The Silmarillion:Ainulindalë

[Lief Erikson]

Originally posted by
my argument still stands: why did eru allow a rebelious being in a place where he could negatively affect the process? was it a surprise to any that melkor would rebel in arda? he rebeled to the face of eru, what makes you think he wouldnt rebel when he had no supervision? personnally i dont think that eru, an omnipotent god, was that naive.

I don't think that Ilúvatar, an omnipotent god, was that naive either. He knew what was going to happen. However, he was powerful enough to turn all that Morgoth did on his own into good, and he was generous enough not to force Morgoth into line with his own plans. To do that would have been to destroy free will. All of his creations, from the greatest to the smallest had the ability to rebel or turn to evil. Feanor and the Noldor are examples from the elves, the men have more examples than anyone, but oddly enough none come to mind just now, Sauron and the Balrogs are examples from the Maiar, Melkor from the Valar . . . all of Ilúvatar's creatures have the gift of free will, and how they use it is up to them.

But they cannot ruin Ilúvatar's plans, and all of their schemes are to nothing. Ilúvatar allowed Melkor to go to Arda, but what does that show? Simply his respect for free will, and the fact that he has in mind a greater scheme, about which Melkor hasn't any idea. Preventing all evil would have been to demolish free will, and that wasn't Ilúvatar's intention. Free will was what he wanted for his creatures, and that was a great and good gift. If they didn't have free will, then that would remove responsibility and justice. Removing any of these things would create puppets in a happy and joyful universe, enjoy bliss and some knowledge of goodness.

Not the kind of world Ilúvatar had in mind at all. His goal is righteous, but not everyone uses their free will to do good.

Because Ilúvatar can make the best from all events, good or bad, doesn't mean that he created the bad and can use only bad events. On the contrary, he wants good events, but if the enemy choose to do bad, then he will punish them and use what they did.