What makes a god?

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by ericthered

I suppose that works with hostile pantheons and dieties as well.

The Iranian word ahura, god or lord, is a cognate of the Sanskrit asura, demon, and the Sanskrit word deva, god, is a cognate of the Iranian daeva, devil.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by ericthered

On the other hand, China and Taiwan do acknowledge the existence of a rival organization that quite firmly controls part of their claimed territory. They just call them and treat them as something other than a government.



I suppose that works with hostile pantheons and dieties as well.

Neither Eru nor Manwe deny the existence of Morgoth.

[SolemnGolem]

That reminds me of a comment from a religious leader I heard at school:

"Even Satan believes in God..."

[Michele]

Originally Posted by ericthered

On the other hand, China and Taiwan do acknowledge the existence of a rival organization that quite firmly controls part of their claimed territory. They just call them and treat them as something other than a government.



I suppose that works with hostile pantheons and dieties as well.

Ah, good point there. We are gods, those are demons.

[Michael Cule]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

OR you could eat one. A clever idea possibly, but not a wise one ... you would hunger so. (Let's see who gets that one...)

"I couldn't eat a whole one..."

Which makes me wonder if a bunch of enterprising theoclasts could divide a god up into parts and eat the bits so as to create a pantheon.

It might have a lamentable tendency to over-write the murderers own personalities though.

[Greg 1]

It varies from world to world.

Right now, I'm working on a setting where gods are created (or perhaps just shaped) by the human subconscious. They can grow more powerful by being worshiped and compete for worshipers. In the wake of the apocalypse that destroyed our civilization, there is an abundance of new gods born from distorted memories of the world that was.

Like the loa of Voodoo, the gods often possess sorcerers and speak through them. They are alien enough to seem insane by human standards. Some can be benevolent, many are malevolent, most are amoral, and almost all have a dark aspect. They intervene so often that their machinations drive history, more than the plots of human rulers do.

Many gods bear similarities, to a greater or lesser degree, to dead humans. These may be cases where humans have become gods, or they may just be cases where gods have been shaped by thoughts of dead humans. One of the gods of death goes by the name "Walt Disney" and has Disney's face. Is it Walt Disney, now become a god of death? Who knows?

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by Michael Cule

Which makes me wonder if a bunch of enterprising theoclasts could divide a god up into parts and eat the bits so as to create a pantheon.

It might have a lamentable tendency to over-write the murderers own personalities though.

The more you eat the more of the power you get.

The more you eat the more of the personality you get.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Michael Cule

"I couldn't eat a whole one..."

Which makes me wonder if a bunch of enterprising theoclasts could divide a god up into parts and eat the bits so as to create a pantheon.

It might have a lamentable tendency to over-write the murderers own personalities though.

Why was my first thought the use of tupperware to convert the world to atheism?

[Irish Wolf]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Neither Eru nor Manwe deny the existence of Morgoth.

On the other hand, Eru Iluvatar doesn't seem to consider the Valar "gods", and I'm not sure they think of themselves that way either, even with their given areas of responsibility. And Manwe called Melkor brother, once upon a time...

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Irish Wolf

On the other hand, Eru Iluvatar doesn't seem to consider the Valar "gods", and I'm not sure they think of themselves that way either, even with their given areas of responsibility. And Manwe called Melkor brother, once upon a time...

The Valar are more like supreme angels (although they don't look as freaky as in the Bible), and Melkor is clearly Satan. Edit: I realize Tolkien disliked allegory but... this is just too good a fit.