Just a theory

[Mister Agenda]

You're really stumped by where ideas come from? Do you think the idea of aliens came from aliens and if they weren't real we'd never have thought of them? Ideas come from our dreams and our imaginations.

When we sleep, we seem to go places and encounter people and things, while everyone can confirm that you never left your spot by the campfire. It sure seems like there's an invisible part of you that can walk around and have adventures while you're asleep. While you're dreaming you can encounter people who are dead, talking animals (talking anything, really), and gods (and these days, aliens).

Not to mention our ancestors were as capable of making up stories as we are. Storytelling is what humans do when its dark and there's a fire going. Memorable stories are more likely to remembered and passed on, and throwing in some superhuman feats by the heroes and villains makes the story more memorable.

 None of what you said explains anything and here's why. When we dream our minds use what we have already been exposed to, sure the mind might extrapolate something weird from the information but nothing new. A god would be something new for man because he would have not been exposed to the idea or information that would lead to such a dream, the concept would have been completely foreign to him.

 GC

Let's see. To a baby, our parents are omniscient and omnipotent. In experiments, a three-year old assumes its mother knows what's in a sealed box, presumably because it can't imagine there's anything Mom can't know. Compared to an infant, an adult is godlike. A village chief is a person greater than the others who demands obedience.

Gods aren't an original concept, they're just humans, magnified and aspects of nature and culture, personified. I water my garden to make the plants grow. When it rains, a greater gardener is watering the earth. To get from a god to a God, just keep magnifying it.

Your position that we couldn't come up with the idea of gods unless there were real gods is asinine.