In the eyes of ordinary people, what kind of being could be called a god?
In myths, gods were often beings whose words became reality, who could move mountains and fill seas, and who possessed all manner of incredible powers.
In religion, gods were generally regarded as the creators and rulers of all things in heaven and earth.
Whichever the case, gods needed believers and loved building temples and shrines on a grand scale for people to worship them and make offerings.
The reasons for wars between gods were also quite simple: they often broke out over faith or worshippers' offerings.
Take another example.
In China, the character for "god," 神, first appeared in ancient bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou dynasty and could be divided into 示 and 申.
申 referred to lightning in the sky, while 示 referred to an altar. Combined into the character for "god," they represented the ancient people's worship and reverence for the mighty forces of nature.
The second character in 神明, 明, represented the tangible embodiment of those mighty forces.
Since ancient times, there had been a peculiar phenomenon: what kinds of gods endured the longest?
Those with specific divine offices and domains, usually closely tied to people's lives.
Death and life, for instance, or prayers for children and wealth, or water, fire, wind, and rain.
When people worshipped such gods, they almost always had a wish they hoped to fulfill.
If a god received faith and offerings but could not grant the believers' wishes, that god could generally only fade into obscurity.
From this, one could also infer that, aside from the various miraculous abilities mentioned earlier, gods possessed the ability to communicate with their believers' minds.
The more devout a believer was, and the purer the faith they offered, the sooner