#salvation and redemption

[dieselocelot]

in my commitment to staying away from guilt / i feel no emotion for those i have gone and killed / heartless devotion to saving the rest of me

[mygothicphotography]

A plead for mercy - Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2024)

Photo by me.

[straynoahide]

tolkien meta: the melodic structure of the ainulindale, arda's endgame, and the doom of men

so basically this is about what one can learn and connect to the rest of the legendarium's lore from the ainulindale, and also peer into tolkien's psyche as a side effect i guess. expect excessive theology or more fun imo philosophy of divinity and lengthy tangents about melkor, the nature of evil and theodicy

a small disclaimer - this touches thorny topics in philosophy like the problem of evil, the nature of redemption/salvation, death...

this isn't about my beliefs but presenting and reflecting on tolkien's own within the history of ideas. i acknowledge anyone who reads this also has their own, and can agree or disagree with tolkien. my views may seep in unintentionally but i try to go deeper than that.

pd: I write Eru/One/God indistinctively on purpose. it's for rhetorical emphasis, not so much out of (cultural) christianity.

part I - introduction (in this post) part II - the themes/structure, discussion part III - discussion (cont): themes of arda and life part IV - discussion (cont 2): theme of the children part V - discussion (cont 3): aftermath/second music

Introduction (i rec reading even if you're versed in the lore)

for those who are not so familiar with parts of the legendarium but still interested in a deep dive, the ainulindalë ("song of the ainur") is the creation myth of tolkien's world.

i rec just reading it if you haven't even if it's after reading this. it's quite beautiful and unique and it's brought admiration even from ppl who study that kind of thing professionally about real cultures. i'm not given to flattery but idk just check it out.

so anyway, the ainur, spirits born from the One creator's mind directly, sang under (or despite) His direction and the melody (both harmony and discord) that resulted, is the history of the world.

by the world we have two concepts here, the entire universe (eä) and the planet (arda) 'earth', of which middle-earth is a later-stage continent. the music itself was a creative process that the ainur partook in before knowing the full implication of their singing.

God showed the ainur the vision of what their music had created and when they saw the world they wanted to live it, to dwell on it and experience it.

God granted this but said they had to remain in it until the full music, the full story had played out.

this includes everything that happens in the Silmarillion, the LOTR movies and sequels/prequels, the TROP series, games, etc, and in some stages of Tolkien's opus, our own world (WWI, WWII, etc).

the Discord refers to the rebellious effect of Melkor on the music as much as his part of the music - the dissonance born from his part's coexistence with the rest of the melody that is in harmony, and takes a 'life of its own'.

this is not unimportant, but i'm not going to discuss it at any point. i will point out here that it has been argued -controversially- by some people to be relevant in compatibilizing or explaining otherwise difficult-to-reconcile lore points that deal with "non-Melkorian evil". this is about things like Ungoliant or the nameless things 'whose mention darken the light of day', whose in-world origins are unclear.

on a broader note, this represents two very different intuitions about evil and divinity (Tolkienian v Lovecraftian, we could say). these are difficult to compatibilize and more than Tolkien's psyche, represent ancient tensions within monotheistic religions themselves, i think. so within Tolkien's world, which has an Abrahamic/monotheistic god, you still find traces of Lovecraftian horror.

all that follows is about Tolkienian evil (meta) i.e. Melkorian evil (in-world), that is uncontroversially and explicitly under the governance of the One, although non-Melkorian evil is a fascinating subject.

[dxxtruction]

Louis being compared to as a saint. Saints, who find their salvation and then give intercession from beyond that veil to move others towards it. A guide for life, where they no longer fall into their sins and trajectories towards a certain hell. "Listen to me as if I am the voice of god, or an angel." Louis being that saintly catalyst for the vampires to confront themselves in that such a way. A saintly Louis is very dear to me.

[apenitentialprayer]

If I could remain united with You in love while, at the same time, placing myself before the entrance to hell and blocking it off in such a way that no one could enter again, then that would be the greatest of joy for me, for all those whom I love would then be saved.

a prayer of Catherine of Siena, as recorded by the Blessed Raymond of Capua in his Life of the saint, trans. David Kipp.

Christ Breaking Down the Gates of Hell, by a follower of Hieronymus Bosch

[friendrat]

The problem with the church today is that so many "Christians" do not actually believe in redemption.

[dramoor]

The Agony Philosophers have measur’d mountains, Fathom’d the depths of the seas, of states, and kings, Walk’d with a staff to heav’n, and traced fountains: But there are two vast, spacious things, The which to measure it doth more behove: Yet few there are that sound them; Sin and Love. Who would know Sin, let him repair Unto mount Olivet; there shall he see A man so wrung with pains, that all his hair, His skin, his garments bloody be. Sin is that press and vice, which forceth pain To hunt his cruel food through ev’ry vein. Who knows not Love, let him assay And taste that juice, which on the cross a pike Did set again abroach, then let him say If ever he did taste the like. Love is that liquor sweet and most divine, Which my God feels as blood; but I, as wine.

~George Herbert (1593-1633)

(Image via Pinterest)

[iamfitzwilliamdarcy]

look it's been a decade and people are still complaining Superman snapped Zod's neck instead of sending him into the Phantom Zone or whatever which... has been discussed ad nauseam of why Superman had to do what he did and how the choice was good narrative and whatever

No one ever mentions that Zod has already been sentenced to the Phantom Zone once, and what he says about that is, I think, interesting--- "You won't kill us yourself! You wouldn't sully your hands! But you'll damn us to a black hole for eternity!"

[arthursfuckinghat]

The idea of there being a Heaven and a Hell is believed by majority of the gang members.

Hosea, the gang healer, is watching his family fall apart from the skies above after the bank robbery.

He's watching Dutch lose his sanity, watching Arthur seemingly get sicker, and not being able to do a thing about it.

Bessie has missed you, Hosea, rest well.

[mattw83]

Miraculous Tales Chapter 12 - PG16 to PG20

Sometimes a little sweetness goes a long way to temper the vinegar within.

A tale of how Chloe’s many false starts in life were just the beginning to a real redemption of heart and hero.

Audrey is not happy with Chloes good deed, berating her daughter, and striking her deeply in the heart, and though she keeps up a facade, Zoe is worried, and rightly so, as the pain in Chloe weighs too heavy.

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 -   Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 -   Chapter 10  - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - 

Cover - PG05 – PG06-PG10 – PG11-PG15 – PG16-PG20

>>> Chapter 13

[pathofregeneration]

“And within the soul of every man is found the Christ Principle, striving ever to elevate and lift up the individual toward that realization of the Real Self—and this is what ‘redemption’ and ‘salvation’ really means.”

— William Walker Atkinson

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

"Because without someone dying for your sins you might have to take personal responsibility for your own actions. God is not great. Religion poisons everything."

Believing that a magic man washes away your responsibility on behalf of the people you wronged is immoral.

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Reflection on Redemption

So I have been thinking about the critique against Snape regarding the validity of his redemption and how it ties into how I view redemption and salvation as a Christian. This is more of a faith post than a Snape post though.

Snape critics say that Snape's reason for defecting from Voldemort was selfish: he only did so because Lily (a loved one) was targetted. He didn't care about baby Harry (or James but I still struggle to comprehend why the heck Snape haters expect Snape to care that his former bully is targetted) and he would never have turned his back on the DE cause if Neville was the chosen one.

You also see this kind of argument from Zuko/Zutara antis regarding Zuko's motivations for helping Katara in Southern Raiders.

But why does it even matter if Snape only defected because of Lily? Snape redeeming/atoning is what ultimately matters, not the reason why.

Let's use some real-world examples:

A man-hating feminist does not care about men's rights...until it's HER sons and male loved ones who are falsely accused of rape or dealing with a hostile family court during a divorce.

A US resident does not care about illegal immigration and how it affects the border states...until a criminal illegal immigrant murders their kid or illegal immigrants consume their social welfare services.

A man may not care about women's issues...until he gets a wife and daughter and he begins to understand their struggles more because he loves them and wants the best for them.

The fact is that often people don't care about things until they impact them or their loved ones. There are so many problems in the world that it is impossible to care about everything without feeling helpless and stressed.

Back to Snape. Even if Lily was the reason why Snape aborted his bad course in life, the fact is that Snape realized his errors, changed and dedicated his life to atoning.

Same with Christianity. People find God in different ways. Some grow up in church. Some people have visions or dreams. Some people are in a very desperate situation (eg terminal cancer) and religion is their last ditch attempt at saving themselves. Some people are criminals who found faith in prison. Some people are atheists on a journey to prove God does not exist and realize otherwise.

Even those annoying street pastors. The bible indicates that even those people and false prophets can serve a purpose. Even if one person is able to hear the gospel, it is a success. Even if your pastor turns out to be a sexual deviant or a greedy prosperity gospel hack, it does not make your salvation or the gospel invalid.

How you heard about God and found salvation does not matter. What matters is that you did.

And I think this applies to fictional redemption stories as well.

[thenameofaslan]

The Friends of Narnia as Easter Hymns

[apenitentialprayer]

God is poised in His mercy to claim those who might be far off. You know, like, like a thief in the night — He comes when you least expect it, not to catch you unawares, but to catch you in the web of His mercy. [… I]t's like, the Lord will take whatever we consent to and cooperate with; even the most minuscule thing is a way by which to draw us back to Himself, permanently, stably, in the life of heaven.

Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. (Is Purgatory a Scary Place?)

[dk-thrive]

What happens when you call someone a liar who, for whatever reason, might not believe he is lying? Shame has the reverse effect on such a person. One must be sure one sacrifices an actual virgin unless one wants a demon on one’s hands… None of it bothered him. God is a capitalist, tucking salvation into royalty checks.

― Sloane Crosley, Grief Is for People (MCD, February 27, 2024)