According to Bart Ehrman, most Bible Scholars/Historians agree that Jesus of Nazareth did exist. He was a Jewish apocolyptic preacher who thought God was going to fix all the world's ailments in his lifetime. Hmm... sounds vaguely familiar.
One of my lightbulb moments was when I realized that not only did Jesus write nothing down but the original Bible texts are no longer available for scrutiny. This is a perfect environment to write whatever the ancients wanted Jesus to be, do, and say.
And the result was the birth of the Christian cult where, if you don't believe what they do, and get reborn as a Christian, you will be judged and punished.