Look, if you look at any other literature written during those same times, you will see not just a reflection of religion/myth/story/history, or whatever other genre of literature you choose, but you will see a reflection of the CULTURE of those times. And you will find all kinds of things in ALL of these other types of literature that we would find to be barbaric in our time.
But you must admit, there are an awful lot of good ideas/philosophys/poems/social commentary, or what have you, that make these other types of literature worth reading. One can often derive LESSONS from reading "barbaric" stories. Look at Beowulf, for example. Violent, bloody, degrading to women, and one of the greatest pieces of literature ever written.
Because amid all of the violence, there is something to be learned about the human condition that transends time.
Well, if you read these so-called dumb things in the Bible, keeping in mind that the Old Testament was written for the Jews of that time, you will see that there is a lot of hidden instruction in these stories, on how to live. And these instructions can apply just as well today as when they were written, if you look at them from a human, and societal perspective, instead of just as stories.
And even though we Christians are under a NEW covanent with God, it can profit us to take the lessons we are given in the Old Testament. But that doesn't mean that either the Jews or the Christians need to LITERALLY do all of the things we are told to do in the Old Testament. We are to derive the LESSON, and apply that lesson to TODAY'S culture. So instead of piercing the ear of a slave who does wrong, we apply that lesson to perhaps, an employee, and write up a warning. Because we don't have slaves nowadays, and we don't commit bodily harm to those who mess up at work, but we DO still let a person who works for us know when they messed up and that we will be watching them.
That also explains the so-called contradictions. If you read these verses with the lesson about life that they illustrate, you will see that the "contradictions" are there to teach different things.
You remember the old adage, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder"? How about this one: "Out of sight, out of mind"? They contradict each other, don't they? Does that make either of them less true? No. In some cases, one will hold true, in some cases, the other will. It is the same way with the Bible.
That is why I have said before, that different people will get different messages from scripture, depending on what lesson it is they need at that time. And the SAME person may derive a different message from the same verses at different times in their lives, depending on which lesson they need at that time.
That explains some of the arguing here about what differnt verses mean. And it's OK if we get different messages, as long as we don't think ours is the ONLY message possible.
So, when you keep asking us how we can reconcile all of the "dumb stuff" in the Bible, this is how. And this IS THE TRUE ANSWER. And that is why it is so hard to keep coming back to this forum to face the same questions over and over. The TRUTH is, this answer I just gave satisfies me. It may not satisfy YOU, but it is MY answer, it makes sense to me, and I won't likely be changing that answer. But I will confess, I am tired to death of the question.
