So a little back story on me when I was in middle school and high school: I used to LOVE Lord of the Rings... it was a little obsessive, I'll admit, and it followed me into my adult life when I tried to get Liz to let me have The Ring as my wedding ring (halfway joking, but yes, I bought a replica of The Ring online in high school, and I am not ashamed of it). But something inside me has been yearning to re-read LOTR. Maybe it is a subconscious way of escaping all this crap and going back to a place and time when there was no brain tumor, no seizures, etc. Back when all I had to worry about was what was for dinner (and it was always amazing) and homework (which I never did).
As I reflect on LOTR with the perspective I have now, I see it has a lot of Christian themes throughout the book.
As I tend to do, I started doing a little research on the topic, and Tolkien (the author of LOTR) was a Christian, but never meant the LOTR series to be an allegory (and example of an allegory would be CS Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, where the Lion is supposed to be an exact representation of Jesus). Tolkien believed that his views and beliefs would come out in his work without him having to insert it in directly... and he was right.
The Ring
The Ring (represents evil and the idols in our lives) was created by the dark lord, Sauron, to gain power over all the world. Long story short, it was cut off Sauron's hand and found its way to the unlikeliest of creatures: a hobbit (small creatures with hairy feet and not fond of anything outside of their home, The Shire) by the name of Frodo Baggins.
Throughout the story, everyone who comes into contact with The Ring feels the power and temptation of it. It doesn't matter if they are powerful wizards or great Elven Kings, the ring deceives them into thinking they can use it for good, when in reality, it is just a way for them to justify not destroying the ring. But the hobbit Frodo seems to deal with the temptation of the ring exceptionally well, and is tasked with taking The Ring to the one place it can be destroyed: Mt. Doom.
Isn't that how God works? Using the weak and small to do his greatest work? As it is written in 2 Corinthians 12:9
"9 My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Frodo was hand picked to carry out this unthinkable task of returning to Mt. Doom to destroy the ring, because of his resilience towards it. But he didn't go alone, he had a fellowship of people that went with him. They held him accountable through the journey and showed him love and compassion all along the way. God made us to show love and be connected to each other on a deep level and in the darkest times. In the last book of the series, one of the original fellowship members, Sam, is at the foot of Mt. Doom with Frodo. Frodo can't go on due to the power of the ring sucking him dry and Sam said,
"Come, Mr. Frodo! I can't carry [The Ring] for you, but I can carry you!"We need those kind of friendships. Ones that will carry you through the hardest of times and still love you. It's a Godly, unconditional love.
We Can't Do it Alone
Once Frodo reaches the peak of Mt. Doom he can't seem to find the will to drop the ring into the fire (the only place it can be destroyed). He is tempted by the same thoughts of power that has affected everyone throughout the journey, but then something amazing happens.. Another creature, Gollum, who used to possess the ring, was drawn to its power and frequently called it 'my precious'. Gollum had been tracking Frodo all the way to Mt. Doom, and he eventually found Frodo on the edge of Mt. Doom about to do the unthinkable deed (in Gollum's mind) of destroying the ring. Out of pure desperation, Gollum grabbed the ring from Frodo, slipped and fell into the fire, thus destroying the ring.
The theme here is we can't defeat whatever evil is inside of us alone. We need a Gollum of our own to intervene and save us from our evil, idolatrous ways.
We need God to come into our lives and help us destroy whatever evil lives in our hearts, because we can't do it alone. God has to intervene and be our Gollum.
I apologize if this doesn't make sense to those who haven't read the books or seen the movies, but I did the best I could to pack about 1,200 pages into just a couple!
much love,
Nathan
No comments:
Post a Comment