Mojoman said:

If- for arguments sake - the Jesus story was a fabrication, why was such a fabrication conceived? I'm sure somebody has already come up with an logical explanation.

I heard, a long time ago, an explanation. The speaker was talking about theological development, theological history, the historical research into New Testament times and the early days of the Christian movement. He mentioned the view (and I don't even recall whether he adopted it as his own view, or on what basis it might have been formed) that many of the stories of miracles, etc., were originally little playlets, to be put on for moral instruction of an illiterate people, not necessarily to be taken as fact but as dramatic illustrations of various points--allegories, I suppose you'd say--and that later their intended meaning was lost in literal reading.

An interesting thought.

Dave Oesterreich