This is an issue I have with much of Christianity. How do you KNOW what God said or didn't say, if your main reference is a book, or manuscript, or word of mouth, etc ? That is to say, if you didn't hear it "from God", then how do you know 1) what He actually said or didn't say, and 2) what He meant or didn't mean ?
This issue is arguably addressed in the very beginning of Genesis, at the garden account. There you have Adam and Eve, who were told directly a certain thing. So not only do they have each other as a reference, they heard it directly from Yahweh/God/Elohim/etc ... whoever told them.
You then have the serpent/snake coming along, giving an interpretation. You have Eve using her "God given" abilities, in the state they were in, to judge matters and make a choice, to examine what was true or not for her own self. You have Adam doing similarly ... and the next thing you know, they get it all wrong. In other words, they had all these tools at their disposal, and they still got it wrong. Had they simply gone back to God/Yahweh/etc and clarified what they now were considering as it concerned what He actually meant, it may have been a different story. But this didn't happen. They reference everything except God directly to make their choices.
How is much of Christianity any different from this very first mistake recording in the beginning of Genesis ? Talking about what they believe God said or didn't say, going off of interpretations, referencing each other, using what they believe have been given to them by God to make such determinations, etc. The learned of Israel did this and failed to identify their Messiah arguably, along with many prophets who were ignored, persecuted, etc. Look at how they treated Moses for that matter. So now you have much of Christianity doing something similar, constantly referencing books and words. The thing is, even if God DID say precisely what is recorded, how do you know your interpretation is the correct one if it's not God directly clarifying or testifying on your behalf for you ? Look at the mistakes made all throughout the scriptures themselves of those who knew scripture, knew what God apparently said, yet failed to often make sense of it to the degree they couldn't recognize the very Spirit of God among them.
It would seem to me that the way to cut through the "what if's" and the confusion, is to seek direct clarification from "God" directly. I mean, if millions of people can't agree on what I've said, why not just ask me directly so I can clarify what I've said instead of relying on hearsay and conjecture ?