Finding God in the Lord of the Rings

Troy: “Dada, can you guess my favorite character from The Lord of the Rings?”
Me: “I don’t know. Sam?”
Troy: “No, who’s that?”
Me: “The hobbit.”
Troy: “Oh, no.”
Me: “The Ents?”
Troy: “Who’s that?”
Me: “The tree shepherds.”
Troy: “No.”
Me: “Gollum?”
Troy: “No, he’s creepy.”
Me: “Then, I give up. Who is your favorite character?”
Troy: “The giant eye.”
Me: “Sauron? But he’s a bad guy!”
Troy: “So?! He’s cool looking.”
Me: “Did you know that he represents the Devil?”
Troy: “Really?”
Me: “Yeah, he’s like this invisible force that commands the forces of darkness. You feel his presence, his eye upon you, but you can’t really see him. Besides, you think Gollum is creepy, but not Sauron?”
Troy: “Gollum is too creepy.”
Me: “Well, what about Smeagol?”
Troy: “Who’s that?”
Me: “Gollum’s good side.”
Troy: “Why did Gollum have a good side and bad side?”
Me: “He represents the duality of man. We all have a good side and a bad side. And we are constantly at war with them inside us. Which one wins, the one we give in to, will define who we are.”
Troy: “How did he get that way?”
Me: “Like us, he was tempted by sin. The ring of power represents sin. It tempts us to give into our dark side, and the longer we keep it in our lives, the more it distorts us. Until all we have left is the dark side. You see it throughout the movie. People are constantly being tempted and corrupted by the ring. Some resist, the pure of hearts, but most are dragged down by it.”
Troy: “What about that hobbit that carried the ring?”
Me: “Frodo? The ring changed him too, but he was trying to destroy the ring…to rid the world of its evil and temptation.”
Troy: “And losing his finger in the process?”
Me: “Yes, he lost his finger. That shows us that having sin in our lives always exacts a price. We can’t walk away unscathed. Sin always has consequences. It always changes us.”