What strikes me most is that at best our gods are metaphorical representations of identifying human motives and behaviors.
Every uniquely human characteristic has a god named after it.
Humans love, therefore we have a god of Love (good)
Humans envy, therefore we have a god of jealousy (bad)
Humans hate, therefore we have a god of Hate (evil)
Humans make war, therefore we have a god of War (behavior)
The list goes on ..........................
And the great metaphor for Humanity itself is contained in the single word God, pointing to the greater unifying force of mankind, a completely abstract representation of humanity, and described by smaller personalized metaphors to the general public for ease of
acceptance and
agreement, such as the stories of virgin birth (immaculate conception) and ultimate purpose (reward), in order to attain transcendence of understanding the word God.
I hate to break the news, but what we see today happening in the world is a reflection of the gods and, as expressed by mankind's general behavior, God himself.
Hence, in the metaphysical sense, disciplined behavior as taught in religions will receive the favor of the gods (for deeds) and God (for character).
Problem is we took it literally and thereby confounded our own language by displaying all the characteristics of all the gods. After all, they are named after
us. ...............