How true Rich! And as James tells us the authors of the Hebrew Scriptures were tempted to take the Marcion option themselves. Jeremiah, a Prophet from the north says it was not YHWH who ordered child sacrifice but another god. (Jeremiah 19:3-6), while Ezekiel, says it was YHWH who ordered child sacrifice, but that people would find it so awful they would give it up. (Ezekiel 20:23-26) Their solutions are both what James calls “dangerously secularising” although it is obvious to see that they both agree that true religion did not involve child sacrifice.
And yes, the ‘nice bible’ is an attempt to avoid this violent, vengeful God. But now we know that the violence and anger is in us, which we project to create this god. It’s a revolution isn’t it? And how it changes our lives!