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I once had this dream, where a god died it left me wondering. Do you believe a god can die if it feels unneeded? Do you believe old gods have/are died/dying in the past/present? and why?

Well, I think a god can die, if they feel lonely enough, but it's rare.

The only way I think a God can die is if you stop believing.

i agree with what was said already. that if u stop believing in a god then yes that god just dies and or fades away.

a god only exist for them who belive.

The religion and cults keep Gods alive!

they are alive to the believer. so no believers = death

Interesting concept...To me, if someone feels that a God will die when you stop believing in them, then it's a sure sign that the whole entire concept of the God is simply made up.

Just seems like human arrogance to assume that anything we forget ceases to exist. Along the lines of, if a tree falls in the middle of the forest, and no one is around, does it make a sound?

I'm with Vampirika on this....

the gods need followers, you need people to give them credibility

God IS made up. It's made up by YOU. Everyone makes up their own Gods. As soon as you stop believing in them, they evaporate away. That's the bottom line.


A tree is nothing like God. Two completely different concepts.

That's actually not what I really think. I honestly believe that God is made by one man, or a group of people..who ultimatly made everyone believe in it. Then it just went down from generation to generation.


But since I don't want a big God argument to erupt here, I'll hide my thoughts for now and say that God is made, AND killed by the individual.

No, a tree is nothing like God. Glad we got that cleared up...

But the concept of it "not happening or existing" unless we know if it is the same.

The concept that you've brought up, Anann, has nothing to do with the idea of a death of a God.


God is a spirit. It's a belief. It's self-made and only you can keep it alive. It's not something you grow or take care of.


If NOBODY ever believed in God or made it up, it wouldn't exist. Trees would probably grow and fall if we believed in them or not.

The concept of the tree making a sound when it falls is what I'm talking about...

Have you never heard of that saying? It's questioning whether or not things make a sound if no one is around to hear them.

So, the question is, whether or not a God exists if no one is there to believe in it.

I believe that if a god does not have any following it is as good as dead.

The difference between a tree and god is the it is a fact that trees fal and yes they make noise. It's something that everyone knows and has scientific proof. God on the other hand does not have the same roof as a tree. He could be just as mythical as the vampires that hollywood makes up. It's the following that makes him real, to those who believe in him.

Ugh okay, apparently no one so far has heard of this concept and they only take it literally...

*shakes head*

I've said my piece heh.

We've heard of it, it's just that it is not a good way of making your point. If you had chosen soemthing different to liken him to, then maybe you would have gotten a different reaction.

God is not proven, but FAITH ~is~ proven. The faith makes the God remembered, whether it is real or not.

As for the falling tree, it's a proven fact that it makes a sound. It does so with or without witnesses. It's really not debateable, so why bring it up?

I UNDERSTAND what Anann was trying to get across...I can understand where she is comming from with that quote but maybe its just me...now I believe that if people stop believing in their god(s) that yes they do die away I also think that old gods that were forgotten if someone believes in them years after all of creation has forgotten them and they have died away they do come back

I don't think a god can die. It's only forgotten, like the Aztecs that used to pray to Quetzalcoatl, all of those people were forced to convert and had to pray to another god.

See my dream, included a big explosion, which killed a bunch of people. It was also definitely a god because it was controlling my own dream, which was terrible. Eventually, we fought for control of the dream, and I remember specifically a lighting bolt striking it. There was a big explosion. Then I awoke. It was an odd dream because I rarely dream, I've written down everything, and no dreams have come in years. It's weird.

Plus, I'm not posing the question whether god(s) exists or not, you can discuss that elsewhere, however I am asking for those who do believe in god(s), or those who study god(s) can god(s) die?

My understanding is that Gods are immortal. the don't die. In stories the god is never killed, only sent away or contained some how. Energy never seises to exist it just changes form. maybe the god just changes for. I have heard theory that a certain Goddess has transformed into a modern form of a goddess. i won't detail this.

I think that god(s) can kill themselves only, but that's my belief I am sure other's have their own.

I feel that if such God's followers stopped believing it would be possible.

Since the world culture change couldn't the gods change as well?

many religions and civilizations have come and gone and so have their gods and new ones have risen but who is to say they are not just new reformed ones from the old?

Interesting post on an interesting topic, and it just so happens that I finished reading a bood that addressed this very thing.

Neil Gaimen's "American Gods"

Great read, especially since I am a slow reader. It contemplates the existance of all of the gods and how they manifest and transform over the years as people brought their gods from the old world to the new world. It also addressed how the gods that manifested in the new world had to fight for their continued existance from the "new gods" of technolgy and media.

I highly recommend it! Has a great twist of an ending...

I have read a book that I think has an interesting view of it. In the book there was a pair of a god and a goddess that needed to sleep for a few thousand years because the amount of prayers they recieve is what keeps them going and since these gods had lost the majority of thier followers they were sleeping and conserving thier energy. The book said that if the gods no longer recived prayers they would eventually die.

I like these ideas!!!

well my viewpoint is every gd will remain whether forgotten by people or not because there will always be a record in one book or history of him/her & I will all so say this that the god or gods that are forgotten must have somehow lost there influence on the people who believed in him or her so that is why it is left from are minds

Well I guess Gods have to have a break too and regenerate. Like they say history repeats itself this is a prime example as well but never really discussed until now.

Gods dying interesting topic, even in some bibles there are stories about God/Goddesses but never them dying always them being cast out or gong into a slumber until the end of days for man kind. I have never heard of them dying except for in Ancient Egyptian lore but Osirus was brought back from the dead kinda, he still ended up in the underworld.

i would assume deities cant die, but they can deminish in importance and relavence and as as result fade from the collective conciousness. Death though is a way of quantifying mortality by giveing a life cycle a genisis and then a comclusion. Gods or God would have to have a sense of mortality that isnt in the deity make up.

No gods do not die. They remain there for eternity

Yes, Gods can die. I'm with the majority of the people here in my thinking. If no one believes in a God anymore, the God stops existing.

Yeah, I guess a god can die if it never was immortal at the first place.

It seems that gods may need followers as much as followers need the gods.

See I think a god(dess) can die, but it is reborn, as pretty much the same person, as the first, but with some changes built into him or her, or maybe the reborn god(dess) is the best fragment of the old god(dess).

I figure, if we can actually create something outside of ourselves that is either all-powerful or just about as amazing, that "dies" when we stop believing in it...that makes us pretty amazing.

Like gods.

I second the recommendation for Neil Gaiman's "American Gods". As a lover of mythology of all types, I thoroughly enjoyed the modern take on the myths and in puzzling out which of the characters were which gods before they were really revealed.

I am of the mind that they can fade away and wither into husks of their former selves, but never completely die, and can regenerate with renewed interest in them. I'm sorry if that makes them sound like dried vegetables or ramen noodles, lol....

If you stop believing I think it is possible.

Yes, I believe they can die and have a few different ideas about it. One as others have said that a god can die once it has no believers.

Like many of u said, if ones stop beleiving in a god then their existence will come to a end.

i dont believe that gods die bcuz in order to be a gog u must live forever in one form or another

If someone doesn't believe in Gods, it doesn't matter that God could die. Under the word "God" there is an energy what has no name of its own. We , people give it names, appearances and split it in many Gods, Goddesses by our different belief systems or make it a one God as Christianity.
This energy then just exists . Those are people who deny or have this "their"God died in their minds.

Some people are so, insightful, other than stating the obvious of course. I put the parentheses there for a reason, if you are atheist then don't comment on this subject. If you don't have anything better to add. Other than I don't believe in God as if I don't already know that atheists don't believe in god. I once had a forum where pretty much everyone posted "I don't believe in god", I was like what the **** that wasn't even close to the question asked.

kind of, because it seems like the idea of god is kept alive in people's minds and hearts. somethink god made people, but i kthink its the other way around, people made god. i once read this story where this guy was stranded in the dessert and dying and this rock gave him shade...it saved his life, long story short...he started to worship the rock, and invented a rock god, and drew others in too...so...yeah. not a true story, but was supposed to illustrate how religions get started, to explain things, etc...which is something that people need. so without people thnking of and beleiving in god, he/she would eventually be gone. i think old gods are in a way dying, but the christian god isn't...christians kind of by far, out number most individiual groups, actually if one wre to total up the number of christians there'd probably be more than several religious minorities put together...so, i don't think god is going any wehre any time soon...so, i'm hoping this is comprehensive and cohesive...

ROSHO DOES HAVE A POINT I TAKE BACK MY STATEMENT A GOD DEPENDING ON THE AGE CANNOT DIE BECAUSE IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT THE GREEK GODS GOT TRANFORMED TO FIT THE BELIEFS OF THE ROMANS. THAT IS WHY ZUES BECAME JUNO

No, a 'god' cannot die. It can be forgotten or in the case of a human who's looked upon as a god can perish, but not an ethereal 'god'.

Oh my God, Puff The Magic Dragon was a God. And he died when Little Jackie Paper quit believing!
Okay, before someone kills the post because someone didn't take it seriously enough: I at first thought this was a really silly post, but after reading some of the responses I realized how brilliant it is.
A true God doesn't die. But what is a true God? And as has been pointed out over and over, a God ceases to exist when people stop believing. I stand corrected. This one of the better threads I have seen, my congrats to you all. Some really great responses.

These are some really great responses. Thank you wolfkiller for saying that I had a point. I loved Puff the Magic Dragon. I can play the tune on the piano still.

Well I just looked & thought then remembered that so I thought it was fair to post it so you would have something to go off of.

When a belief in a particular god deminishes, certainly a part of the god withers away and dies.

However, is it safe to say that (take the tombs of egypt for example,) the particular god/goddess is reborn upon others discovering its 'remains' so to speak?

I certainly believe it is possible.

But NARA I ask this how is it they are reborn just by there remains being discovered?

Im confused

On what part polarbear101

Not their remains but their 'remains'-- meaning writings, or wall decorations depicting their god status in a lost society (babylon, for example)?

Then the 'myths' so to speak are retold, and some people start to believe-- like a breath of fresh air to the god, reviving them.

Okay I see what you are saying but can you provide some links so others & myself may read them

I don't think of it that way, but it is a very interesting approach, but what if all descriptions of it were lost, like in Africa, some tribes burned they're objects, and other stuff pertaining to religion to convert to Christianity, or what have you.

Describe better rosho

A God can certainly be reborn like any other myth, but it can die for sure...like any other myth.

lovely post krab

Krab: They can also morph and change to suit the area of the world as well.

As far as links and such, I need none in this case. It's simply a known fact unto me.

There is one God in my heart, and my knowledge.
ONE God, who created everything.
I believe that he CAN no Die. He is the the alfa and the omega.
He is the greatest..
just my oppinion

What about angels? Can angels die?

Narakyndryn -


Are you saying Gods are for the world, and not for the people?


As for angels, I think they can die too. I think everything has an end at some point.

is there a god?

I'll try to describe it better, like when Europeans came into Africa, they converted many tribes to Christianity, and the Priests that had them converted, told them that they're idols of worships were heathen, and had to burn them or erase them... So, that might be how a god dies?

I do not think so rosho because a people are always defiant so they will always remember there idols & will secretly teach there younger children

MisfitChild -

Depends on your beliefs.

Let me first state that I'm not putting my religious views into this, I'm gonna think about this from an unbiased standpoint, or at least as much as possible =]

It says nowhere in the dictionary definition of "god" that they are immortal. But it doesn't say they're mortal either. I think that a god is a god for a reason, and if they reach that point, they're there for life. And I know that a god is never unneeded.

The God must die. He is ordained to do so, and only his sacrifice can insure the continuance of the cosmos. His demise should be violent, witnessed by a voluble multitude, and his suffering provide absolution for the children of man.

i dont believe a god can die.

why not merechal

Yes, but after a hundred years, of influence by western culture kids begin to change. Like my cousin is more americanized than I am, and she lives in India.

Mythology is full of stories of gods dying, whether to create more life, or in eternal struggle between the gods themselves.

However my personal belief is that a diety can be seen as orignally a concept or force, which has gathered or accumulated personification through the application of thousands of years of devotion and energy, ie belief.

Given that then, a god cannot die. It can revert to its primordal form if no longer "fed" by belief, but it will never die as such. Maybe it will change, become what it's believers want it to be, but that adaptability then is just an indication of "life".

Like so many before have said, A God exists for as long the people who worship him/her continue to believe.

Lets say 1 million people worshiped a God at one point, then all but one stopped worshipping said God. That God would still be "alive" since 1 person still continues to believe

I don't believe a god or God dies. It or they is/are "seen" less.

What if all the members of the religion die? Then a god might die...

Anann: Brillantly spoken.

Well rosho in that case as NARA said if there remains are discovered then there is some belief because the people who dicovered it now believe because before that they thought they existed but were not sure now when they discover it they believe again because they have proof

no God cant die , he can recreat humans so he wouldnt be lonely

i think god is already dead personally, its like a strange belief..

I disagree. I don't think a God is dead to begin with. If you believe in a God, he/she is very much alive. It is when you stop believing in the God that it dies, until and if it is remembered and believed in again.

Gods Live by the etchings of their Worshipers.

Gods/ Goddessess need our energy in order to keep in power. Worshipers provide this energy, when the belief stops the energy simply goes away with time. I don't think this kills gods only makes them dormant waiting for new followers.

The Egyptians believed if your name continued to be spoken even after death, that made you a god. Once the people forgot about you and never uttered your name, you would no longer be immortal.
I guess this is why they built such great monuments and wonderful tombs, so everybody would be talking about them forever.

In a way it makes perfect sense.

I have to disagree with the majority on this thread. If a god dies because a mere mortal doesn't believe in it then there is no god wether you believe in it or not. That's like saying the Earth wouldn't be here if there were no people to see it. The Earth would still be here~ the people would not.

I didn't understand that at all XipeToltec could you please clarify.

ok, so whether or not you believe in apple trees doesnt make a difference on the apple tree itself

it still exists and it supports itself perfectly without your knowledge of it

if a god can die simply because nobody believes in it then there is no actual god to begin with, because gods are self-supporting despite whether or not anyone knows of their existance.

a god can die, though it's spirit still exists.
it depends on the manner of execution that predicts whether or not they are forced into the 'white room', a place where time does not exist.
trust me, that is a fate worse than bereaving the body of the soul.

Hi Rosho,

Sure. What I'm saying is that if a god exists it exists. If it takes a human mind to make it exist, there is no god. Understand? Any God (of any religious denomination~ poly or mono) can exist independant of the mind of mankind if they exist at all.

Now tat is a good point Xipe but can you find a site to prove such a theory?

www.commonsense.com


LOL!

can you give the full address?

I didn't get it from a website. It's my own thoughts on the subject~ better than any website I have to say. Why would I need someone else's thought to back up my own?

No offense intended wolfkiller.

Non taken but others might ask so that is why I have faith that what you say is true but you will need more to convince others of what you believe?

I don't think this discussion will change anybodies thoughts, I just put it on to get someone else's thoughts on the this matter.

rosho, did you die in this dream or come close to dying?

This thread has been automatically closed for length.