#αἵρεσις

[eli-kittim]

The Heresy of the “Grace Road Church” of Korea

By Author Eli Kittim 🎓

A Cult Movement

According to Wiki,

The Grace Road Church is a South Korean

quasi-Christian new religious movement

and cult (although its members call it a

Church) founded in 2002.

This so-called “church” is currently based in Fiji. It moved there because its pastor Shin Okjoo predicted a famine in Korea. This is a shrewd and calculating woman who demanded strict obedience as she seized the passports of about 400 followers so that they wouldn’t leave. Many nearby churches have hurled accusations that this is a cult movement.

The church has diversified and raised funds by opening businesses across Fiji that range from the hospitality industry to construction to agriculture. Footage has emerged of physical abuse and violence, including slave labor. In 2019, its leader Shin Okjoo was found guilty and sentenced to six years in jail.

The Grace Road Church Claims that the Holy Spirit Is a Woman & that Jesus Is Not God the Son

The Deity of the Holy Spirit

The personhood of the Holy Spirit is multiply-attested in the New Testament. There are many verses which hint at the deity of the Holy Spirit, calling Him, for example, a “person” (ἐκεῖνος, meaning “He” Jn. 16:13-14; ὁ Παράκλητος, which depicts “a person”; & ἐκεῖνος, meaning “he” Jn. 15:26). Note that the Biblical references to the Holy Spirit don’t use the feminine but rather the masculine, third-person pronoun “he.”

The Holy Spirit is also called the “eternal Spirit” (Heb. 9:14), a term that is often used interchangeably with the concept of God (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; Acts 5:3-4; Rom. 8:9; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:21). For example, the Holy Spirit is called “Lord” in 2 Corinthians 3:17:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the

Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Moreover, the Holy Spirit is said to have insight into “the depths of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10-11). He also possesses knowledge (Romans 8:27). The Spirit is also said to have a personal will (1 Corinthians 12:11). He is capable of convicting the world of sin (John 16:8), and performs signs and miracles (Acts 8:39). He also guides (John 16:13) and intercedes between people (Romans 8:26). He utters commands and is also obeyed (Acts 10:19-20; 16:6). The Spirit talks (Revelation 2:7; 14:13; 22:17). He warns and prophesies of things to come (John 16:13; Acts 20:23). And the New Testament certainly depicts Him as a member of the Trinity (John 16:14; Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14).

The Deity of Jesus Christ

We also have multiple texts which refer to the deity of Jesus Christ, depicting him as the Son of God, such as in Jn 1 (“the word was God”), Col. 2:9 (“in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily”), Jn 8:58 (“before Abraham was, I am”), Heb. 1.2 (God’s “Son, … through whom he also created the worlds”), Heb. 1:3 (“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact imprint of his being”), Tit. 2:13 (“our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”), as well as the explicit worship Christ willingly received from his followers (Luke 24:52; John 20:28) and the accusations of blasphemy leveled against him for equating himself with God (Mark 2:7).

Hence, the Grace Road Church’s Biblical claims that the Holy Spirit is a woman and that Jesus is not God the Son are completely bogus and misinformed!

—

[nerdygirlobsessions]

Heresy: belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious doctrine. Derived from Greek haíresis (αἵρεσις) meaning ‘choice’.

This is a period drama, partially inspired by folklore, but it is vague so it is up to the imagination. This is also a very self-indulgent take on the idea of love breaking the bond on the end of the zodiacs rather than it occurring semi-randomly. I wanted to explore how Akito made sure that the zodiacs did not have total connections to the outside and how different it would be if people had reached out more.

What if our couple demanded choice and challenged the status quo.

[renegade-hierophant]

Heresy (αἵρεσις) by the way, simply means “choice.” It came to mean “thought-crime,” implying it was blasphemy to presume to choose your own belief instead of swallowing what the bishops spoon-fed you.

Robert M. Price, Deconstructing Jesus

[forbidden-sorcery]

The demonizing of the pagan gods and of their worship also influenced the popular conception of Satan. The well-known image of the devil as goat-footed and horned is reminiscent of the Greek god Pan and of the fauni and silvani of the Roman forests. In other parts of Europe, the devil sometimes assimilated traits of native gods from other traditions. In the late medieval Dutch miracle play Mariken van Nieumegen, for instance, he appears as “One-Eyed Moenen” (“Moenen metter eender ooghe”), quaintly resembling the Nordic god Odin, whose worship had already been abandoned for centuries.              Demon-inspired as the worship of the pagans might have been according to the interpretatio Christiana, the pagans were not thought of as intentionally worshipping the devil. The Fathers of the Church did not suggest that they were aware of the true identity of their gods and persisted in venerating them nevertheless. The pagans were simply misguided. The concept that a group of people might intentionally be worshipping Satan or a demon—in other words, the concept of Satanism as we have defined it—first gained prominence in connection with enemies from within the Christian faith’s own ranks: Jews who refused to recognize Jesus as Christ, and Christians whose beliefs or practices did not accord with one’s own. The latter were often designated as heretics—from the Greek word αἵρεσις, which originally meant “choice.”

Ruben van Luijk - Childen of Lucifer

[tenchiforum]

Original post - What is Tenchi Talkback? 

For this installment of Tenchi TalkBack, we are discussing a common question in any large franchise, so buckle up! 

HUGE favor. can someone pretty please give me the tenchi muyo timeline pretty please? and also tell me the ones that arnt canon off to the side too pretty please? I want to watch it all. but I want to watch it all in order. pretty please sorry for asking and thank you if someone actually decides to help me.?

Like other large franchises such as Transformers or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Tenchi Muyo! has had several different incarnations that are loosely connected via shared characters and themes.  Particularly during the height of Tenchi’s popularity in the 1990s, the series was reinvented almost annually, and those incarnations had no plot or continuity ties.

Before delving into this quagmire, let me address one particular concept:  “canon”.  I wrote at length about this matter previously, but I will abridge my thoughts here.

“Canon” comes from the Greek word “κανών”, which translates as “rod” or, more specifically, “measuring rod”.  By way of Church Latin, “canon” came to be associated to those scriptures that were held as authoritative and genuine for the faith, those to which all others are compared.  Moreover, the religious use is where one derives the antonym “apocrypha”, from the Greek “ἀπόκρυφος”, meaning “hidden” or “obscure”. Not to be confused with “heretical”, a work is apocryphal in a religious context if its authorship or authenticity is questionable.  In contrast, a work is heretical in a religious context if it is contrary to church dogma, and the word arises from the Greek “αἵρεσις”, meaning “choice” or “purpose”.

In modern usage, “canon” has two primary definitions, with several other variants depending on discipline:

the works of an artist that are accepted as authentic;

a group of works that are generally accepted as representative of a field.

To the matter at hand, entertainment franchises use the word “canon” to segregate works within said franchise. In some cases, defining the canon is fairly simple. For example, if a manga was written by a single author, the canonical entries would be the output of that singular author.

However, the line between canonical and apocryphal becomes blurred when the franchise changes hands, or if the work was not written by one person.  As discussed in the previous TalkBack question, Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki began as a six-episode OVA directed by Hiroki Hayashi, written by Naoko Hasegawa, and with character designs by Masaki Kajishima.  Much like with Yuri on Ice, all of these people can be considered creators, though Hayashi and Kajishima are credited the most as they originally conceived of Tenchi during their days working on Bubblegum Crisis.

From left to right: Hiroki Hayashi, Naoko Hasegawa, Masaki Kajishima.

Some time after the end of the first OVA, Hayashi and Kajishima parted ways, an event which Hayashi discussed in a 2001 interview with AIC. Also, Hasegawa went in her own direction, though she did attempt to adhere to the original concepts of Hayashi and Kajishima as attested by the afterword of her first novel.  Consequently, the canon of Tenchi becomes very fractured after the sixth episode, if not outright irrelevant.

The first major continuity, and most complex of all, would be the OVA itself.  The first OVA series is six episodes in length, ending with the episode “We Need Tenchi”, which was released on March 25, 1993.  The first continuation was by screenwriter Naoko Hasegawa in the first official Tenchi novel, Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki – Hexagram of Love, released in May 1993, which introduced fan favorite Kiyone Makibi and named Tenchi’s mother “Achika”.  Hasegawa would write 13 novels in total from 1993 until 1998, and the 10th novel, entitled Midsummer’s Eve, was adapted into the film Daughter of Darkness released on August 2, 1997.  Sadly, much of her body of work does not have an official English translation.

However, Masaki Kajishima has his own variation of the OVA story, branching from the end of “We Need Tenchi”.  The OVA special “Night Before the Carnival” was released on September 25, 1993, and continued in its own direction, largely ignoring Hasegawa’s parallel work.  Along with coauthor Yousuke Kuroda, Kajishima’s particular brand of Tenchi encompasses several ancillary media, including multiple OVA series (OVA2-4, War on Geminar), light novels (Shin Tenchi), a TV series (GXP), and his own unlicensed, unofficial, self-published comics (i.e. doujinshi).

A fan-made doujinshi.

On March 25, 1994, there was another OVA special entitled Galaxy Police Mihoshi’s Space Adventure, lovingly called the “Mihoshi Special”.  Original director Hiroki Hayashi had a hand in this cute little story, alongside scribe Ryoe Tsukimura, who would later write most of the episodes for Tenchi Universe and Tenchi Muyo! in Love.  This special has the honor of being the first animated appearance of Kiyone Makibi and also serves as a gateway into the Pretty Sammy franchise, which Hayashi also conceived.

Moreover, the production company AIC handed the reins of Tenchi to other creators, who re-imagined the scenario and characters in their own ways.  Some stayed fairly close to the original six-episode OVA, while others took their own liberties with the material.  Instead of “canon”, I recommend sorting Tenchi by “continuity”.  That is, look for how the media align in terms of plot and characterization.

The second very clear delineation of story is Hiroshi Negishi’s TV series, known in the West as Tenchi Universe (dub, sub). This is a contiguous 26-episode TV series, which is a re-imagining of the original 6-episode OVA and includes Kiyone Makibi as a regular character.  It is also followed by two feature films directed by Negishi himself:  Tenchi Muyo! in Love, focusing on Achika Masaki, and Tenchi Muyo! in Love 2, focusing on the relationship between Tenchi, Ryoko, and Ayeka.  This continuity is self-contained and requires no previous knowledge.

This would be a good time to mention the recent gem Ai Tenchi Muyo!, which Negishi returned to direct. Ai is a series of 50 four-minute shorts and was promoted as a “celebration of the franchise” by AIC. While Ai does not have any direct connection to any previous incarnation, it does make numerous callbacks to various aspects of its predecessors. This can be watched after any of the major incarnations

The final major incarnation would be Nobuhiro Takamoto’s TV series, titled Tenchi in Tokyo (dub, sub) outside of Japan.  This is a self-contained 26-episode TV series, which deconstructs the Masaki family and examines each character on their own.  It is completely separate from Universe or the OVA, though it does start very abruptly, only discussing the character’s first meeting in the seventh episode, “The Day We Met”.

Also, Hitoshi Okuda wrote two runs of manga for Tenchi from 1994 to 2006, also branching from the OVA at “We Need Tenchi”.  While he did make reference to the second and third OVA series from Kajishima and Kuroda, Okuda largely wrote his own original stories.  However, he did write a Pretty Sammy story and an adaptation of Tenchi Muyo! in Love.

Below is a chart to summarize the isolation and branching of these continuities.

Click here for a larger view.

In conclusion, what is the “canon” of Tenchi?  Considering the snippets revealed in interviews and the shifting of the production staff, there is no single canon, even for the OVA.  Instead, I would say to think not in terms of “canon”, but rather “continuity”.  Honestly, no one can tell you how to enjoy Tenchi, so please, enjoy whichever Tenchi you like!

Got a question you want to see answered? Send us a message on social media, discuss on the forum, or email us at  contact@tenchiforum.com

[heidiishappy]

i came across this interesting piece of info yesterday while reading a book called “The origin of Satan”

“The term heresy, from Greek αἵρεσις, originally meant "choice" or "thing chosen", but it came to mean the "party or school of a man's choice" and also referred to that process whereby a young person would examine various philosophies to determine how to live. “

𝑰𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒉𝒊𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒑𝒐𝒄𝒉𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒆𝒅 “𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓” 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒍 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚.

[iammaster1449]

"Sects" (What I want to focus on here is the doctrine of sect as it appears in classical astrology, which divides the seven classical planets into two groups in order to determine their strength and benefic quality in a natal chart. This is a powerful yet simple doctrine that was more or less lost to us during the medieval period, and has only been revived through recent translation projects done by Robert Schmidt and Robert Hand at Project Hindsight, and James Holden. “Sect” is a translation of the Greek word hairesis (αἵρεσις), which was used to refer to competing factions within political and religious institutions in the classical world. Members of different heretical groups in the early Christian church, for instance, were said to be part of a different hairesis. The doctrine of sect states that the classical planets themselves can be divided into two separate “sects” or “factions:” a diurnal or daytime sect and a nocturnal or nighttime sect.) https://www.ancientastrology.org/articles-/sect-in-classical-astrology?format=amp https://www.instagram.com/p/CdaA9heBKjj/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[ancient-rome-au]

Piety vs. Philosophy: This axis signifies an important basis for a character’s views on ethics, code of personal conduct, cultural affinities, motivations, and general outlook on life. With respect to ethics, this axis is orthogonal to the notion of “good” and “evil,” since what may be considered evil from one point of view might be regarded as good by another.

For brevity, I will call this new dimension of alignment the Π-Φ (Pi-Phi) axis. The Law-Chaos axis remains unchanged. The Good-Evil axis has been largely eschewed. See the footnote at the end for comments on that.

Needless to say, there are countless religions and philosophies, which tend to disagree on a variety of issues to a greater or lesser extent. For example, a pious Christian character many behave quite differently from a pious initiate of the Mithraic Mysteries in matters of sexuality while both might serve as equally loyal soldiers. As another example, an Epicurean will seek pleasure (in moderation) as the greatest good while a diehard Cynic will abstain from pleasure entirely and live an ascetic lifestyle.

Nevertheless, philosophically-aligned characters of different philosophies may find common ground with one another in ways that they would not with religious characters. For example, philosophical characters regardless of philosophical persuasion will emphasize human reason in averring truth and look skeptically on supposed divine revelation. Similarly, pious characters of different faiths share traits that may lead them to form respect for one another and adopt an ecumenical view on the nature of the divine.

Piety

Piety connotes reverence for the gods and obedience to religious doctrines. Pious characters draw existential meaning from their spirituality.

In a Greco-Roman context, piety should be interpreted more broadly as the virtue pietas (in Latin) or eusebia (in Greek), which characterized those who properly fulfilled duties to parents, the nation, and the gods. In this regard, it has attributes in common with the lawful alignment. Thus, lawful pious characters are disproportionately common among pious characters. However, for clarity, let us consider the non-overlapping parts of this Venn diagram:

A character who is lawful but not pious is motivated by something other than religion (e.g. philosophy, personal honor, or abstract commitment to the law) to behave lawfully.

A character who is pious but not lawful will gladly disregard the law or social norms if his religion compels him to do so.

In deciding what they believe or what action to take, pious characters will base their decision on faith over reason in cases where the two conflict.

Sources of guidance for a pious character include religious scripture, priests of their faith, prayer, oracles, and augury. One of the strongest social affinities of a pious character is to her community of co-religionists, second only to family, in most cases. (A pious character may prioritize co-religionists over family if she has taken a monastic vow, or if she and her family are not on good terms with each other for whatever reason.) Pious characters like to bond with their co-religionists at temples and religious festivals.

Pious characters are more likely ascribe the cause of momentous events to fate, divine will, and providence.

Philosophy

Philosophy connotes a love of learning and adherence to philosophical principles derived from study and self-reflection. Philosophical characters draw existential meaning from their philosophy.

Philosophical characters share a belief that the universe and righteous moral conduct is governed by natural laws outside the jurisdiction of even the gods. Philosophy is the search for these higher truths. Chaotic philosophical characters are chaotic in that they act according to beliefs about natural law which conflict with man-made law.

In deciding what they believe or what action to take, philosophical characters will base their decision on reason over faith in cases where the two conflict.

Sources of guidance for a philosophical character include philosophical treatises, discourse with fellow philosophers, critical self-reflection, and academic study of subjects such as math, astronomy, natural history, etc. An important source of social affinity for a philosophical characters are their fellow scholars. Unless antisocial, philosophical characters seek each other out by congregating in person at academies and symposia, or by corresponding via letter, if the distance is too great.

Philosophical characters are more likely to ascribe the cause of momentous events to random chance or mortals exercising free will, rather than divine intervention.

Neutrality on the Π-Φ Axis

Someone who is neutral with respect to piety and philosophy may either:

Embrace both in equal measure, or

Care for neither, and simply follow their own judgement, common sense, and pragmatism wherever it may lead

Neutral and philosophic characters can be practicing members of a religion, but they are not strongly defined by their religion in their behavior and beliefs. For the purpose of spells which target only pious creatures, such characters are formally non-pious and not affected.

By the same token, neutral and religious characters can subscribe to a philosophy, but they are not strongly defined by their philosophy in their behavior and beliefs.  For the purpose of spells which target only philosophical creatures, such characters are formally non-philosophical and not affected.

Interactions between Magic and the Π-Φ Axis

Divine magic, as it always has in D&D, derives it powers from the worship of a god or gods. Therefore, it naturally follows that a divine spellcaster must be piously-aligned in a setting with this modified alignment system. The player must be in good standing with her god(s) in order to access her powers. (It is up to the DM to determine how rigorously he wishes to monitor player behavior and penalize it if it contradicts a pious alignment.)

Arcane magic is more ambiguous, with two main explanations:

“Mind Over Matter” - power inherent to the sheer force of personality and will of the caster (think sorcerer)

“Natural Philosophy” - power acquired and harnessed through careful study of the natural laws of the universe (think wizard)

In this setting, either definition is valid, but in either case, arcane spellcasters must be philosophically-aligned. An arcane spell cast should, therefore, act according to the precepts of his philosophy in order to access his powers.  (It is up to the DM to determine how rigorously she wishes to monitor player behavior and penalize it if it contradicts a philosophical alignment.)

These restrictions may be dispensed with by the DM on the basis of a unique character backstory. For example, a character multiclassing as both a divine and arcane spellcaster should be of a neutral alignment (on the Π-Φ axis) that integrates both a philosophy and a religion into their character’s identity and behavior. Other modifications and exceptions include:

Paladins:  In the base rules, paladins must be lawful good. In this setting, they must be lawful pious. Antipaladins must also be lawful pious; they merely worship dark gods.

Druids: As divine spellcasters, not only must Druids be piously-aligned, but they must primarily worship a Celtic god or a Celtic pantheon. A character trained to be a druid who later renounces their Celtic faith loses access to his powers. (Druids should also have a backstory consistent with our historical understanding of how one became a druid in Celtic societies. It is not something a character from, say, Persia can just pick up on his own through self-study.)

Bards: In the official rules of the game, bards are arcane spellcasters. However, for the purpose of this rule, bards may choose to be philosophical or pious. A philosophical bard is, essentially, a music theory nerd. A pious bard is inspired by the Muses, and their magic is to be considered divine for any relevant purposes. A pious bard still has access to the same spell list as a philosophical bard.

Alignment-Targeting Magic

There are a fair number of spells and spell-like abilities whose effects target only characters and creatures of a specific alignment, as specified in the name of the spell or its description. Examples include: holy/unholy aura, magic circle against good/evil/law/chaos, hallow/unhallow, and dispel good/evil/law/chaos. I am making two changes:

(1) The Simple, Obvious Addition

For every spell for which there exists one identical copy for each alignment, there now are two more copies of that spell: one which targets philosophy and another which targets piety. Continuing with the above examples, magic circle against piety or dispel philosophy.

Divine spells with overt religious connotation such as hallow and holy aura are now piously-aligned, instead of good aligned. Unhallow and unholy aura are piously-aligned, as well, but in service of dark gods such as Set, Satan, or Angra Mainyu.

(2) Subjective Good/Evil - Target Orthodoxy/Heresy/Heathen

The second and more complicated change involves a revamping to spells and abilities which target good and evil. Good and evil are de-emphasized in my campaign, because of the subjectivity of good and evil from varying religious and philosophical viewpoints. However, players may incidentally encounter “objectively” good-aligned or evil-aligned creatures (such as angels and demons) which alignment targeting spells/abilities can still affect as normal.

Alternatively, spells and abilities which target good or evil can instead target “subjectively” good (“orthodox”) creatures/characters and “subjectively” evil creatures/characters (heathens and heretics):

Orthodoxy (from Greek ὀρθοδοξία, orthodoxia – "right opinion"): For a target to be considered orthodox, the target must practice the same religion / philosophy as the caster, or a reasonably related religion / philosophy that the caster views favorably.

Heresy (from Greek αἵρεσις, hairesis – “choice” or “thing chosen”): For a target to be consider a heretic, the target must practice the same religion / philosophy but with notable disagreement over theological dogma / philosophical tenets. The caster must view this religion / philosophy unfavorably.

Heathen (from Old English hǣþen  – “pagan” or “heathen”): For a target to be considered a heathen, the target must practice an entirely different religion / philosophy. 

Practically speaking, there is no mechanical difference between heathen and heretic. Both are considered “subjectively evil.” But it may matter for flavor / story / role-playing reasons.

Here is an example to illustrate the idea:

Carlos is playing as a pious cleric of the Roman god Janus. His party is currently in Syria, in an encounter with ascetic Christian monks who have riled up a mob that is assaulting a temple of Baal. On his turn, Carlos announces he is casting smite heathen. The DM asks him whether he would like to smite objectively evil creatures or subjectively evil creatures. Carlos specifies “subjective evil - those fuckers who are so arrogant as to believe theirs is the one true god and that such a ‘god’ would command them to desecrate the sacred place of another faith. Not a god worthy of worship.” The DM ignores the rant and says “okay, roll to hit.”

Any creature or character that is piously-aligned to the 'wrong religion' in Carlos’ view is a valid target for the effects of Carlos’ smite heathen ability. For example, If Carlos looks favorably on the Kemetic (ancient Egyptian) faith of his companion, she is not a valid target for smite heathen. However, she is a valid target for any spell that cast by Carlos that benefits good-aligned creatures.

The same example can be applied to philosophical spellcasters. Spells that target evil can either target objectively evil-aligned creatures or subjectively evil creatures of the “wrong philosophy” (but not both at once), at the players’ discretion.

A character who is pious and wishes to target a philosophically-aligned character with a spell must instead use a spell that targets philosophy generally (see the rules for The Simple, Obvious Addition, above). Similarly, a philosophical character who wishes to target piety must use a general piety-targeting spell.

Players should be consistent about their attitudes towards religions and philosophies they frequently encounter, unless there is a clear story-based reason for an evolution in opinion. DMs are recommended to monitor and enforce this, if they can. Characters with an inconsistent attitude toward a certain religion or philosophy should gain social penalties.

Famous Quotes to Illustrate the Alignments

Here are some quotations from famous historical figures that correspond with the nine alignments arising from the intersection of the Π-Φ axis and the Law-Chaos axis.

Lawful Pious:

“Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s; render unto God what is God’s.”* – Jesus (Matthew 22:21)

*Many Christian theologians dispute the obvious interpretation of this quote, but for the sake of illustration of this alignment, consider the obvious interpretation.

“[Desire] nothing else than to accomplish the straight course through the law, and by accomplishing the straight course to follow God.” – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Neutral Pious:

“Worship the Gods.” – Delphic Maxim #3

“Let me simply say that piety or holiness is learning how to please the gods in word and deed, by prayers and sacrifices. Such piety is the salvation of families and states, just as the impious, which is unpleasing to the gods, is their ruin and destruction.” - Euthyphro (in the eponymous dialogue with Socrates, by Plato)

Chaotic Pious:

“Nor did I deem thy edicts strong enough, that thou, a mortal man, should'st over-pass the unwritten laws of God that know not change.” - Antigone (Sophocles’ Antigone)

“We are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.” – Paul of Tarsus (Romans 3:28)

“My kingdom is not of this world.” - Jesus (John 18:36)

Lawful Neutral:

“True law is right reason in agreement with nature; it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting; it summons to duty by its commands, and averts from wrong-doing by its prohibitions.” - Cicero

True Neutral:

On the Π-Φ Axis, there are two possible interpretations of neutrality:

Piety-Philosophy Hybrid

“As far as possible, join faith to reason.” – Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy

“It is not sufficient to say, "God spake and it was so." For the natures of things that are created ought to harmonize with the commands of God.” – Julian, Against the Galilaeans

“God is not a magician with a magic wand.” – Pope Francis I

Agnosticism

“To inquire what is beyond [the physical world] is no concern of man; nor can the human mind form any conjecture concerning it.” – Pliny the Elder

“There is nothing so absurd that it has not been said by some philosopher.” - Cicero

Chaotic Neutral:

“If I cannot sway the heavens, I'll wake the powers of hell!” – Juno (Virgil’s Aeneid)

Lawful Philosophical:

“Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy… cities will never have rest from their evils.” – Socrates (Plato’s Republic)

Neutral Philosophical:

“I have gained this from philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law.” - Aristotle

 Chaotic Philosophical:

"Behold! Plato’s man!" - Diogenes of Sinope, bursting into a lecture by Plato while holding a plucked chicken

Footnote: the problems with Good vs. Evil

In my experience of D&D, the Tolkienesque dichotomy of good versus evil lacks depth for role-playing. I usually end up playing morally neutral characters because neither murdering innocents nor devoting myself to being a selfless hero is particularly appealing. Plus, there is basically no way to keep a party with both evil and good characters cohesive. Either the evil characters fail to act out their evil desires, the good characters blatantly ignore the evil acts of their companions, or some combination of both. I suppose a creative party could make it work, but what I would really prefer an alignment system with more nuance and ambiguity.

At the discretion of the DM, the good-evil axis may also be present as a 3rd dimension, but this should not be emphasized. Unless the campaign calls for it, player characters should not be evil. Some creatures and NPCs encountered by the party may be good- or evil-aligned, in which case spells and magical abilities that target this axis can have their ordinary effect, as described above. Characters and creatures that worship serve dark gods are most liable to be evil-aligned.

[talmidimblogging]

Acts 5:17 Lexham Greek NT | Dr. Steve Grunge- Lexham Press

“Ἀναστὰς δὲ ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς καὶ πάντες οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ ἡ οὖσα αἵρεσις τῶν Σαδδουκαίων ἐπλήσθησαν ζήλου ”

https://ref.ly/r/ldgnt/Ac5.17 via the Logos Bible Android app.

[darlinglove]

ｈｅｒｅｓｉａ

do latim haerĕsis, por sua vez do grego αἵρεσις, "escolha" ou "opção". substantivo feminino 1. interpretação, doutrina ou sistema teológico rejeitado como falso pela Igreja. 2. teoria, ideia, prática etc. que nega ou contraria a doutrina estabelecida (por um grupo).

[nerdygirlobsessions]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/36306160/chapters/92442631

In the sixth circle, heretics are trapped in flaming tombs.

Heresy: belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious doctrine. Derived from Greek haíresis (αἵρεσις) meaning ‘choice’.

[nerdygirlobsessions]

The Odyssey

Chapter 6 - Long & Lost

Heresy

In the sixth circle, heretics are trapped in flaming tombs.

Heresy: belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious doctrine. Derived from Greek haíresis (αἵρεσις) meaning ‘choice’.

“It's been so long between the words we spoke. Will you be there up on the shore, I hope? You wonder why it is that I came home. I figured out where I belong”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/36306160/chapters/92442631#workskin

“Just a little bit of tenderness

A little bit of tenderness

Say that we'll be alright

Even if it's lies” -Bastille Plug In

[talmidimblogging]

Acts 5:17 Lexham Discourse Greek NT 

“COMPLEX 17 Ἀναστὰς δὲ ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς BULLET καὶ πάντες οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ ‹ ἡ οὖσα αἵρεσις τῶν Σαδδουκαίων › SENTENCE ἐπλήσθησαν ζήλου”

https://ref.ly/r/ldgnt/Ac5.17 via the Logos Bible Android app.