If I pray to a god I just invented, does that make him/ her/ it real?

[cupoftea]

Let's say I invent a God, and I decide to pray to him (lets make it a man shall we, for convenience), or sacrifice a goat to him, does that make my God a real god? I'm a bit flabbergasted by the whole "God" concept. And what happened to the old gods (like Zeus and Jupiter) when nobody worshipped them anymore? Did they stop existing? Did they change into our current god?

[Lord Zhang Ku]

The only thing that could give you an accurate answer is God itself, whether or not God exists. But, here's a guess from me. Nobody knows. For all I know the old gods are locked away, or dormant, or never existed. Perhaps the same is for God itself. However, as a deist, I struggle with my beliefs in regards to God every day. There is in no way an easy answer to your question. Perhaps when you invent one it comes into existence. But there really is no way for any of us to find out for real, right?

[XIII]

Doubt is real even for theists. At least it is for me. Faith was never about never having doubts, everyone has them. To the OP's question, my answer is no, I don't think it's prayer that makes God real. That would be, I think, a theologically deficient view of God (who could worship such a god?). Anyway, it might be helpful to think of God as "that of which no greater could be conceived", which is the definition that Anselm gave. Simple and to the point.

[removeduser_4536284751384]

Why does God need a sex?

The God of Abraham doesn't have a sex.

[Jack04]

Let's say I invent a God, and I decide to pray to him (lets make it a man shall we, for convenience), or sacrifice a goat to him, does that make my God a real god? I'm a bit flabbergasted by the whole "God" concept. And what happened to the old gods (like Zeus and Jupiter) when nobody worshipped them anymore? Did they stop existing? Did they change into our current god?

Read some Terry Pratchett. It contains all the answers (specifically, Small Gods)

[Ummagumma]

Read some Terry Pratchett. It contains all the answers (specifically, Small Gods)

Or the Hogfather. Old Gods learn new tricks, as he said.

Also, as far as 'reality' goes:

‎Today, a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration – that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There's no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we're the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather.

Bill Hicks.

Or maybe it is all just a side effect of self consciousness. Things are, simply, what they are. It is only our nature that makes us want, or need, to see what we do..

[black-dragon]

Let's say I invent a God, and I decide to pray to him (lets make it a man shall we, for convenience), or sacrifice a goat to him, does that make my God a real god? I'm a bit flabbergasted by the whole "God" concept. And what happened to the old gods (like Zeus and Jupiter) when nobody worshipped them anymore? Did they stop existing? Did they change into our current god?

No. Well, not until you make up some argument and pretend that its irrefutable. Life's never been the same since I proved the existence of the transcendental baked monkey using the kaksonjae cosmological argument

[(s)AINT]

In your mind yes, but in the physical world it is impossible to know.

[MathiasOfAthens]

Let's say I invent a God, and I decide to pray to him (lets make it a man shall we, for convenience), or sacrifice a goat to him, does that make my God a real god? I'm a bit flabbergasted by the whole "God" concept. And what happened to the old gods (like Zeus and Jupiter) when nobody worshipped them anymore? Did they stop existing? Did they change into our current god?

Roman Emperors became Gods as well... The Divine Julius. The Divine Augustus. Even Nero became a God. I think Vespasian though was the last to be named a god by the Senate though.

And Emperor Vitellius burned down the temple of Mars.

[Ancient Aliens]

Yes, prayer (which psychologically is mental reinforcement) does validate the existence of a god in your own mind. Spreading this belief with others and passing the knowledge along to them creates the god in their mind as well. This is how all religions came to be. It's like a communicable mental illness.

[♔Goodguy1066♔]

What a peculiar question. Either things are real, or things aren't. Believing in something doesn't make it real, it makes your belief real, and it might make you think its real in your head, but believing or rejecting something does not affect its existence.

I believe the Abrahamic God is real, but he isn't real because I believe in him, I believe in him because (in my opinion) he is real. If I become an atheist that won't affect God's existence (or lack of it, if I were an atheist), it would just change my personal outlook.

[saglam2000]

If you believe he is, then he is. That's basically basis on which all religions act on.

[Marie Louise von Preussen]

No.

[Col. Tartleton]

Gods only exist in the mind. Go for it.

[Tuor]

Let's say I invent a God, and I decide to pray to him (lets make it a man shall we, for convenience), or sacrifice a goat to him, does that make my God a real god? I'm a bit flabbergasted by the whole "God" concept. And what happened to the old gods (like Zeus and Jupiter) when nobody worshipped them anymore? Did they stop existing? Did they change into our current god?

As long as you don't tell anyone that the god was invented and if you spread it around as if were the only truth, sure.

[Denny Crane!]

Well the God you create is no different from any other God this is why there are tens of thousands of religions and there are many mainstream gods with each believer claiming his is the legitimate one even though there is no legitimate reason to believe theirs is any more real than the person who grew up in a different religion.

[Exarch]

if you want it to be real, you'll convince yourself that your delusion/illusion is real.

then you'll try to convince others of your delusion/illusion; this is called missionising.

[XIII]

No, it's called wishful thinking. Either it's real or it's not regardless of anyone's belief. It's not like all of TWC could gather together to conspire and say, "Let's all come together and believe that Exarch does not exist, so that he would not", and then you would cease to exist.

[Tuor]

No, it's called wishful thinking. Either it's real or it's not regardless of anyone's belief. It's not like all of TWC could gather together to conspire and say, "Let's all come together and believe that Exarch does not exist, so that he would not", and then you would cease to exist.

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

[♔Goodguy1066♔]

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Yes! You said yourself that the tree fell, why wouldn't it make a sound? What's up with these stupid questions lately?