re: Crazy ideas or stories about religion and ancient civilizations?

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Gnostic gospels and banned gospels and books intrigue the hell out of me. When making the canon, European men in the church decide which gospels to include and which to not include.

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This statement is misleading.

While it's true that the canon was decided by church leaders over a longer period of time, the gnostic movement was a 1st century phenomenon and was fought about among the church leaders immediately.
There were all kinds of crazy movements that tried to hitch their wagons to the rapidly growing Jesus following crowd. Most of these movements placed Jesus at a place of prominence, but then deviated wildly on issues like His divinity, his relationship to Father God, whether he ever even lived or died, whether he was resurrected, etc.

To fight confusion and the always popping up of heretical groups, the early church gathered in Nicea (present day Turkey) in 325 AD to memorialize the central tenants of the church. But far before that, people who saw Jesus and walked with him were fighting against heretical groups.

Christ be with you.