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I'm disappointed Hlynka. You started out on the right path, but flubbed the ending. Tolkien's heroes are Catholic heroes not just because "Your will Lord, not mine, be done." I think the more important part distinguishing Tolkien's protagonists (and the opposite for his antagonists) is the emphasis on acting virtuously and avoiding sin even in the presence of great temptation--the ends do not justify the means and the world can never be saved through sin. Do not chase great deeds, but act appropriately when circumstances make them necessary. This is very different than what Greer and @Soriek are describing.
I think we might agree more than disagree. That "the world can never be saved through sin" is precisely why I reject Identity politics and wignatism, much to consternation of folks like @2rafa.
I suppose I struggle to see why ‘the world cannot be saved through sin’ is not merely a slightly-higher-order form of consequentialism than ‘whatever it takes’. The logic on the Christian (or any Abrahamic religion’s) side just adds on the final level of consequence which is God’s judgment after death.
Basically what the aptly named @ThisIsSin said.
You don't overcome corruption by embracing corruption. You overcome it by building, by becoming better than this base flesh.
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No, it's more of a "Satan can't drive out Satan" thing. You can't out-corrupt those who are already corrupt; instead you must produce value elsewhere such that the influence and power of the corrupt is minimized (as the corrupt will always be there in the background).
One can see this as a common thread through history. In conditions where creating value is easy the impact of corruption is minimized (society has a pro-freedom emphasis- the value-producers are running the show here- usually characterized as a "golden age" after the fact); in conditions where this is more difficult, corruption dominates (society has a pro-control emphasis- the parasites are running the show here).
Of course, God does not care all that much under what earthly authority his followers are operating; the underlying difficulty of obeying his commands doesn't meaningfully change, but the incidentals can and do.
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