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Yeah, I hear you. But I believe the message of God is actually quite simple. The rest is icing on the cake. It's like what I finally learned about the ten commandments. I used to think they were the instructions on how to get to heaven. They aren't. They are merely instructions on how to live a happier life as in, do this stuff and you will be happier. Oh, and as Jesus made quite clear, as part of the law, they are also part of what gave sin it's power.

Anyway, I agree that the history of the Bible is interesting, and I also believe one can become a Christian and know quite a bit about God without ever reading a Bible. After all, as you pointed out, the early church had none.

Oh, and whenever I say "church" I simply mean all those who believe in and on Christ as their personal Lord and savior. I am not referring to any official organization, unless I'm making that distinction clear.

I used to think they were the instructions on how to get to heaven. They aren't. They are merely instructions on how to live a happier life as in, do this stuff and you will be happier. Oh, and as Jesus made quite clear, as part of the law, they are also part of what gave sin it's power.

All of God's commands, which is the Law, must be obeyed in order for God to be pleased; otherwise, the penalty is death. God is life and sin is not of God and is therefore death. So the 10 Commandments must in fact be obeyed. They are not the 10 suggestions for better living.

I said above that all of God's commandments must be obeyed or it is sin and this means eternal death. Adam blew it when he sinned in Eden, so now all man must die physically. All man is born to die into eternal Hell, and no man can keep all of God's commandments while on this earth, so he must die eternally too. Of course Jesus Christ is our atonement to those who trust in Him for eternal salvation. The follower of Christ will live in glory forever, but he is not working for the things of the world but for the things of Heaven. So to obey the 10 Commandments will not bring you eternal life(only Christ can), but they will bring you treasures in Heaven and in this life.

May the Peace of God and His Holy Spirit be with you.

The evangelical approach seems to be that people became Christian first and then form volunteer associations to strengthen one another's faith. That is not the way that the Reformers saw the matter in the 16th Century: they thought they were reforming an existing institution that had become corrupt in doctrine and practice and needed to be restored to its primiitive condition by reference to Scripture. But of course even then there were those who believed that they had experienced "Easter" and had come to know Jesus as surely as and in much the same manner as had St. Paul. It was this as much as the differing interpretations of the Bible that doomed the Reformation and caused the multiplication of sects which both Catholics and Protestants felt the need to suppress.