I finished reading Tolkien's The Hobbit, after several friends encouraged me to do so. Finally,I can hear them all say. They even kindly put up with me through my complaints of it being boring up through Chapter 7 or so. Chronicles of Narnia aside, I am not a lover of fantasy and thus found trying to understand the dwarfs, wizard, hobbit, and goblins a bit unsettling. The word "wizard" always conjures up (no pun intended) images of evil in my mind, and had me prejudiced against the story from the first paragraph.
Nevertheless, having promised the before-mentioned friends that I would read it, I determined to persevere. I did not have the "can't-put-it-down" feeling until Bilbo's riddle scene after he was captured by the goblins. After that I took it with me everywhere I went. So, dear friends, forgive me for ever calling it boring and complaining about it. 
Now though – should Christians even be reading, let along writing, works of fiction that have no God in them? At least not God as we know Him? What purpose does it serve? There are no dwarfs, elves, goblins, or hobbits in this world. What is the point, and what good does it do?
My answer will follow in a day or two, but I'm interested in seeing what others think, and what reasons they give.
HAH!!! *grins cheerily* I’ll have you know that there IS a parallel to God in Middle-Earth!!!
He is called Eru Iluvatar. Which is “The All High” or “Father of All” in Elvish, said translation being determined from the bits in The Silmarillion. Which is one of the best books. Especially for the creation of Middle Earth section, which was done by saying “Ea”, or “Let it be”. And there are little accents over some of these letters.
Melodi-Thanks for leaving all the wonderful comments on my blog (Spunky Jr). I have been to your site a few times and have enjoyed it
I have never read the Hobbit, but I have many friends who’ve encouraged me to read it. Perhaps someday (soon) I will!
Hello, Lita! *cheerily* I saw the link to this on your xanga…
*clears throat* *settles down*
I had the same sorts of questions when I was reading the Hobbit. Especially the word “wizard”… it made me feel uneasy. Let me just say that I was reading some of Tolkien’s letters and reading his Silmarillion, and it seems that “wizard” is the best name he could think of for his idea of the Istari. The Istari are, essentially, messengers from God/Iluvatar with a specific purpose. They take on human form, but they are not humans. When their time is up, they leave. If you ever read LOTR, you’ll notice that Gandalf will make say things like “my time here is not finished yet”, etc… So maybe Tolkien could/should have chosen a better word, but “wizard” as he uses it does not mean a person who dabbles in the occult.
As to your other question, I don’t think Christians should only limit themselves to works that mention God or have God in them. Some books that have a God-figure are of less value than books that do not directly state whether there is a God or not. Not necessarily saying that you’re believing this, but if we totally live in our little Christian world, only reading Christian books and only writing overtly Christian works, we are not being in the world. It’s like being a hermit. This doesn’t mean that we should go to the other extreme and devour every single book that comes along and write stuff just as trashy. I’m not saying that at all.
But I know I’d much rather write something that wasn’t necessarily overtly Christian, and then ambush my unsuspecting non-Christian readers with Christian themes. Witness the success of Chronicles of Narnia or the Lord of the Rings or Cry, the Beloved Country. These books are acclaimed by Christians and non-Christians alike. Now sure, some people won’t “get” any of it, but the ideas of redemption and mercy and justice and self-sacrifice have entered their heads. Maybe later, when they hear something about Christianity, they’ll go, “Hey, that sounds like when Frodo did such-and-such…” People that are turned off by overt preaching might be wooed with stories.
This isn’t to say that preaching is somehow inferior to storytelling. I’d be the last to say that.
But think about it. Christians have a sort of Christian culture… a Christian lingo… Christian habits…Christian “rituals”… that only make sense to people raised in the church, or to people who are familiar with the ideas in Christianity. Now, not every one is raised a churchgoer, but through clever storytelling, people can become familiar with Christian themes and ideas–almost without knowing it! It’s so cool! 
I think fantasy/sci-fi stories, if well-written, can be of value in that they provide a parallel world in which ideas can be explored to their extreme. What would be the consequences of forced sterilization for every handicapped person? Take that to it’s logical end in a futuristic tale. (Brave New World scared me to death for this reason–it was a look into how our society could become, with the trends that it has in place. It reminds me of my society too much for comfort.) Want to write a story emphasizing a certain aspect of God? Create a fantasy world in which that aspect of God is the “face” that He wears.
~Rach
P.S. Phewwwwwwwww… did I ever run on. I’d love to talk about this more, if you ever want. I like this topic! ;D
I happened to read the 3rd comment above. I didn’t know it was YOU Lita! I subscribe to your xanga, but must have missed the link
Glad to have found your new blog and I will be checking back in frequently…
Sorry for rambling off-topic
Oops! I'm sorry, Kristin – perhaps I should have made a more formal announcement, instead of a sort of sidenote post about it.
Oops… was that not Lita? *suddenly feels very embarrassed*
Hi Melodi,
I just noticed that you added The Autumn Rain to your sidebar! Thanks ever so much! I appreciate the kind thought.
Rach – yes, it’s me! I’m terribly sorry, my different names seem to be mixing people up. :\
Allison, you’re very welcome. I enjoyed reading through some of your posts!
Oh… phew. *wipes sweat off forehead*
Hello, I found your blog through the Rebelution. I found this very interesting, as a christian who writes fantasy. I believe that as long as the story has true biblical morals and represents God, not necessarily in name, but in the way the characters act, then that can speak as loudly as a clear God-figure. Of course, this doesn’t stand as well for the Hobbit as it does for Lord of the Rings itself, and, as one of your commenters mentioned, there is a God-figure in Middle Earth, but also i think it can be personal convictions. Sorry, I’m rambling! I really like Tolkien’s writings, and found them very religious, especially the last book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but you really have to search for it. (If you’re interested there is a book called The Gospel According to Tolkien, that goes through all the Biblical morals in Lord of the Rings.) Also I have heard that C.S.Lewis wrote an essay entitled, “Sometimes Fairy Tales May Say Best What’s To Be Said” I haven’t read it myself, but heard it has a good stance on why he believed fantasy was acceptable. Hope this helps!
God bless,
Elanor
J.R.R Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were best friends and Treebread was modeled after C.S. Lewis. So, the Lord of the Rings books have a very firm base in Faith. Tolkien was in WW1. Alot of the friendships in the books were taken from his expierinces in the midst of battle. Hope this helps. God Bless
Jeremiah 15:16
Hey, I found this blog by searching how The Hobbit contained Biblical aspects. (btw, I love the Bible verse at the top).
I’ve learned through the paper I’m writing that even though literature may not directly state it’s Christianity, that the most important thing is whether the Christian motives shine through the pages. I’ve seen a great many parallels here in The Hobbit and I’ve also found that as Christians, reading Christian based literature and non-Christian based literature can help immerse ourselves deeper into more knowledge about our faith. We must know what we are up against in order to overcome it. Hope this helped everyone!
Belle~*~*~*~*