I don't deny that slavery, rape, and genocide, along with a host of other evils are in Scripture. I can't excuse them either.

I still go back to the idea of literalism though as a way of reading Scripture. If that is someone's lens of reading Scripture then they view Scripture as God's literal words and therefore inerrant.

That's quite different than reading Scripture as inspired, recognizing that humans are involved in the process of writing Scripture, and deciding what would be in Scripture.

Here's where I come down with this - I don't have the answers. Scripture isn't about unicorns and puppies. It deals with crappy stuff like slavery, rape and genocide because they have been and still are a part of humanity. Humanity is really good at taking it's own crap and associating it with God. Is Scripture perfect? Nope. Especially if we are reading a translation - as you know translations are a group of people who make decisions about words from another language. And in translation some things get lost.

And yet, there is faith. That in spite of all of this, in spite of humanity's bent towards destruction, there is something else, far better. I'm not talking about a distant heaven sometime in the distant future. I'm talking about God's reign right now that unfolds. It can be hard to see, but it's there. Faith is about hope. It's about a way of living. It's about Shalom. It's about seeing the image of God in others regardless of how they see it in themselves.

Maybe I'm dismissing the more unpleasant things. Maybe not. Who knows. I don't have all the answers. I have yet to meet anyone who does. Answers don't move us forward really. It's the questions that do. That's my take on it anyway.

I wish you the best Tim in your journey of life. Thanks for the conversation.