The gods were useful for various reasons, and psychologically helpful.
Why, precisely, would the gods be useful or helpful to risen apes? God is in many ways a lofty abstraction. When it comes to things like survival on a day to day basis, foraging for food and being constantly on the move, it seems unlikely to me that such a lofty concept as God should ever have been relevant to stone aged people (as we usually conceive of them) as it would not have fulfilled any discernible role for them. So why make it up?
What did the world come from? God made it.
1. Why should stone aged people have even pondered where the world came from? It is, here and now, a brutal and challenging place, why speculate about it more than that? This would never have made any sense to me, that a God "made" the world - were I foraging human, that is. This argument or line of thought would only make sense as a relatively recent phenomenon - such as an Uncaused Cause argument, as they formulated in the Middle Ages. Otherwise, I am struggling for my next meal, and the concept of God creating the world (which requires a complex notion of causality lest you are willing to subscribe to the notion of creation ex nihilo - also a relatively advanced concept) is a non-starter. Also, the idea that the world "came to be" is less intuitive than that it always was. Unless you were inculcated from an early age that it indeed was created.
Where did life come from? God made it.
2. Why should I, again, as a stone aged person, ponder where life "came from"? It makes more sense to think that life always was, and that it consists of mating, sleeping, eating and defending. So again, a non-starter.
What is the meaning of life? Worship/ become one with God.
3. This is somewhat better, but the problem is: there is no evidence for this - that stone aged people would, on the basis of a "deeper meaning" have made up, by a complex rationale of sorts, that a God had something to do with it for which they had not seen any direct evidence (such as meeting up with God, say). They might have used made up concepts such as "spirits" to illustrate elements of their own psyche. But we have that, and it's called "art." Why should art therapy have ever risen beyond a form of catharsis for cave-dwellers doing finger painting? How is that evidence of all the "extravagant" claims made by primitive people that Gods, not only exist, but came to the earth and revealed themselves in a myriad of ways? No, this is not adequate.
What is morality and where does it come from? It is a divine law from God.
4. At one point did the nature spirits, which seem so fickle and chaotic, deliver the divine law then? This is a relatively recent phenomenon as well which requires a fairly complex set of ideas to get off the ground. I don't think primitives would have been capable of it: that God is a supremely Wise and Good Judge of all. And yet, oddly, it seems to be in existence (from my perspective at least) before the Abrahamic era.
What are these amazing experiences? Experiences of God.
5. Even such experiences as these need a direct referent for otherwise primitives would not be [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] enough to mistake "good feelings" for a Deity. They would have had to hallucinate that deity outright, which in groups is unlikely (a lone lunatic would have been outcast). Otherwise, it would have been just a "good feeling" on a par with a drug fix.
Why is the universe ordered? God did it.
6. Again, not obvious for the reasons aforementioned. Primitives do not have so advanced an idea of teleology.
Why is the world so beautiful? God did it.
7. Beauty simply is. Why not stop there? Surely a primitive would.
What happens after death? God sends you to heaven or hell.
8. Why think about death as opposed to try and avoid it? Death is nothing, death is nothingness. It is common, so enjoy things now. And even if primitives would have been so grief-stricken at the death of their relatives that they imagined a hereafter, God would not have been the resultant theoretical construct. At least, there would be no evidence for this.
Isn't it unfair that some evil people have good lives, and good people have bad lives? God will be Judge after death.
9. See #4. In any case, this does not require a concept of God(s). Karma is good enough. A lightning strike or a bad trip.
What is the mind and where does it come from? It is a magical soul from God.
10. Again, looking too far ahead. The mind just "is" for primitives.
What are these amazing coincidence? God's providence, or answer to prayer.
11. Again, the "isness" of the universe. Primitives have nothing to compare coincidences to. The world is a topsy-turvy place, so why should God explain anything? If good happens, good happened and that is what matters!
And so on, and so forth. God is the easy and comforting answer.
Except, interestingly, God is largely irrelevant to answering all the 11 questions that you gave me. At least, for primitive savages. So, where did these Gods really come from?
Well I don't personally have evidence, but people do look into such things. God could be real, and it would be good if He was, but I doubt it.
Can you explain why you think this?
Because the other set of reasons trying to explain away their existence is entirely lacking. Thus, the evidence, by default, lands on the side of Gods being real and having revealed themselves in the past.
