"Deliver us from evil...and lead us not into temptation"
Frodo Baggins was a young cheerful hobbit when Gandalf approached him for a journey. With the unknown power of the ring, Frodo only had a slight feeling of attachment to the ring. When Gandalf asked to talk it he hesitated giving it to him. Once Frodo had put on the ring and felt its power, things started to change. Similarly to the Christian believe of Adam and Eve with the apple in the Garden of Eden. Just like the Edenic snake (also sometimes referred to as Lilith) the ring started to “speak” to Frodo and tempt him. Frodo’s struggle is “where we most clearly see the tension between our own inner temptation to evil, and the external power of evil over us” (Christian Theology as Depicted in The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter Books).
Boromir is tempted consistently enough by the ring to exert forces of attack upon Frodo to get it. Boromir, the replacement king for Gondor believes that with the ring he will be able to get the forces of Mordor out and bring peace to his land. However, after he attacks he feels remorse for his actions and acts quickly to try to redeem himself. Similarly to Eve, he gave into temptation and became aware, but he did not have the same outcome because he repents and self sacrificed himself to the orcs to save Merry and Pippin.
“But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” -Timothy 6:9 (The Bible Gateway). Nazgul’s are the remnants of men. They are neither living, or dead. They used the power of the rings to become kings and rulers of their given land. This bible verse is a perfect representation of what happened to the 9 men who fell under the powers of the rings.
Smeagol started out his life as a happy hobbit. Until one day he went fishing with a friend, the friend found the ring, that had been lost in the river years before. Smeagol so vastly impacted by the ring almost instantly chocks his friend and kills him. This is like the story of Genesis 4:4-15, Cain attacked and killed his brother Abel, and as punishment God says “ You will be a restless wanderer of the earth” (The Bible Gateway). It is estimated that his age is 600+ when the average Hobbit life is only 100+ years. The consequences of his actions have caused him to deteriorate but stay alive, just like it says in Genesis. The spilt personality between Smeagol and Gollum shows the distinction of before and after temptation. Smeagol would show slight bits of compassion towards Frodo and Sam, however Gollum was only after the ring. When they tried to bound him with elvish ropes he cried out, as if the goodness burned into him. He is a physical representation of what giving into temptation led to.
"Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil" -Matthew 4 (The Bible Gateway), even strong “good” characters have been tempted by the ring. Elrond, the Lord of Rivendell, Gandalf the grey, Galadriel, and Aragorn have all faced times when the ring of power called out to them. “I do not deny that my heart has greatly desired to ask what you offer. For many years I have pondered what I might now, should the great ring come to my hands”(Temptation and the Ring in J.R.R.Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring), Galadriel admits that even as good as she is the temptation of evil still lurks around, although all of these characters never fall from their state of grace, there is still room for hesitation.