Mi'sen

Religions almost all started as paths. It is, for example, useful to believe in certain types of God. It has personal or social utility. (I could write a 10K essay on this topic.) But what are, in Buddhist terms "expedient means" get reified into dogma.

also, we have changed the meaning of belief. For a Medieval European to say they believed in Christ was often to say they believed in his path to God, NOT that they believed that the world had literally been created in 7 days, say.

For a lot of mystical/meditative tasks and paths belief in a God, especially a benevolent and loving God is amazingly useful. Yes, at some point, if you encounter God/Kali/Zeus on the path, you'll have to kill them. But the people who get to that level are insanely advanced.

I doubt more than three people (and I know exactly who they are) who follow me, are advanced enough that "kill the Buddha if you meet him" is applicable to them. You can be one of the great sages in history and not kill the Buddha/God.

In a lesser usage, I sometimes remember that slogan in meditation and it seems applicable and useful—like, whatever ideal state I’m imagining, just kill it.

Yes. Drop everything. All of it. But God can get you so far it's crazy. You drop everything FOR God, then drop God. It is FAR faster than almost all paths w/o God. Using loving kindness as your object of attention is a way of doing this w/o a God, as an aside.

Yes, I’m convinced why this is one reason why guru yoga became so poplulsr among dzogchen yogis, to the point where it is now considered the main practice in several lineages (especially in the most popular lineage in the past hundred years or so).

it really really works. Three of the most clearly enlightened people I know had/have gurus. It's just so ripe for abuse. (I doubt I would ever do it.)