Well then I might say the fault is the pastors' who are commenting the bible, not necessarily the bible itself.
Also, an abridgement leaving only the new testament would be a drastic but satisfactory possibility.
Can you find anything which may be construed to encourage violence and cruelty in the new testament (Gospel, acts of the apostles, letters of the disciples, Apocalypse?
i apologize for not being able to answer mccoy.... at least not rite now. Something happened to me today that was instigated by your post and our communications. It was a very wonderful experience. I will get back to this thread...
but sometimes words seem meaningless and not able to adequately describe what we experience internally.