God

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God is a title used to describe any supernatural being which has significant influence over the humans, animals, or any other part of the natural world.

The most common usage of the title "god" applies to YHWH, the Judeo-Christian God. However, the title has also been used to describe various kings of the gods, including Zeus, Jupiter, Amun-Ra, Oden, and so forth. The capitalization of the word depends entirely on context, where the uppercase version is used to refer to a specific god, and lowercase refers to a god in the generic sense.

Contents 1 Characteristics 2 Relationship to the Universe 3 Conceptions of God 3.1 Monotheism 3.1.1 Religions that adhere to monotheism 3.2 Polytheism 3.2.1 Examples of pantheons 3.3 Pantheism 3.4 Gods in constructed religions 3.4.1 List of gods in constructed religions

[edit] Characteristics

The main characteristic of gods is that they transcendent (living primarily outside of how the world typically works as observed by humans). As an extension of this characteristic, many gods are considered immortal, or incapable of dying. However, many religions, including Odenism and Babylonian mythology, regularly had their gods die and be resurrected, so this attribute is far from universal.

Omniscience is the ability to know all and see all. It comes from Latin, meaning "all-knowing," and implies that a god knows everything in the universe. Some gods - such as YHWH - achieve this ability through their own nature, while others such as Zeus gain it through position as king of the gods.

Another characteristic that is common amongst gods is omnipotence. The word comes from Latin, meaning "all-powerful," and implies that gods are capable of influencing anything in the natural world. Some question whether omnipotence implies an ability to defy logic, or whether logic is a necessary binding characteristic of existence.

An interesting characteristic often associated with gods is omnipresence. A combination between transcendence, omniscience, and omnipotence, omnipresence implies that God is not associated with any one particular location, knows everything, and can do everything. Thus, for all intents and purposes, this god is in fact everywhere.

[edit] Relationship to the Universe

In many religions, at least some of the gods are said to have created the Universe. These are typically the reigning gods in their respective pantheons, or possibly the founder(s) of a dynasty of gods. However, gods are sometimes said to exist independently from the Universe, or created at the same time as the Universe.

Gods are sometimes associated with the characteristic of benevolence. The most famous of these gods is YHWH, or the Judeo-Christian God, who relates to mankind as a kind of father.

[edit] Conceptions of God

See also the main Religion-wiki article on Conceptions of God.

[edit] Monotheism

One belief about gods was that there was only one god, typically identified by an uppercase "G". This god was also typically the creator of the Universe.

[edit] Religions that adhere to monotheism

• Christianity, worshiping YHWH and the Trinity
• Judaism, worshiping Hashem
• Islam, worshiping Allah
• Sihkism, worshiping the Universal God
• Bahai, worshiping the Universal God

[edit] Polytheism

Another belief revolves around the acceptance of many gods. In such a case, the leader of the gods is typically a king, who rules the pantheon as a whole.

If there are multiple gods in a belief system, oftentimes they are organized into a kingdom where one god rules over the rest. As this was a common practice, new religions when they came into contact with each other would draw comparisons between their respective king of the gods (see syncretism).

While one might accept that there are multiple gods, you can still only accept one to worship. This is called monolatry, or "worship of one." Sometimes this is extended as far as stating that no other god is worthy of worship.

[edit] Examples of pantheons

• Hellenism, or the ancient Greek religion, headed by Zeus
  • Hera, wife of Zeus
  • Ares, god of war
  • Dionysus, god of drinking and art
  • Hermes, messenger of the gods
• Roman mythology, headed by Jupiter
  • Juno, wife of Jupiter
  • Mars, god of war
  • Mercury, messenger of the gods
• Odenism, or the ancient Norse religion, headed by Oden
  • Freya, wife of Oden
  • Thor, son of Oden and god of thunder
  • Loki, trickster god and friend of Oden
• Kemeticism, or the ancient Egyptian religion, headed sometimes by Osiris
  • Isis, wife of Osiris
  • Horus, son of Osiris
  • Seth, brother of Osiris and god of chaos
  • Anubis, son of Seth and protector of the dead
• Ra, the alternate head of the ancient Egyptian religion
  • Amun, the god of life, later syncretized with Ra
  • Thoth, the god of knowledge and writing
• Babylonian mythology, headed by Marduk
  • Ishtar, goddess of love and fertility
  • Enki, god of crafts and water
  • Tiamat, primordial world-dragon whose death created the world

[edit] Pantheism

Pantheism is the belief that the Universe is both sentient and a god. This may result in reverence towards the world, logic, science, or other aspects of the natural world.

Pantheism may also be considered a type of worship of the Universal God, which would make it a subset of monotheism.

[edit] Gods in constructed religions

Gods also form an important part of constructed religions. These may incorporate elements of monotheism, polytheism, or pantheism.

[edit] List of gods in constructed religions

• Selex (Tyluthan)
• The Divine Consciousness
• In the Tricircular System -
  • Europa
  • Chaos
  • Gaea
• In Somniumism - see Somniumist Deities

This list is incomplete. You can help us by expanding it.