read my first original post on Hinduism:THE FACTS.
then you can undersand what the differences between gods and avatars are.
they represent attirbutes of the one the only God. attributes like spirit. to see truth, one must look at scripture, the moral stories, and the holy epics. statues help the people worship.
on some post somewhere i made today, i talked about sri Ganesha and how his image symbolize attributes of God.