[throwawaytolk]

This is such an uninformed view; I am surprised to see it advanced on this forum.

Any scholar of the NT knows that the apochrypha date very late and the cannon is the legitimately oldest extant texts. There is no evidence that earlier texts were excluded. You do know (you probably don't) that the majority of the Pauline epistles are considered to be authentic, by secular atheist scholars, and date to to the middle of the first century right?

Outside of the pauline works, Hebrews is dated to no later than about 45 AD by secular, non believing scholars.

You're advacing a rather tired late 19th century view that just doesn't wash in the light of modern scholarship but was the darling of many 1800s and early 1900s lutherans.

[arcticbull]

That's not actually the point I'm making. I'm not speaking to the veracity or authenticity of the selected texts. I've no basis to make that judgement. Thanks for sharing that, however, I find this stuff super interesting will dig into that more!

The point I'm making is that the new testament was curated and texts were picked and chosen to advance the interests of those picking and choosing.

[DangitBobby]

The claim in question is that religion was designed for the sake of mass manipulation. Because some religions have been shaped and curated deliberately does not mean that religion didn't originally emerge organically as a consequence of shared culture.