What if we never had the Bible?

This thought crossed my mind last night.  What if we didn't have the Bible?  Then this thought crossed my mind.  What if no one ever had the Bible?   Then this thought... what if the Bible had never been written? 

I know... the Bible does exist and we do have the Bible...  so the question is purely hypothetical and may or may not have meaningful implications, BUT it was still a very intriguing question.

• Withough the prophecy in the Bible there would be no reference to Christ's fullfillment of the prophesies of his coming (at least not in the way we reference it now).
• What other evidence would we have been given that Jesus was The Christ?
• Christ consistently quoted scripture.  What would he have said instead?
• Would I know about the one true God?  Would I know about Jesus...  at least as I know him now?  If the answer is yes, how would I have found out about him and what would I know about him?
• Would the church exist?  How would that have changed history?
• If we wanted to know more about God, his redemption plan, his relationship with us, and future events how would we get that information?

A related thought - the earliest characters in world history didn't have scripture but their lives were entirely different (i.e. length of life), and God interacted differently with them.  In some cases they had God's word straight from God - audibly!

From what I know about God, interestingly enough from scripture, he could and would do whatever it takes.  If nothing else it makes me more thankful for God's Word.  If we never had scripture I wouldn't know any differently, but now that I do, I'm thankful for it!

I believe God can and does reveal himself in all different circumstances and ways but how precious is it to have God's words in writing to us that we can hold on to.  Being physical beings the value of something such as that is beyond measure/

Now on to the next key piece... what does it all mean?   What if we interpret it incorrectly?  Good questions to be stuck with!