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How do you define a diety? What are the essential, minimal characteristics needed to consider something a god instead of merely an unusual being or natural force? The mythic accounts vary widely. Christianity defines a god as The God, Jehovah, the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving creator of the universe, but few commonly accepted mythologies can meet all of these criteria. Numerous gods have been killed in greek and mesopotamian mythology, although usually by other gods and often they are reborn in some fashion. Some religions have a potentially infinite number of gods, and the line between gods and other mythological or suprenatural figures is often blurred.

What is the narrowest universal standard for divinity? What sets gods apart from demons, angels, nymphs, nyads, faeries, sorcerers, and spirits, in terms of comparative mythology or theology?

I'm particularly interested in replies from polytheists, because that might shed light on some of my mythological difficulties and atheists, because it seems crucial to the notion of actively not believing in gods to define the thing that you are not believing in.

The God of the Abrahamic faiths (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) by today's standards seem to be the most narrow. Most religions do not rely on a scared text that they claim their god created...sketchy.

...does no one here remember my old account? crying

I can think of three religions that do, all the same God, admittedly.

Other than that I can only think of three religions that don't/possibly don't.

I mean, Shinto claims their gods are spirits, some who have gained strength, or incredibly strong demons, who they then worship for having control over the weather, fertility, etc.

And thinking back, Egyptians believed their gods had control over various things, fertility, weather, life, death... And that their king was their God embodied. They might not have set down laws, but even the greeks believed their prophets could communicate with their gods.

I just feel the point of faith is that you believe in something you can't exactly see. Every religion is a bit sketchy, but if nothing else... religion gives us hope that there's more to life than just this.

Dr. Manhattan = God

I think a God is a supernatural creature who has more power than goblins..

I don't think I can answer your question, honestly. I'm a Christian so my view of what a God is is that of the Christian God. An all-powerful, all knowing being. A being that created everything and that I cannot fully comprehend.

However, I recognize that in other religions gods have the ability to die, are not all-powerful, have a more super-human or ghost-like spirit quality than my religion.

I think the difference is a God is generally a being that is not trapped by an earthly form, but who could take one if they so desired... which a Goblin is not. It's more than a ghost, more aware of itself and it's surroundings, many ghosts just repeat a familiar part of their life over and over (if ghosts are self-aware, which it seems the shinto religion believes, many of them are insane--focusing on a hurt inflicted on them in their life.)

I don't believe, however, if my father's spirit is still with me, that it is a ghost. I do talk to him sometimes, when I'm hurt, and as a child there were times I felt somebody was touching me who I couldn't see... however, if ghosts do exist and have that capacity, I believe the difference between them and a God is their spiritual power. I imagine it must take a lot of the ghost's strength to manage to do something as simple as comfort a child. I've seen my beloved dog in my dreams many times, and in them I communicate with him, dreams that have even predicted things. While I feel reticent to believe it's my beloved Mister talking to me, I want to believe it is him communicating with me... however, if it is him, he wouldn't be a God simply for getting into a human's dream when I am more easily accessible to the spirit world during sleep and likely still taking a lot of his strength.

I also believe a God has to have almost unlimited control over at least one element.

I guess the simple answer is a god is a spiritual being that has heightened spiritual power, may take form if desired but is not bound by form like a human. It is a creature that breaches the "real" world and the "spiritual" world.