God (higher being)

A **god** or **deity** is a supernatural being in a belief system, who is considered divine or sacred. A male deity is called a **god** and a female deity is called a **goddess**. They often have supernatural powers that lift them above ordinary humans and they are usually immortal. Gods are often considered rulers of different domains, other gods, the whole world or more. In addition, in many religions the world or the entire universe is said to have been created by one or more gods. In most faiths, it is also believed that gods interact with humans, either positively or negatively, in ways that can bring the people to greater consciousness, status or even bring them closer to the divine themselves.

Gods exist as a product of the faith of individual humans.

## Religions

Religions are categorized by how many deities they worship. Monotheistic religions accept only one deity (most commonly referred to as simply "God"), while polytheistic religions accept the existence of several gods, often called a "pantheon". Henotheistic religions accept a supreme deity without denying the existence of other deities, which are often considered aspects of the same divine principle, and lastly there are nontheistic religions which deny the existence of a supreme deity but accept a pantheon of deities who live, die and may be reborn as any other being, or they are immortal and/or ageless.

Although most monotheistic religions traditionally conceptualizes their "God" as omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, omnibenevolent and eternal, none of these qualities are essential to the definition of a "god", and different cultures imagines their gods differently. Additionally, no one's power is in fact unlimited, not even the power of the Christian God. At the same time, there exists widely differing perceptions of the relationship between the gods and the universe, and often also different worldviews, called cosmologies. There are also many different myths as to how the world came to be.

## Faith

Gods exist as a product of human beings' faith. Their qualities, also, are products of faith, at least to an extend. They still seem to have free will.

## Known gods

### Christianity

#### God

The Abarahmic religions is a term used about the three major religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and they are related by the fact that they all believe in the same one God. The largest number of these religions is Christianity, which simultaneously is the world's largest religion, and as such the vast amount if people of this faith have caused their beliefs to become reality. There is only one God in Christianity, Jehovah, most commonly referred to as simply "God". The name "Jehovah" is a transliteration of God's true personal name in Hebrew, "YHWH" or "JHVH", from יהוה. It is also transliterated as "Yahweh".

### Greek pantheon

#### Zeus

Ruler of Mount Olympus, heaven and Earth, god of lightning and thunder and the king of the Greek pantheon.

#### Hades

God of the underworld of the same name in Greek mythology. A depressing and hateful being. Deceased, having been murdered by Aziel Stofeles.

#### Heracles

Also known as Hercules, a famous mythical hero in Greek mythology, and one of the greatest and most famous heroes in history, whether or not he existed. The biological son of the god Zeus and the human woman Alcmene, he is a demigod. He has inherited divine superhuman strength from Zeus. Having killed his own wife Megara and their children in a bout of hysterical rage, Heracles was sentenced to Tartarus in his death. He should have been able to escape had he not been stopped by Hades, who was the only being he was never able to best in battle. Having later been freed by Satina Dargue when she and Philip Engel visited the underworld of Hades, he took the opportunity to fight Hades once more. It is implied that he managed to escape Hades and that he has gone to live among the gods on Mount Olympus after this battle, possibly having been raised to godhood as most endings in Greek myth detail for him.

### Norse pantheon

#### Odin

The king of the main Norse pantheon, the Aesir, Odin is the wise, one-eyed god of wisdom. He resides in Asgard, in the castle of Valhalla.

### Chinese folk religion

#### Jade Emperor

In Chinese culture and traditional mythology, the Jade Emperor is one of the representations of the first god, or the *tài dì*. In Taoist theology, he is the assistant of Yuanshi Tianzu, one of the Three Pure Ones, the three primordial emanations of the Tao. In Vietnamese folk religions, he is called *Ngọc Hoàng Thượng đế*, or *Ông Trời*, "Heavenly Lord." He is often identified with Śakra in Chinese Buddhist cosmology, and is known in Korean mythology as Haneullim. He is known under many names, in general, including Heavenly Grandfather (*Tiān Gōng*), which originally meant "Heavenly Duke," which is used by commoners as his name; the Jade Lord; the Highest Emperor; Great Emperor of Jade (*Yu Huang Shangdi* or *Yu Huang Dadi*). Sometimes, the Jade Emperor is identified as the supreme god in Chinese folk religion or folk mythology.

The Jade Emperor has some authority within Chinese folk religion, evidenced by the fact that the reincarnated dog feared what he would do to him if he found out that he had stolen Death's die.

## References

1. ↑ Kenneth B. Andersen. *The Die of Death*. Høst & Søn, October 19, 2018 (English print-on-demand paperback). Høst & Søn, October 11 2018 (English e-book). (Original Danish version published August 31, 2007 by Høst & Søn)