Grin! That, too. But, yes, the Bible is a magnificent document, collecting the fables, myths, beliefs, and yearnings of an ancient people. There is elegant, lyric poetry, rousing war stories, any number of moral lessons, and a theology that is uglier than some, not as ugly as others.
As for as “know your enemy,” I spend more time than is wise listening to Bible radio stations. If we were to “Determine the True Character” of Christianity from those, it would have to be judged the single most evil mass of depravity since Moloch and Thuggee. It is beyond astonishing to listen to a Bible radio preacher howling about how gay marriage is immoral and must be wiped off the face of the planet…and in virtually the next breath insist, “God is the embodiment of perfect love.” Da fuck?
I come from a very different religious background, German post-Second Vatican Council liberal Catholicism, and the Lutherans, which make up for the vast majority of protestants, around here are even more liberal. Never heard of fire and brimstone stories, no preacher I met ever foamed from the mouth, it just isn’t a thing here, it’s the most extreme fringe everybody would laugh about. But still those two churches still hold way too much influence in our society, which consists of ca. a third of irreligious people, maybe 50 percent of registered, but indifferent folk and maybe 20 percent real followers (that’s my approximation, but you get my gist), that’s why I want to know what these backwards folks base their foolery on. Because even without fire and brimstone, it’s foolery.