• How wonderful that we have met with a paradox. Now we have some hope of making progress. Neils Bohr

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How have various people imagined relationships with gods?

An incomplete list. (Compiled with the able assistance of the inimitable Rev. Elena Rose.)

God as parent
God as lover
God as exemplar of virtue
God as role model
God as Mafia don
God as buddy with resources
God as disinterested origin point
God as benevolent slavemaster
God as deified ancestor / embodiment of family line
God as ground of being (Spong, hard to translate, argh)
God as animate embodiment of the universe
God as that which Is
God as love
God as ultimate reality
God as setter-forth of the Law
God as patron
God as confidant
God as confessor
God as arbiter
God as eventual judge
God as rescuer
God as dispenser of mercy
God as foil
God as boss
God as author
God as creative force
God as tech support
God as someone to blame
God as worthy opponent
God as jailer
God as commanding officer
God as self
God as intoxicant
God as essence of visible forces
God as spiritual goal
God as perfected state
God as enforcer
God as the collective
God as bouncer
God as that which corrects or compensates for what’s wrong in the material world
God as you’re-not-really-there-but-I-talk-to-you-when-there’s-nobody-else
God as spackle (hee hee hee) (This would be God of the Gaps)
God as inspiration
God as logical out, emergency exit, or pie-in-the-sky
God as Cracker Jack Prize at the bottom of Creation
God as reason to take it out on others
God as social group’s totem
God as collective effervescence
God as egregore
God as father
God as mother
God as rallying point
God as spiritual kin
God as expression of essential nature
God as invisible hand
God as Tallest/biggest kid on the block
God as guide
God as synchronisity
God as tester
God as tormentor
God as conundrum
God as riddle
God as Gordian Knot
God as mindfuck
God as archivist
God as beyond mortal understanding
God as mirror
God as a lens/filter for viewing the world
God as weapon
God as indivisible particle
God as justification
God as expression of order
God as taboo
God as centering
God as center
God as Gaia
God as illusion
God as symbol
God as misunderstanding
God as misapprehension
God as shepherd
God as vast natural thingness
God as impersonal mathematics
God as advisor
God as meaning
God as the manipulator of quantum chance
God as the ineffable
God as the force of history
God as life-force
God as intelligence itself
God as master of the house
God as bridegroom
God as sacrifice
God as eventuality
God as protector
God as blankie
God as court jester (speaking the truth in joke)
God as practical joker
God as raw magical force
God as luck
God as hander-out of rewards
God as passive-aggressive wacko

Later addenda:
God as child (thanks to answersfromvanaheim for the tip)