What if there wasn't a Bible to Read?

I read a blog this morning that I have not been able to stop thinking about. It is by a friend who I went to college with that usually has some very edgy and thought provoking blogs. He published a blog today called: "Christians Spend to Much Time Reading the Bible" (read).

The question I had after reading it was, "What were the Apostles teaching which the early church devoted themselves to?" (Acts 2:42) Maybe we have devoted ourselves so much to deep theological issues, we have failed to see what is really important. And in our devotion to theology we have divided the church with the many denominations that exist. Maybe this is why so many churches are doing such a poor job at reaching lost people. I agree with Brian, maybe we read the Bible to much instead of living our lives a a testimony to Jesus.

I still want to know what it was that they taught which transformed their world and connected so many lost people to the kingdom. I think it was simple. When we read through the book of Acts the message doesn't change much. The message is highly focused one thing- The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Everything revolves around that one event in history.

The apostles teach people what that means for them personally. And then they ask them to believe in the message, repent of their lifestyle and follow Jesus. They may share stories of people who go through this transformation and people who do not. But the message is always the same, Jesus died and paid your penalty of sin which gives you the hope of eternal life. Then the question they ask is, "Do you believe this?"

The question is not, do you believe in the trinity? Or the virgin birth? Or the Bible (it was not even around then)? Or a certain creed of a denomination? We have made all these tests of faith. The question is that simple: "Do you believe that Jesus died, was buried and resurrected from the dead? Do you believe he did this for you so that you could have eternal life and be freed from the bondage of sin? If so then follow him.

Is it really that simple?