I felt my face flush. From my earlier conversations with David, I knew arguing against the textual integrity of the New Testament was difficult, but that was not what I found embarrassing. Rather, it was clear to me that Abba was cherry-picking verses to defend his views. I decided to speak up. “Abba, I think they’re saying that, unless we have good reason to discredit a specific verse, it might be inconsistent to use ones we like and ignore the ones we don’t like.” Abba turned to me, utterly stunned that I would contravene his authority. He looked betrayed, and I regretted my words.
