It was to give hope to people living thousands of years ago, the same way god's were created to give explanations to natural phenomenon that they couldn't understand, e.g. Thor as the god of lightning, which we can now explain using science.

The truth is, noone really knows what happens when you die, or what consciousness truly is. We know our bodies return to the ground and the atoms and elements that make up our body get reused - so in a sense we are all reborn.

My take on the whole thing is to believe in what makes you happy so that you don't fear the inevitable end. Try to find a religion, outlook or philosophy that means you aren't terrified when you die and that encourages you to be a good person when you are alive...just my opinion though.