>>40890357
On the "raping virgins" thing, that's a total misread of Deuteronomy 22:28-29. The word there isn't about violent rape (that's covered in verse 25, where the rapist gets stoned to death). It's about seduction or non-violent violation in a culture where a woman's virginity affected her marriage prospects and family honor. The law forces the guy to marry her and pay a hefty fine (50 shekels was like a year's wages), ensuring she's not left destitute, it's protective in that patriarchal context, not permissive. And polygamy? Yeah, it happened, but it was never commanded by God; it was tolerated in society like divorce was (Jesus calls it out in Matthew 19:8 as due to "hardness of heart," not God's ideal).

These weren't God's "commands" to go out and do this stuff, they were regulations on existing cultural practices to limit harm and point toward justice. God explicitly tells Israel not to oppress foreigners or the vulnerable because they were once slaves themselves (Exodus 22:21, Leviticus 19:33-34). The Bible's overarching ethic is love your neighbor (Leviticus 19:18), and by the New Testament, it's clear that in Christ, there's no slave or free (Galatians 3:28), slavery gets phased out as incompatible with kingdom values.

as for sin? Biblically, it's anything that misses God's perfect standard, rebellion against Him, whether in actions (like murder) or heart (like hatred). It's what broke the world and causes suffering, but God redeems it through grace. Taking verses out of context to bash the Bible ignores the historical and progressive revelation, read the whole thing before dismissing it with a "pinch of salt."