Care to expand on the underlined?
sure just not yet.
i will try and not throw more scripture quotes at you but it'll probably happen to discuss lev. and chronicles.
firstly, what you say about hatred of gays and such was essentially the message spoken to the ruling religious elite in herod's time the pharisees. things like 'love the sinner' and the prodigal son and so on. where with the pharisees only the words were spoken when they taught but not the message.
and believe me there's a lot that grinds inside. the interesting thing? is all it was the first time i picked the book up. but more things opened up just like any other kind of study. while i may not understand something now doesn't mean it will be held out of reach forever.
but i think it's 'leviticus' that translates into 'law' i cannot remember if this is the case. as is written at mt. sinai the people were being given it by some ominous being and the people literally couldn't bear it so they said moses should go up himself and that's where he fasted for so long, twice. but it was what the people agreed to initially don't forget this. the reason behind every single law? i couldn't tell ya that. but much of it deals with perverting something for one's own gains and this is called an abomination. does it warrant death? i am not the one with the say. but we are told of physical and spiritual deaths being different things. scary stuff? sure as hell is.
i will tell you my readings from the old testament show one consistency: israel falling away from and returning to yahweh. throughout all them books, the same exact thing!
but when you mentioned chronicles, that part, this is after israel was split into two parts, judah and israel. i will talk about who their neighbors were in a minute, but this is when they once again 'fell away' and then isaiah/jeremiah/ezekiel prophesied that they all would be exiled. they discuss what was going on. and involved as you say 'other gods' but it is important to recognize what would merit an exile. it is written that they were sacrificing their kids in fire (israel and judah that is). so the quote in chronicles talks about that turbulent time of quick-changing rulers where essentially each one is worse than the previous one, save for a couple.
also at that time there was no christianity, a good reference point is king solomon's time was 1000bc and then isaiah and jeremiah (the time of exile) was 500-600bc if i'm not mistaken.
what a fair question about deuteronomy and the murders! it seems real ###$ don't it? it's talkin about the conquest of canaan. but do you know about the nephilim? the rephaites and the anakites? there are bone records that indicate the existence of giants in the past. genesis says they were human-angel hybrids. the nazis called them supermen of atlantis. the greeks called them cyclops i believe. but they were the canaanites these giants, the offspring of the fallen angels who worshipped these angels.
also they did not slaughter them all. the israelites decided to take up business with them. yes these same people that were burning their children at the altar eventually convinced those israelites to do the same. they saw an opportunity for labor and exploited it that eventually led to their exile into assyria and babylon and such.
i ought not delve in further at the moment.
i will save the discussion on 'justice' for another time as well.
in regards to the underlined: i think that if you can step outside your own perspective and become disconnected from yourself, one shouldn't forget that to be 'disconnected' from something means that 'something' shouldn't be forgotten. if you have a giant periscope, you can certainly see things from that view. but you shouldn't forget what the view without the periscope is. i'm only again referring to taking everything into account is all.
it's like having your back against the corner. and ya hold up a mirror to see around the other side without exposing your body.
you can look in the mirror all ya want and see around the corner. but if you disregard the entire field of view around the mirror (in front of you) for too long then someone can come up and kick ya in the groin no problem.