MDB Bible Study

[_honorentheos]

This provides insight into Gods alignment.

He seems quite insistent regarding the importance of rules as Ceebs just confirmed, so lawful. But is He lawful good, lawful neutral or lawful evil?

Lawful good
A lawful good character typically acts with compassion and always with honor and a sense of duty, though will often regret taking any action they fear would violate their code; even if they recognize such action as being good.

Lawful neutral
A lawful neutral character typically believes strongly in lawful concepts such as honor, order, rules, and tradition, but often follows a personal code in addition to, or even in preference to, one set down by a benevolent authority.

Lawful evil
A lawful evil character sees a well-ordered system as being easier to exploit and shows a combination of desirable and undesirable traits.

Hmmm....

That said, He does seem to behave like the rules apply to others more than being universal so it could open the door to neutral or even chaotic alignments.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Well, I just watched a hyena chew the balls off a water buffalo. What kind of sick “F” would create a world where hyenas chew the balls off their prey? That goddamned buffalo screamed fo’ days.

So, yeah. I’m looking at chaotic evil as a real option for God.

- Doc

[_honorentheos]

From the wiki https://m.wikihow.com/Choose-and-Correc ... agons-V3.5

Understand the Law/Chaos axis. Everyone gets the good/evil axis but not everyone understands the law/chaos axis. Nearly everyone understands the description "lawful" but there is a lot of confusion when it comes to "chaotic". Being of a chaotic alignment does not mean that your character is random in their actions. Try to think of chaotic as the opposite of lawful as evil is the opposite of good. Chaotic in D&D alignments means independent, free, and distrustful of authority. These characters are the type of people who resent being told what to do.

Lawful Good. Lawful good characters have a strict moral code, usually coinciding with societal mores, and they almost never break it. They favor order, structure, and upright behavior. They will desire to help others when the opportunity presents itself, unless doing so would conflict with their moral code. These characters would not break the law except in very rare circumstances. They do not feel that the ends ever justify the means. A "by the book" cop is an example of a real life lawful good person.

Neutral Good. Neutral good characters always do what is good, right, or helpful which is why this alignment is sometimes called True Good. Unlike lawful good characters they are more flexible in their day to day actions. A neutral good character would consider bending the rules to do what is right. A doctor who fudges paperwork to help a needy person get health insurance is a neutral good person.

Chaotic Good. These people want to do what is right but they do not do it with any real structure or system. They are perfectly willing to break the law to do what is right, and some even enjoy doing just that. The best time to play a chaotic good character is when there is a lawful evil authority to rebel against. Without such a target for a rebellion many chaotic good characters are indistinguishable from neutral good characters. A hacker who uses his skills to take down child pornography sites is chaotic good, willfully breaking the law to do good. Robin Hood is the most famous example of chaotic good.

Lawful Neutral. Lawful neutral people tend to be dispassionate and calculating. They have a set of behavioral guidelines but these guidelines allow for some good and some evil behavior. A lawful neutral character tends to care a lot more about the letter of the law than the spirit. An ideal judge would be lawful neutral, making all rulings based on the letter of the law without an eye towards helping or hurting others or their personal feelings.

True Neutral. Neutral characters are hard to play because they lack defining moral values. This is essentially a person who evaluates each situation independently and makes a decision, but the criteria might be different in each different situation. If you play this alignment you must balance all your decisions on both the law/chaos and good/evil axis. A true neutral person in real life is almost unheard of.

Chaotic Neutral. Chaotic neutral is the ultimate free spirit. This character essentially does what they want when they want regardless of whether or not it is good or evil, legal or not. Chaotic Neutral is sometimes referred to as "evil light" because many people feel it borders on evil without technically being evil. Most antiheroes in fiction and literature are Chaotic Neutral.

Lawful Evil. Lawful evil characters are in essence, tyrants or dictators. They have a code of laws that is generally oppressive and brutally enforced. Lawful evil characters do not tolerate anyone questioning their authority, nor will they share their authority. A lawful evil character is out for personal gain, but is more given to scheming and intimidation than to random bloodshed. Don Corleone is one example, although there certainly are others who are more evil.

Neutral Evil. Neutral evil characters are essentially pure evil. They do not follow any set of laws, nor are they concerned with obtaining power. They tend to be the kind of people who enjoy hurting others. They are not concerned with the law in the slightest. Serial killers are often neutral evil.

Chaotic Evil. Chaotic evil characters are psychopaths. They do not care for anything but themselves. They kill indiscriminately and for fun. They can only be controlled by threats and force and will probably kill anyone who controls them the moment they think they can. Chaotic evil characters are almost always solitary. The latest incarnation of the Joker would be a prime example.

[_honorentheos]

Lawful evil sounds like it captures the God of the Bible who has rules that tell Satan and the angels they were made to be whatever they are and get to spend eternity hating humanity because Father apparently favors them...yeah. Lawful evil is my pick.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Lawful evil sounds like it captures the God of the Bible who has rules that tell Satan and the angels they were made to be whatever they are and get to spend eternity hating humanity because Father apparently favors them...yeah. Lawful evil is my pick.

Huh. You might be onto something. How do you account for God creating eyeball parasites, rabies, and hyenas that chew the balls off their prey?

- Doc

[_honorentheos]

Well, I just watched a hyena chew the balls off a water buffalo. What kind of sick “F” would create a world where hyenas chew the balls off their prey? That goddamned buffalo screamed fo’ days.

So, yeah. I’m looking at chaotic evil as a real option for God.

- Doc

This gets at the other aspects of things. The universe itself (minus God) seems to have an alignment that does not consider good or evil, it seems neutral. There are rules but they apply to the mechanics more so than the ethics as well. Yet this isn't exactly true neutral because the universe favors certain things. Things like diversity so there are options in case crap goes down for example. It came down in favor of the Hyena in your example but it could just as easily have favored the Buffalo kicking the Hyena in the face and breaking it's jaw so it does slowly of starvation. The universe favors tough consequences for mistakes apparently along with risk taking being a real bitch. So your predator evolved to kill the young old and sick. The universe does not favor fair fights.

[_Jersey Girl]

Lawful evil sounds like it captures the God of the Bible who has rules that tell Satan and the angels they were made to be whatever they are and get to spend eternity hating humanity because Father apparently favors them...yeah. Lawful evil is my pick.

Huh. You might be onto something. How do you account for God creating eyeball parasites, rabies, and hyenas that chew the balls off their prey?

- Doc

I don't know what Ceebs would say, but here's my answer. The creation was corrupted.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

I don't know what Ceebs would say, but here's my answer. The creation was corrupted.

I don't know what that means in practical terms, and it certainly doesn't help this water buffalo who had his balls ripped off by a hyena:

https://youtu.be/LzBnl6dDMwg?t=8

- Doc

[_honorentheos]

Maybe it means God is either not omnipotent and the universe just don't care what he thinks, or He's more chaotic than I had guessed before.

[_huckelberry]

Lawful evil sounds like it captures the God of the Bible who has rules that tell Satan and the angels they were made to be whatever they are and get to spend eternity hating humanity because Father apparently favors them...yeah. Lawful evil is my pick.

I do not buy this at all, recheck your d and d program.

Who makes rules for God? I am puzzled as to how to relate to your rule question(a preceding post) which seems to fit government officials or administrators. Since when is God an administrator?

I have reservations about Ceebos claim. It is true that salvation as we know it is focused on humans. So it is possible Satan has no access. That is an assumption. It is also commonly assumed that Satan by his nature has no ability to accept Jesus and be saved. Perhaps he has gone past a point of no return. It is also dogma held by some that only those chosen by God can accept Jesus and Satan is not chosen. These ideas have a logic but that does not make it certain.

There have been Christians who believe that in the end Satan will turn and be saved. I know of no proof that that idea is incorrect.

Perhaps