[OBW]

As a tack-on to the above. . . .

Note that of all the writings that are good enough that we could have included them in the NT, there are only a very few that were not at least a little off track. And there were only a few others (on or off track). Everyone was not out writing their understanding of theology and getting into the deep stuff. Later on, it was not Augustine v 3,265,974 different views on theology as written by that many people, none of which quite agreed with the others.

There have always been those who have the task of study and leading. Considering that even Paul records setting Peter straight on at least one occasion, it is hard to believe that the intention was that we would all try to become so knowledgeable about all this stuff that we would continually either have a Paul to set us right, or we wander off and start a new group of one.

The better answer is to learn to reject what is clearly not there, and be open to what is reasonably there, even if not taking it hook, line, and sinker.