Dr Ellery Samwise

When I look at images like this, I'm reminded of all things of Tom Bombadil from The Lord of the Rings. Hear me out, y'all. We've observed so many incredible phenomena in the universe, but the overwhelmingly vast majority of it will forever be unseen by human eyes. We've just scratched the surface in our own Galaxy, and it's one of perhaps a trillion galaxies in the observable universe. How many incredible scenes like the one below will never be viewed by anyone but God? So, why do they exist? This is where I agree somewhat with critical atheists who seem compelled to point out the absurdity of thinking the entire universe was created *just* for us. I don't think the universe was created just for us. Scripture tells us that not only was the universe created through and by Jesus Christ, but it was created FOR him. God created it for his own purposes, and we're obviously a part of that. But isn't it possible that the audacious, outlandish, and incredibly dramatic beauty of the universe is the result of an artist creating to delight himself? This is where Tom Bombadil comes in. A lot of fans of Tolkien's world are baffled by this character. The Hobbits encounter him early in their journey, and he is presented as both helpful and an enigma - a character of subtle power so deep and great that the One Ring that threatens to consume an entire world has zero effect on him. And, in turn, he himself seems to have little effect on the world. Beyond helping the Hobbits escape the barrow wights, he doesn't figure into the narrative at all. So, why does Tom exist, not only in the realm of Middle-earth, but in Tolkien's imagination? Tolkien presents Tom as the "Oldest and Fatherless" or "the First" - older than anything else in Middle-earth. In 'The Gospel According to Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-earth' Tolkien scholar Ralph C. Wood writes that Bombadil does serve a purpose, but not a mortal one. He "may be Tolkien’s own monkish gift to Ilúvatar [God] - a creature not meant for our understanding but for the enjoyment of God alone." He frames Tom as a creature existing, not for any discernible earthly or practical purpose, but for pure delight in something for its own sake. I wonder if that's why such extravagant beauty exists in the universe. Not for practical reasons, but because it's God's nature to create beautiful things that delight him. I'm certain he wants us to enjoy them, but given that we will only ever observe a tiny fraction of what he has made, I suspect that the vast majority of it was "not meant for our understanding but for the enjoyment of God alone." Praise him for the parts of it that we do see. Image credit: Horsehead and Flame Nebulae by Wissam Ayoub