I am thinking about how to correlate D&D mechanics with a mythologically accurate Christian setting.
First there are different kinds of Christianities. The setting should probably say upfront which one it is modeling. For example, an American Evangelical setting would differ from a Lebanese Maronite Catholic setting.
Here, I am focusing mainly on the Christian New Testament concepts (albeit from an anachronistic, later-century, Council of Nicea perspective about a "Trinity").
2.
The "Word" is the second person of the Trinity, in an abstract cosmic sense. It is moreorless identical with the Tora as a primordial concept.
The Word is probably the same thing as the D&D Plane of Positive Energy, being the primordial light out of which "all things are made".
3.
The "Holy Spirit" is the third person of the Trinity, and refers to the physical presence of the Divine, immanently. The idea is, when God commanded to build the Temple, "they will build for me a sanctuary, and I will inhabit within them." Israel builds a building, but God inhabits the people of Israel, not only the building itself. For Christianity, this is the "inhabitation of the Holy Spirit".
For D&D, Holy Spirit is the Material Plane itself. However, when the Positivity illuminates the Material, the Divine is "revealed" thru Material and is "resting" on the Material. When Negativity blocks out the Positivity, the Divine is "hidden".
The "Kingdom of the Heavens" is when the humans of the D&D Material Plane are living according to the Positivity. Sometimes, the Positivity is revealed in power. Sometimes it is hidden in secret.
Specifically, the Kingdom of the Heavens is the Material Plane. The Holy Spirit is when the Positivity shines thru the Material and reveals the Kingdom. When the Holy Spirit is "absent", it means the Material Plane is Negative, and the Kingdom of Heaven is still present but hidden in secret.
1.
The first person of the Trinity is the Father, the Creator. For D&D, this aspect of the Divine transcends any "thing" in Creation, and is beyond any multiverse. The Father is understood indirectly via the behavior of the Positive Energy.
So far, D&D only needs the Material Plane, the Positivity Plane, and a Negativity Plane that can block and hide the Positivity. D&D can handle the Christian concept of Divinity, reasonably enough, for gaming purposes.
Ethereal Plane = Spiritual World
Astral Plane = Mindscape of the Heart
Christianity also has angels and demons. Because of the peculiar way that D&D splits up the Ethereal Plane and the Astral Plane, this is actually trickier to model than the Divinity.
In some sense, demons are Ethereal, being an immaterial spirit that is physical, localized, and able to poltergeist and influence the Material Plane. Demons are part of a spiritual world. D&D can represent the spirit world as the Ethereal Plane, but this Ethereal Plane is "shallow" and intimately interacts with the Material Plane.
In an other sense, angels are "intellects" being part of the realm of thoughts and mental impulses, and in this sense, are more like D&D Astral. The satan too is this kind of astral construct. Altho the satan looks like a bad guy, it is actually part of the Divine Court, according to the Book of Job. The Divine assigns the satan a "dirty job" to do. It is sorta like a police officer who is working undercover to entrap criminals. The Divine is in control at all times but allows the Material Plane to get messy, so that humans become responsible for revealing Positivity and improving the Material Plane.
It seems to me, the angels (including devils) are D&D Astral constructs made out of thoughts. They are the patterns and paradigms that design the Material Plane. These thought constructs operate in dreamlike way. They are present whenever someone thinks about them.
When an angel materializes into the Material Plane, they are probably "clothing" themselves in the ether of the Ethereal Plane, and only then manifesting, similar to the way a D&D ghost might.
Demons on the other hand are non-Astral. I view these concepts as identical to nature beings. The Greek word Daimon can be good or bad. It corresponds to the Hebrew word Shed. The Shed seems to me to be a nature being, capable of either good or bad behavior. In later Hebrew, the Arabian concept of a djinn and the European concept of a gnome, are both understood as different kinds of Shed.
In the New Testament, the "daimon" normally refers to an entity that is destructive against humans. It seems to me, when humans do physical deeds that are Negative, then the Material World becomes more Negative. Then the nature beings become more hostile, while mirroring human bad behaviors. But when humans physically do physical deeds that are Positive , then the Material World becomes more Positive. Then the nature beings become more helpful, mirroring the human good behaviors. But there is tension because the Negative nature beings actively resist Positive behaviors, before transforming.
Relatedly, sometimes a "daimon" is specifically a "spirit of impurity". This has less to do with good-versus-evil, and more to do with ceremonial dignity. The Biblical concept of purity versus impurity is actually more like raw versus cultivated, maybe even like D&D Law versus Chaos, but I wouldnt go that far. For example, to do a ritual immersion in the sea is "pure", but because the sea counts as a wilderness to do a ritual immersion in the sea on Shabat is impure. The sea is the same natural feature, but ceremonial use of the sea can be pure or impure. Impurity brings about Chaos, in the Hebrew sense of primordial "Tohu U Vohu".
So for the angels and demons, D&D can use the Astral Plane and the Ethereal Plane, respectively. The Astral Plane represents Good and Evil impulses. The Ethereal Plane represents the physical influences within the Material Plane.
In sum, for a Christian, New Testament, setting:
1. Father = transcends beyond any multiverse.
2. Word = the Positive Energy Plane, whose properties behave according to the Tora
3. Holy Spirit ≈ Kingdom of Heaven = Material Plane
3a. Kingdom is revealed and miraculous = Positive Material Plane
3b. Kingdom is hidden and testing = Negative Material Plane
(The Negativity is less about Undead, and more about curses and difficulties, namely the absence of blessings.)
The "heavens" ≈ Astral mindscape
The "earth" ≈ Material + shallow Ethereal
Good Angels = Astral mindscape, the Good impulse in the conflicts of the heart.
Evil Angels = Astral mindscape, the bad impulse in the conflicts of the heart.
holy places and angelic manifestations ≈ Positive Ethereal Plane
unholy places and hostile demons ≈ Negative Ethereal Plane
Christian cosmology is somewhat complicated − but is still way simpler than D&D Forgotten Realms cosmology!
Final note.
Christianity should avoid violence. Except in self-defense.
However, according to the New Testament, the "battles" are spiritual battles, not physical ones.
In this context, for the sake of a fun (violent) game, all the heroic battles should take place in the Astral Plane, and specifically refer to the battles between the good and bad impulses of the heart.
In the Astral Plane, the pacifist hero can put on the "armor of salvation" and wield the holy "sword" of God’s Word. In other words, in the Astral Plane, the gloves can come off. Killing an enemy in the Astral Plane doesnt actually kill the person in the Material Plane. Rather the power of the enemy gets disempowered within the Material Plane. Something like the Material enemy becomes less effective and has less control over the victorious hero.
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. The OT isn't a history text, it's a religious one. I'm not knocking the Christian Bible here, but its historical accuracy is dubious at best.
