Why are there millions of gods & goddesses?

Question

Why do they have the characteristics they have?

Are they all true/real and are their descriptions accurate?

How can one find out which one (ones) is true/real and worth following?

How can one tell which one/ones are telling the truth?

If any are real, telling the truth, and worth following, why follow/worship

them if they are supernatural and we are natural?

For what reasons/purposes?

Why did Yamster say this Q could belong in sports-hockey?

He He

Answer 1

God/ddesses are not beings or entities for me. Rather, they are metaphors, archetypes, and symbols that represent energy. By giving energies names, human characteristics, and myths, we give them life and make them meaningful to us. I honor these symbolic energies in my practice, but I do not see them as distinct beings. Energy is a part of everything, and we're back to the whole interconnectedness thing. I honor them because it helps me to focus, and it just feels right for me to do so. Myths have a great power, even if they are not factual depictions.

I'm speaking this FOR MYSELF

Answer 2

There is only One True God, the God of Abraham,Isaac and Jacob whose Son is Jesus the Christ.  All the other gods and goddesses that you hear about were created by man and they are all false.  Goddess of love, Venus, has had so many names throughout history that it is a pitiful story.

Answer 3

You ask so many questions in this one post, I hardly know where to start.

First, as to why there are so many different Gods...That's really fairly simple.  Each culture chose to name and honor their Gods for themselves.  Sometimes they started out all worshiping the same set of Gods, but as time went on and language and culture evolved separately, the names given the Gods and characteristics people attributed to them evolved, as well.  In a sense, one might note that the Greek and Roman Gods might fall into this category, as they had very similar attributes, but their names were different.  One can also see this trend when comparing the Celtic deities from widely separated areas, and even when comparing Germanic and Celtic Gods, as they often had very similar attributes but different names, or sometimes the reverse was true.

The attributes or characteristics of various Gods and pantheons tends to tell us a great deal about the concerns and focus of the people who worshiped those Gods.  In a rural, agrarian society, Gods of fertility, of harvest, of renewal and death and of weather tended to be much revered, because those were the aspects of the world the people who worshiped them were most concerned with.  In other cultures, the Gods of vengeance, of war, of courage and of justice tended to be vaunted, as those where the concerns of those people.  

I, unlike many Witches and Wiccans, actually believe in the individual Gods I honor.  I don't deny the existance of other Gods, either, but I honor only the two (usually, keeping in mind that sometimes I will honor or appeal to another God or Goddess after my Gods).  Why those two?  Because they are the ones who called to me, the ones I felt drawn to, the ones who hold attributes which I consider most important in my life.

I don't necessarily see my Gods as supernatural.  I think we and they are part of nature, and that most of what is called supernatural is simply natural but rare or usually concealed.

I'm not sure what you mean by telling the truth.  I don't believe there is one universal truth contained by the worship of one correct diety or set of dieties.  

I hope I haven't further confused you.  By the way, no offense intended to those who see the Gods as aspects of the universal divine or as aspects of energy.  There is doubtless considerable validity to that concept, and my difference from them does not imply criticism.

Answer 4

The millions of gods and goddesses are purely created in the minds of the respective groups of believers. Such gods generally takes the image or shapes of idols, statues, the sun, the moon, fire, rivers, mountains, animals, ghosts, spirits (as in animism), etc. Why this came about is simply because the real One True God is not seen by all, both by ordinary folks as well as prophets (except Muhammad, pbuh). So they create images or statues of their gods in their mind and worship them instead.

However, they always failed to realise that those so-called gods they worship are harmless items or artifacts, which cannot produce any eventful or direct effects on their lives. The changes that affected their everyday lives are actually the work of the real God and His various angels. It is to the One Real God, the Almighty, the All Magnificent and the All Benevolent that they ought to have worshiped, and not to all those millions of gods and goddesses they have created either physically or mentally.

Answer 5

There is only one God. Everyone worships the same one, they just have different ways of worshiping him. Buddha, God, Allah, etc. They are all the same. Over the years different groups of people just developed different ways of worshiping him and different names for him. The best Religion is the one that brings you closest to God.

Answer 6

"Why are there millions of gods & goddesses?"

I've never seen any kind of census.

"Why do they have the characteristics they have?"

They just do. Probably as a result of genetic mixing, same reason you and I don't look alike.

"Are they all true/real and are their descriptions accurate?"

Some of them are, but some descriptions are self-contradictory.

"How can one find out which one (ones) is true/real and worth following?"

In my experience, if they wish you to follow them, they'll ask you.

"How can one tell which one/ones are telling the truth?"

Same ways you use with humans.

"If any are real, telling the truth, and worth following, why follow/worship

them if they are supernatural and we are natural?"

The gods are natural, too.

"For what reasons/purposes?"

Not a question.

"Why did Yamster say this Q could belong in sports-hockey?"

the word millions.

Answer 7

There is a really good explaination by Jordan Maxwell.  Go to his video on You Tube entitled Ancient Belief Systems.