Interesting, according to this book Lord of the Rings, someone name Gandalf is raised from the dead, why?

Question

Should we put our faith in Gandalf, as he defeted death, according to this book, Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers?

Shall we sing praises in his precious name, Gandalf?

Should there be chrurches erected to Gandalf?

Its in the book that he rose from the dead, so, I'm just asking.

Answer 1

Very provocative question, but with a simple answer.
The LOTR trilogy and all other fictional books may have supernatural or otherwise unexplainable events in them, but there is no proof that anything in a fiction book ever happened - hence why it is called fiction.
Jesus' death and resurrection have been studied and researched by numerous scholars, historians, and forensic scientists, with many of them offering viable theories about the latter events.
Of course, the death and resurrection of God Incarnate cannot and will not ever be proven true beyond a reasonable doubt by humans, because that is where faith comes in - there needs to be at least a little bit of doubt in every spiritual belief or else all such beliefs would lose much or all of their meaning.
But God in His graciousness and wisdom has given us feeble-minded humans enough evidence for our hearts to be convicted, if not also (though not necessarily) our minds.
This relationship between faith and fact is one of the many deep mysteries of the Christian religion that I and about 2.3 billion others put our FAITH in.

I just now realized this may have been too serious and deep of an answer to this question in the form you asked it.

The answer stands nonetheless, and btw, Gandalf didn't die.

Answer 2

Um... right. LOTH was written as fiction. Gandalf never claimed to be God. He did not defeat deathe, he was sent back to middle earth by 'god' in the book, because he had not finished his work. In fact, technically he never died, only his body died, and he was given a new one (hence the change from grey to white). To say that we should worship a fictional character because he was raised from the dead is just silly. Now, I asume that when you read this, you will be thinking "exactly! why should we believe in Jesus!?" Heh, well, it's different. Jesus was a real, historical person for one thing. There is a ton of evidence that Jesus was who he said he was. The Bible is also very historically accurate, and there are good reasons to believe it. I won't go into all the details, becuase there is a good chance it won't do any good, and I need to study. But if you really want to know, email me at [e-mail] and I will give you a list of books to read. But only if you really want to know...

And papabear, um.... LOTR were written by a guy. After his kids were grown up and move out. And him and his wife had a good relationship until the day of death.

And tazcm2001, if the author didn't write it as an alagory, it is NOT an alagory. Sorry, but you can not just put meaning into the story as you wish. If you read the other books about middle earth, you can see very quickly that there really is very little similarities between LOTR and Christianity. Sure, the morals and stuff are there, but it is still not alagory. Tolkein hated alagory with a passion. Heaven forbid an author has a character die and come back... Oh, and if anyone would symbolize Jesus, it would be Frodo, not Gandalf...

Answer 3

Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel and the rest of the elves sail for the Grey Havens because their time in middle has come to an end; it's now man's time. As for the the ring bearers (Bilbo and Frodo) they sail to the Grey Havens because of the effects possessing the ring has had on them. In Frodo's case it's also due to the wound he received on Weather Top from the Angmar Witchking that can only be healed in the Grey Havens. Or at least that is what I recall from the books.

Answer 4

All Christian Cultures have stories of people raising from the dead because it is part of their culture and beliefs. As christian we always look for a hero that is part human part immortall. Look at all of our Super heros. Each one of them having superhuman powers but also having weaknesses. It is our hope in these movies that the Heroes will overcome their weaknesses and save the day. In the example you used. Gandalf is raised from the dead which is symbolic of Christ's ressurection. In the movie the "Narnia; the Lion, the witch and Wardrobe" The Lion is also raised from the dead in order to save his people. No I don't believe we should worship these characters because we know that they are stroies. However you bring to the tabel a very significant point that as Christians, our stories tend to revovle around the event that took place when Christ overcam death and sin to save mankind. -Interesting Question

Answer 5

No. Interesting parallels though. Gandalf wasn't even human, but some kind of elder race. There are alot of symbols in their that relate directly back to Christianity. Tolkein professed that there was no symbology inherent in his books, but he was a Christian, so the subconscious allusions to Christ-figures and atoning sacrifices was inevitable in his writing.

There are alot more parallels in there - some of them even more stark than Gandalf rising from the dead. It's interesting to read them looking for that kind of stuff.

Answer 6

In the book The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe Aslan rose from the dead too but we don't worship lions now do we. Just because something is written in a book does not make it fact, does not make it right to follow and does make it subjective to the perceptions of the individual reading it.

Answer 7

Oh come now JD, this is beneath you. If you had actually READ The Two Towers you'd know that Gandalf didn't actually DIE in the first book, he was merely reduced to faint fluttering of life.

Answer 8

He defeated death because he didn't die.

He battled the dragon and fell into the pit / viod/ whatever to later walk out somehow and meet up with members of the group.

But on the idea of making your own church I would be willing to make a small wager ( a very small wager ) that you might get quite a following if you made a church (religious following) based upon the Hobbit and the Trilogy.

Good luck with you new church and please tell me wheen it has formed

[ I hope this is clever enough to win the prize OF: "Best Answer" ]

Answer 9

I'm pretty sure that Tolkien never even pretended the Lord of the Rings trilogy was anything but fiction.

Nice try.

Answer 10

Yes Gandalf loves me, yes Gandalf loves me, Yes Gandalf loves me, J.R,R. Tolkein tells me so..... LOL