Reply #13: Yes hiding the negative in The Bible is not illuminating either

[roughsatori]

It is just that to list them without giving context (including how some words are incorrectly translated, or as you indicate are refuted by the Birth of Jesus (to a Believer as well as to one looking at the Book from a thematic stand-point).

I did not mean that it was inappropriate for anyone else. Just that it would be inappropriate for me to do so because of the way I relate to Scripture. To bandy it about lightly feels disrespectful when I do it, so I try not to as that is a feeling I don't like.

There is a book I just finished rereading: "The Literary Guide to the Bible" edited by Robert Alter and Frank Kermode. It is a collection of scholarly essays that approach the books of the Bible from a Art and Literature approach--not from a "God" or "Religion" way of examination. It is quite wonderful to read of the poetic structure of much of the original texts. You might enjoy reading a chapter or two.