Monday, March 28, 2005
The Fall of Numenor
J.R.R. Tolkein's Silmarillion includes the ancient history of the elves and the beginning of men. One story involves descendants (the Numenarians) of the "elf friends" and their fall from grace. I find the story to be very timely.
The elf friends were rewarded by the gods for their bravery in the war against Morgoth (an evil god). After the chaining of Morgoth the gods gave the elf friends thier own island seperate from middle earth and valinor (the home of the gods), but closer to valinor. The people called themselves the Numenor. The Numenarians grew wise and strong and had many years of peace until they began to want the deathless life that the gods and the elves enjoyed in Valinor.
This envy drove the Numenarians to fear death and cling to life until bereft of all their faculties. Eventually the Numenarians went to war with the gods over this and most were destroyed.
Some would argue that this story reinforces the arguement for euthinasia, but it really doesn't. The pride of the Numenarians were their downfall. The sense of entitlement over thier existance was the source of their pride. The Numenarians were jealous and angry with their gods over the issue of their mortality, but their gods were unable to change the fact that men die.
We have set ourselves up as gods, deciding who lives and who dies. We will all die, but the one who gave us life should choose when that end is to come.
Luke 12: Consider the ravens, for they sow not, neither do they reap, neither have they storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much are you more valuable than they? And which of you, by taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit? If then ye be not able to do so much as the least thing, why are you solicitous for the rest?
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The elf friends were rewarded by the gods for their bravery in the war against Morgoth (an evil god). After the chaining of Morgoth the gods gave the elf friends thier own island seperate from middle earth and valinor (the home of the gods), but closer to valinor. The people called themselves the Numenor. The Numenarians grew wise and strong and had many years of peace until they began to want the deathless life that the gods and the elves enjoyed in Valinor.
This envy drove the Numenarians to fear death and cling to life until bereft of all their faculties. Eventually the Numenarians went to war with the gods over this and most were destroyed.
Some would argue that this story reinforces the arguement for euthinasia, but it really doesn't. The pride of the Numenarians were their downfall. The sense of entitlement over thier existance was the source of their pride. The Numenarians were jealous and angry with their gods over the issue of their mortality, but their gods were unable to change the fact that men die.
We have set ourselves up as gods, deciding who lives and who dies. We will all die, but the one who gave us life should choose when that end is to come.
Luke 12: Consider the ravens, for they sow not, neither do they reap, neither have they storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much are you more valuable than they? And which of you, by taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit? If then ye be not able to do so much as the least thing, why are you solicitous for the rest?
# posted by Joe Florida @ 1:46 PM 
