But then I'm no scholar.
My stance is simple.
Let ME decide. Don’t censor the material, let me see it in it’s entirety; and let me consider, ponder and pray.
For example, there are things in Leviticus that are a bit harsh. I don’t believe God really wants me to stone my neighbor if he mixes his Wool and Linen. (Lev. 19:19).
Yes, very solid reasons for what became our New Testament. If you read the Gospels, particularly their introductions, you see a great deal of Church before they were first written down. They give the beliefs and theology of the Apostles and the early Church, rather than independent individual statements. So various spurious gnostic and other texts were obviously outside the Church.
Early on see lists of books early on by Irenaeus, Origen and later, 367, Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria lists the books we now have.
In general, the major portions of the NT were pretty well set by 150 AD, with some dispute East/West over Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, and Revelation. The current New Testament together with the Septuagint OT was approved at the Synod of Hippo, in 393, confirmed by Councils of Carthage in 397 and 419, these councils being under the authority of St. Augustine.
There was still some dispute with the East, I believe over Revelations. The last official declaration of the canon was made at the Council of Trent of 1546 for Roman Catholicism in response to Protestantism which went another route concerning the OT.
It reads....
Diary of a Nebbish Kid