Two statements you made bother me, Roger. They put us at fundamental odds.
This kind of language simply does not work for me. This your sentence simply indicates to me you are putting yourself above scripture, and judging scripture on the basis of whether you think it ought to have been in there or not. Or whether scripture is simply a compilation of man-made “self-serving” stories. How can you judge as to whether “that really did not belong”? That is a very troubling statement to make. When you make it, you break trust with those who accept and trust scripture. It makes the discussion of scripture and scriptural authority on any topic simply impossible.