I was doing some research recently and came across this passage:
The Bible was written by many different people at various points, all a very long time ago. They existed, lived within a community that had culture and traditions, beliefs, rituals. They ate food and told jokes, had squabbles, drank too much sometimes, slept with each other. They wrote with their context. There are things going on outside of the pages. The above passage is useful, to me, to show that taking most of the Bible literally is not helpful for personal growth or a healthy tightly knit community.
That doesn't
excuse anything but it's important to keep in mind that the overall point is not the minute contents of the book itself, but the bigger picture and story its telling. It is not hard to find objectively bizarre horrifying things going on in the Bible.. but these things are not the purpose of Christianity, or its God. The Bible is a man made product. See in its weirdness a mirror of your own issues. There are good things hidden away in there, too.. very good things. Don't throw out the proverbial baby.
