Posted on 02/05/2002 10:57:20 AM PST by Darth Sidious
TOLKEIN AND THE LORD OF THE RINGS
February 5, 2002 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org) -
The Lord of the Rings movie has made more than $260 million since its release on December 19; and in spite of its PG-13 rating and its occultic imagery, it and its literary counterpart are being praised by some professing Christians. The Lord of the Rings is the first in a proposed fantasy trilogy based on the books by J.R. Tolkein. The movie edition of the trilogy was filmed at a cost of $300 million, but as we have seen, that amount was almost fully recovered a mere two months after the release of the first episode; and the second and third parts of the trilogy are yet to appear. The television rights to the trilogy were recently purchased by WB network for $160 million.
Christianity Today ran a positive review of the books and the movie entitled "Lord of the Megaplex." Focus on the Family praised Tolkein's fantasies and promotes the book "Finding God in the Lord of the Rings" by Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware (Tyndale House). The glowing advertisement at the Focus on the Family web site calls fantasy a "vehicle for truth" and says: "In Finding God in the Lord of the Rings, Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware examine the 'story behind' the stories the inspirational themes of hope, redemption and faith that Tolkien wove into his classic tales." World magazine's review is titled "Powerful Rings" and claims that the "movie version of Tolkien's book speaks to today's culture." There is no warning in these reviews about Tolkein's occultic imagery.
HARMLESS FANTASY, WHOLESOME ALLEGORY?
Is the Lord of the Rings harmless fantasy or perhaps even a wholesome Christian allegory? We think not. I read The Hobbit and the three volumes of The Lord of the Ring in 1971 when I was in Vietnam with the U.S. Army. I was not saved at the time, and, in fact, I was very antagonistic to the Christian faith; and had the books contained even a hint of Bible truth, I can assure you that I would not have read them at that particular point in my life. Though I have forgotten many of the details of the books, I can recall very vividly that they are filled with occultic imagery. The books were published in inexpensive paperback editions in the late 1960s, and they became very popular with that generation of drug headed hippies.
THE AUTHOR OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS
The author of the Lord of the Rings, John Ronald Reuel Tolkein, was born in South Africa in 1892, but his family moved to Britain when he was about 3 years old. When Tolkein was eight years old, his mother converted to Roman Catholicism, and he remained a Catholic throughout his life. In his last interview, two years before his death, he unhesitatingly testified, "I'm a devout Roman Catholic." J.R. Tolkein married his childhood sweetheart, Edith, and they had four children. He wrote them letters each year as if from Santa Claus, and a selection of these was published in 1976 as "The Father Christmas Letters." One of Tolkein's sons became a Catholic priest. Tolkein was an advisor for the translation of the Roman Catholic Jerusalem Bible.
As a professor of literature at Oxford University, Tolkein specialized in Old and Middle English and loved ancient pagan mythology. His first fantasy novel, The Hobbit, appeared in 1937, and The Lord of the Rings, in 1954-55. Several others were published later, some posthumously.
One of Tolkein's drinking buddies was the famous C.S. Lewis. They and some other Oxford associates formed a group called the "Inklings" and met regularly at an Oxford pub to drink beer and regale about literary and other matters. Tolkein, in fact, is credited with influencing Lewis to become a Christian of sorts. Like Tolkein, though, Lewis did not accept the Bible as the infallible Word of God and he picked and chose what he would believe about the New Testament apostolic faith, rejecting such things as the substitutionary blood atonement of Christ. And like Tolkein, C.S. Lewis loved at least some things about Catholicism. He believed in purgatory, confessed his sins to a priest, and had the last rites performed by a Catholic priest (C.S. Lewis: A Biography, pp. 198, 301)
J.R. Tolkein died in 1973 at age 81, two years after his wife, and they are buried in the Catholic section of the Wolvercote cemetery in the suburbs of Oxford.
THE STORY OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS
The setting for Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings is in "Middle Earth" and the hero is a little creature (a hobbit) named Frodo Baggins who accidentally becomes possessor of a magical ring that is the lost and greatly desired treasure of the "Dark Lord Sauron." The story line revolves around Frodo's action-filled journey to take the ring to the Cracks of Doom where it can be destroyed. The individual titles of the trilogy are "The Fellowship of the Ring," "The Two Towers," and "The Return of the Ring."
OCCULTISM
Though the aforementioned reviewers would have us believe that Tolkein's books contain simple allegories of good vs. evil, Tolkein portrays wizards and witches and wizardry as both good and evil. There is white magic and black magic in Tolkein's fantasies. For example, a wizard named Gandalf is portrayed as a good person who convinces Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit to take a journey to recover stolen treasure. The books depict the calling up of the dead to assist the living, which is plainly condemned in the Scriptures. Though not as overtly and sympathetically occultic as the Harry Potter series, Tolkein's fantasies are unscriptural and present a very dangerous message.
TOLKEIN SAID THE BOOKS ARE NOT CHRISTIAN ALLEGORIES
In his last interview in 1971, Tolkein plainly stated that he did not intend The Lord of the Rings as a Christian allegory and that Christ is not depicted in his fantasy novels. When asked about the efforts of the trilogy's hero, Frodo, to struggle on and destroy the ring, Tolkein said, "But that seems I suppose more like an allegory of the human race. I've always been impressed that we're here surviving because of the indomitable courage of quite small people against impossible odds: jungles, volcanoes, wild beasts... they struggle on, almost blindly in a way" (Interview by Dennis Gerrolt; it was first broadcast in January 1971 on BBC Radio 4 program "Now Read On…"). That doesn't sound like the gospel to me. When Gerrolt asked Tolkein, "Is the book to be considered as an allegory?" the author replied, "No. I dislike allegory whenever I smell it."
Thus, the author of The Lord of the Rings denied the very thing that some Christians today are claiming, that these fantasies are an allegory of Christ's victory over the devil.
TOLKEIN SPAWNED DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS
Tolkein's books single-handedly created the vast and spiritually dangerous fantasy role-playing games that are so influential today. Dungeons and Dragons, which appeared in the early 1970s, was based on Tolkein's fantasy novels. One fantasy-game web site makes this interesting observation: "The whole fantasy adventure genre of books came into play when J.R. Tolkein wrote his The Lord of the Rings books. From his vivid imagination and creative thinking he created the fantasy adventure genre. Tolkein probably got his ideas from ancient religions. Peoples of different civilizations were writing epic's way before Tolkein was even born. They wrote epics about people with superior strength, about gods that punished people and, travels to the underworld. Tolkein is accredited to being the man who started it all but if traced back even further you'll see that he wasn't the one that created it, just the one that pushed it forth."
This secular writer better understands what Tolkein's books are about than the aforementioned Christian publications. Tolkein certainly did get his ideas from pagan religions, and the message promoted in his fantasy books is strictly pagan.
ROCK AND ROLLERS LOVE TOLKEIN
Tolkein has influenced many rock and rollers. The song "Misty Mountain Hop" by the demonic hard rock group, Led Zeppelin, was inspired by Tolkein's writings. Marc Bolan, of the rock group Tyannasaurus Rex, created a musical and visual style influenced by Tolkein. The heavy metal rock group Iluvatar named themselves after a fictional god from Tolkein's novel The Silmarillion. Others could be mentioned.
The world knows its own; and when the demonic world of fantasy role-playing and the morally filthy world of rock and roll love something, you can be sure it is not godly and it is not the truth.
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oh.
osama likes taco flavored doritos?
uh oh....
Careful about the broad brushes, Darth. I don't know that Mother Theresa would fit either of your categories. And there are more Christians like her than like this hack.
Shalom.
I'm looking forward to someday having a conversation with Lewis and Tolkien in heaven, and I wonder what this guy's reaction will be... surprise that they're in the same place he is, or surprise that being an ignorant, nasty, and holier-than-thou moron doesn't automatically disqualify you from getting in!
HOw DiD yOU FInD OUT???!!!!
And yes, it was E. Gary Gygax... I guess I should take a time out in Baba Yaga's Magical Hut.
Actually, according to tolkien-movies.com, FOTR has taken in $666 million internationally -- THE MARK OF THE BEAST!
He seemed to like to set things up so that if you did something interesting, you usually got soundly thrashed for it.
I'm a big fan of Tolkien's work. But I can read the books without feeling guilty and trying to make it something it is not. It is not a Christian book.
Did Styx write 'Mr. Roboto?' I thought Sony did.
Seriously, that was a terrible song, but one fantastic concert.
Shalom.
:-)
Sometimes I watched other people play it ...
While getting ready for a date or other semblance of a life.
Uh-oh! I better get the asbestos underwear!
Shalom.
Never mind, everyone can see he is just another "foaming at the mouth" religious nut.
You sure he's going?
To whom much is given, from him much is expected.
Shalom.
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