War, war and more war. Take what you will by force. Dehumanize your enemies and get your way through violence and threats. The powerful get what they want by controlling others. This is what we teach our children as a culture. Bible verses like the above perpetuate these beliefs.
When a priest or minister kisses a Bible, it helps me to remind myself that these passages are in the content of what they are worshipping as the word of God. Whatever this Bible is, it is certainly not the voice of the creative force that shaped this universe. Unless it's a test to see who can be discerning of good and evil without getting too hung up on cultural and familial pressures to conform. Even if not intentional, it kinda works out to be just that.
It has become a lot easier to stand up and question the authority of the church and the Bible thanks to many brave souls who have gone before us who had greater risk and much more to lose by speaking out. If there's any truth within the Bible, it will stand up to the scrutiny...or it ain't the truth, period. But for christ's sake (pun intended), I wish they'd cut the bullshit out, such as the examples above. For the record, I don't really hold out any hope of anything like that happening in the churches or synagogues. In general, they regard it as a complete tome, regardless of content that is contradictory or horrifically bad advice by modern standards.
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