I agree with that. Be very careful, most religious-like claims are not real. But the (unsupported) belief that "science" is it, is even more misleading, because it closes the door to real knowledge. Like, for example, questioning who created the universe and everything (including things, humans, laws of nature, real and conceptual relationships, etc) in it.
Be ye hot or cold, Yannis. Either you believe the bible is true, or you do not, this is the mandate of the book, from the book.
I see, and because of those boundaries we are limited. But this is not complex logic. God is all knowing, all powerful. He hates evil. The rest is self evident......
Yes, there's a lot of murder and cruelty talked about in the Bible, and also even more love and self sacrifice... it's the human side of things, what these folks went through trying to approach God. God was not torturing Abraham: as this man claimed to see and understand God, he received a very serious test which he handled beautifully. Like my daughter in College, trying to figure out (as we speak) what her hard to understand Chinese-American professor wants her to achieve in her research assistant's summer job in order to qualify for an excellent letter of recommendation. Isaac was never in real danger because God knows we are all eternal, indestructible beings... worst case, Isaac would get an early promotion.
God did however, strike some kids dead for calling a man baldy. Where is the lesson? The next time your kid call you a name, kill it?
Yes, many times, trust me, it takes lots of patience, skill and prayerful attitude to understand and follow it. Every passage relates to a given time and special circumstances: in this case who St Paul was talking to and what question he was answering. Don't just take a sentence here and another one from there and expect to make sense.
You are probably referring to Elisha... we know very little of the total circumstances of that event and it could have been very different than what it looks like.