"The gods need nothing from us. What they demand is respect. They are pleased by proper sacrifices and virtuous behavior, both of which improves the chances of your pleas to the gods being answered."
Historically speaking there are examples to the contrairy. The gods did need need the sacrifices. For example in the Enuma Elish (the Sumerian version of the Flood) the reason the gods saved Utnapishtin (aka Noah) was that if the flood killed everyone then the gods would die of starvation as they wouldn't have any more sacrifices.
Yeah. Guess that's why I also wrote, right below that:
For an opposing view, here is High Priest Ontalok of the Temple of the Wheeling Stars: "The gods needs blood and hearts. Sacrifice feeds the gods and the gods feed the world. A few die so that all may live. The central ceremonies are strictly necessary to ensure the gods receive the sacrifice, but honestly, there's a lot of show that's just to keep the people happy."Of course, all of those dependencies I can think of were based on the need for the
sacrifices, not "faith and worship" as modern-Christianity-influenced models use.
