To read these texts with the historical sensitivity that you would apply to anything else like them is to realize that all the modern Abrahamic religions are developments of the religion of ancient Israel (and its own development can be observed in the Hebrew bible). Christianity is the eldest of these -- modern (Rabbinic/Talmudic) Judaism postdates the formation of Christianity -- but they all represent (rival) interpretations of the Hebrew bible. That's the real argument among them: how is the HB to be understood?
One of the earliest Christian solutions (that of Marcion, 2nd.-cent. son of a bishop) would have cut the knot as you suggest: "the brutal, vengeful, judgmental stuff ... at odds with JC's turn the other cheek wussiness." But that was rejected by the Christian movement that read the HB as an on-going discovery of deity quite at odds with natural human account of the gods. That discovery is embedded in a remarkable welter of literature (but as someone recently remarked here, "What's wrong with a little cheap sensuality?")
As a late friend discussed an aspect of this, only a little ironically: "The Hebrews were probably the only people in the world who even in their official propaganda about their own revolution took an entirely honest and realistic view of the events. Exodus describes in some detail the immense reluctance of the people to be liberated; they had to be practically dragged out of Egypt by the hand of Yahweh. We may well imagine how the Egyptians complained of the terrorist methods of Moses and he fellow agitators to intimidate a people who really only wanted to be left alone to serve their masters."
This site you recommend is as obsessive in its way as any fundamentalist. (Who counted all God's casualties?) In fact it seems to come from precisely the same mind set, but with, as it were, the signs reversed. I'd prefer to discuss the better if controverted readings of the Abrahamic traditions. --CGE
On Mon, 22 Mar 2004, Doug Henwood wrote:
> [thanks to Kelley]
>
> <http://www.evilbible.com/>
>
> Welcome to the Evil Bible.com Web Site
>
> This web site is designed to spread the vicious truth about the
> Bible. For far too long priests and preachers have completely
> ignored the vicious criminal acts that the Bible promotes. The so
> called "God" of the Bible makes Osama Bin Laden look like a Boy
> Scout. This "God", according to the Bible, is directly responsible
> for many mass-murders, rapes, pillage, plunder, slavery, child abuse
> and killing, not to mention the killing of unborn children. I have
> included references to the Biblical passages, so grab your Bible and
> follow along. You can also follow along with on-line Bibles such as
> http://www.biblestudytools.net/ or
> http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/...
>