Did God create us, or did we create God?

Voltaire is credited with the following quote: "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him." There's no way to know whether humans invented God, but we certainly have spent a lot of time trying to define God. As a result, there are more religions than there are languages.

People have probably been asking the question "why am I here?" or "what happens after I die?" since the beginning of time. Answers like "who knows," or "your existence serves no purpose," were probably not very comforting. Telling people that they are part of a supernatural being's grand plan was undoubtedly a much easier sell, but the devil was in the details. Religions have been defining and re-defining the supernatural being and the grand plan ever since.

While there is much common ground regarding how different religions define God, each one seems to accentuate certain aspects and diminish others. Even religions that are based on the same text fight with eachother over which definition of God is "right." These fights can even occur within the same religion, thereby producing new religions. How many denominations of Christianity, for example, does the world really need?!

Even within specific "churches," individual believers may hold differing views on who God is, what God wants, and what believers should be doing. Then there are the millions of people who don't belong to any religion and have their own views on all of these subjects that don't mesh with any one religion.

While I believe in Creation followed by Evolution, I think that God and "God's purpose" is beyond our ability to understand. All of the world's different religions, denominations, faiths, and congregations and their different points of view only serve to reinforce my beliefs...