Understanding the Bible

After reading St. Augustine, I tend to agree with his analysis that the Bible boils down to love and lust. Love is the greatest gift of creation according to the Bible and the teachings of Christ clearly center around what is in the mind (or what motives are present) when committing a sin, not just the action taking place. Mathew 5:28 seems to support this 'sin is in the mindset' approach to understanding the Bible:

"Bu I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
NKJV

I also think that his decision to choose love and lust are neither arbitrary nor controversial. Any true student of Jesus' teachings would easily see that his central message was love. At least four times in the Gospel of John alone does Jesus command his disciples to love one another. Even without this seemingly important trend, Mark 12:30-31 lays it out:

"'An you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
NKJV

I think that these ideas expressed by St. Augustine are not as contrary to mainstream Christianity as most would think. While he may be more direct, or even more conscious, of this filtering of information through the lens of Christ's primary message, most denominations that I have come in contact with (which there have been plenty), seem to take a similar approach in determining their doctrine.