Some students of religion suppose that the origin of the idea of god as the “eye in the sky” may have come about to help resolve disputes and conflicts between people. If there is an objective eye in the sky, a god, that is, if you can imagine a just supernatural Being observing all your actions and transactions, that Being would know who’s truthful and who is not. Therefore you would be well advised to act and testify honestly because god is watching. The objective eye in the sky is god’s. God, therefore, represented a judicial Force to whom you could appeal your case, who could right wrongs, apply appropriate sanctions fairly and impartially, and punish evil doers.
Accordingly, god is Judge, Arbiter (see especially the Jewish High Holy Day prayer book) and the guarantor of moral truth. More than this, many traditions the world over teach that god is the “Eternal Evolver of Actuality,” that is, the ever present omnipotent creator and prime mover of the universe and of all existence, the Source of its order, harmony and meaning. Most religious traditions teach that god is also the protector and savior of humanity and possesses admirable attributes and qualities that humanity would be wise to emulate, regardless of which religion one follows.
It is a commonplace notion that, in truth, we have “created” god in our own image or conceived of god in human likeness. That surely is so. But there is no greater teaching, because of its implications, than the parallel notion – the flip-side of the same theological coin - that humans are created in god’s image. That concept has been taken to mean that we can and must aspire to be god-like, to live as god would wish us to. We are therefore obligated to treat one another with reverence and respect, however we conceive of the divine.
As with all other concepts and institutions of society, from political governments to the family unit, the god concept and the houses of worship have too often been grossly misused and employed for malevolent ends. Nevertheless, as history reports, there is profound good to be derived from, and by, the espousal of the existence of a god who commands us to deal righteously with one another.