Why don't people just make up their own religion?

[Minimalist]

All religions are made up. Some people are merely too lazy to do the work themselves.

[BloodyHeretic]

Why don't they? I think you'll find they do, Scientology, Mormonism etc. Come to think about it, any religion you care to name, was made up by someone or some collection of individuals. Next question.

[Rev. Rye]

I've actually considered creating my own religion, either naming it The First Church of Feline Leukemia or the 666th Church of 'Manos,' Scientist. That said, I failed to create it because I wasn't sure where to start.

[Napoléon]

What Paul the Human said ... and because God didn't speak to us ... that's why there is no need to make up our own religions.

But he spoke to Muhammad right? And jebus? And moses? And anyone else who I can't be arsed to mention?

God has apparently spoken to many human beings, but if he really wanted to send the message why not just speak to us all simultaneously?

If god really wants us to use our free will (decision making techniques/brain if you want to get semantic), then why send a message to anyone at all? Why not just let us figure shit out for ourselves. Seems to me he wants us to make a decision, and will actively punish us for making the wrong one but what 'god' is essentially doing is giving a sneak peak of the answers to a couple of guys in the class, and tells the rest of us to just guess. God seems to me like he's either a complete frickin dumbass or he can't make up his mind. Now seen as your holy books say he can't be either of these, I'm inclined to think it's all bullshit.

[Paul the Human]

FSM is a 'made up' religion. So is Tarvuism. The only difference is that no one actually believes they are true. Of course, a lot of stupid people think that the 'followers' of these mock religions are serious, which is hilarious.

Narnia is an intentionally fictionalized, high fantasy account of stories from the bible. For that reason, it is not a good example for the point you are trying to make. But... to answer the original question... people do not simply make up their own religions, because no one else would believe in it. The primary draw that religion has is the sense of community and belonging that it offers. A religion is no good to you if you are it's only member.

[Rayaan]

God has apparently spoken to many human beings, but if he really wanted to send the message why not just speak to us all simultaneously?

I don't know why He doesn't speak to everyone, but, if He did that, then it would would be kind of like spoon-feeding us the message.

[Paul the Human]

Haha! Yeah. Forfend that he display anything resembling clarity!

[Rhizomorph13]

If god spoke directly to us we would be obliterated! Here is a clip from one of my favorite documentaries:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA3dzBrXYtc

You see, the Metatron has to act as an intercessory between God and us:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metatron

derp!

[Minimalist]

That said, I failed to create it because I wasn't sure where to start.

Either invent some guy who came back from the dead....like the xtians, or,

some guy who took a fucking nap and 'god' talked to him...like the muslims.

Both Business Models are apparently sufficient to fool an awful lot of people into handing over their money to you.

[The Magic Pudding]

Why don't people just make up their own religion?

Its' probably easier to just get an off the shelf model and just modify it a bit.

If that's too much trouble you can just worship the nice bits and ignore the ugly.
This may sound difficult but becomes easier with practice.

Anyway, not many people have a stylish enough hat to start a religion.