Reply #76: You may not think he's an invention,

[darkstar3]

but your faith depends entirely on the reality of his existence, and not a single person has ever been able to prove that there was a historical Jesus. That is why you manufacture questions to shield yourself from answering those put to you by others.

At any rate, I can think of a perfectly good reason to invent him: Power. Imagine the kind of power you might have if you could convince the people in a highly religious area that their prophecies had been fulfilled, their old laws made unnecessary, and a new way forward had been given to them by their own God, and only YOU could show them that way.