, and an opponent picked it up cleanly and raced for a touchdown just as the last seconds tick away? The quarterback will still be a champion, will he not? He did all he could, and only succumbed for a moment when he was tired and beaten up. I recall that Frodo was in a similar state when he fumbled. Hardly a true measure of his purity I would think. The failure of the body is not synonymous with the failure of will... I opine in your general direction.
Regardless, the real hero is understood to be the one who resists power. I seem to recall a few such in the movie. I am going to go out on a limb and say that Frodo was the ringbearer for a reason. Call me crazy.
The hero of "Lord of the Rings" is not Frodo Baggins. It's Sam.
Sam was a hero. But he was only one of them. Sam's strength came from serving Frodo. Sam couldn't do it on his own, and he couldn't be the ringbearer. The only reason that Sam could give the ring up was because he was giving it back to Frodo - otherwise it would have destroyed him, too. That's why he had to give it back - he couldn't handle it.
Frodo collapsed, yes - but Frodo was the only one to allow himself to be slowly destroyed in order to get the ring to Mt. Doom. No one else would make that sacrifice. We say that everyone else was consumed by the ring's power, but what does it mean? It means that everyone else felt unable to allow the ring to destroy them, rather than comply with it's demands. Frodo alone was able to look at the ring and refuse it while simultaneously paying the price of allowing himself to be slowly destroyed by it. That is a sacrifice no one else was willing to do - not even Sam.
Plus Frodo is a much cooler name then Samwise Gamgee... “Samwise lives!” Umm, no.
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