These patriarchal obscenities are just evidence of the human-made nature of the bible and other scriptures. Check out the book, Seeing Through Christianity.
According to Leviticus, tattoos are taboo. But then, so is eating pork and picking up sticks on a Saturday. I suggest the excellent book, Seeing Through Christianity to understand how the whole religion is man-made.
The ancient Israelites believed that heaven was where their god lived; it was not a destination for human beings. After death, human beings (both the good ones and the bad ones) went to a place called Sheol, which -- though vaguely defined -- is beneath the ground and the end of any meaningful...
The debate over whether Christians had to be Jews first was a serious one in the early days of the Jesus movement. Paul, himself a Jew but not one of the original insiders, took on the mantle of "apostle to the gentiles" and argued that the law had been fulfilled in Jesus and that newcomers did...
Given that the god of the Bible makes belief in him a prerequisite for admission to eternal bliss and avoidance of eternal torture, his hiddenness from us is morally inexcusable. Forget atheists for the moment, and think about the billions of sincere seekers in Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc...