I was hoping you could direct me to any books you that you may have come across that explains what the christian life was like for the early ( 1st and 2nd century) believers. I think we forget that these people didn’t have bible’s or dictionaries or had ever heard of the old testament. It seems to me that many of the deeply held Apostolic doctrines that are preached as absolute biblical truth are complicated and require many weeks of “bible study” and then on top of that you also need “revelation” in order to understand, and then they still need to be reinforced on a regular basis by the Pastor or else Women will be tempted to cut their hair and wear make up. Take for instance the Baptism issue. You and I have the luxury of going home and reading Matt. 28:19 and then Acts 2:38 and pulling them apart and dissecting the language and the Greek and Hebrew definitions and commentaries, etc… to try and reconcile them and make a case for both being valid “formulas”. One of the things that bugs me the most about Apostolic Doctrine is that it takes away all of the simplicity that is in Christ. This is not complicated at all. How many early believers had ever read the bible? Some of them died before there ever was a book of Matthew that they could go home and read everyday. were they saved? They had faith in Christ, and that was enough. I think many have become like the pharisees, they are so wrapped up in their doctrine that they have lost sight of Christ altogether.

Anyways, if you know of any good books on the history of the bible or the early believers I would like to read them. I am looking for good material that I can use to try and reason with the Apostolic Pentecostals in my life who do a very good job reciting the doctrines that they have been taught, as I once did, and challenge them to look at things a different way.

Thanks, God Bless.