Hey there Stoic *socially awkward wave* Hope you're having a good morning so far. Apologies in advanced as this will have to be rushed.
In terms of the OT I do take the somewhat unpopular opinion among Christians that it is a collection of the Jewish tribe's history, practices, poetry, parables and the occasional prophecy but it's not fully accurate of God. Admittedly deciphering what parts are divinely inspired and what actually happened is rather hard and i'm still trying to figure that out
As for my reasoning, you will notice in the OT that there are conflicting ideas of who and what God is and the nature of life is which cannot both me true at once, for example in Ecclesiastes the world is seen as unjust and the evil get the same fate as the good whereas elsewhere God is often viewed as a fair judge of all people who will enact punishment on those who deserve it. I'm sure there's a part where one books says/implies he doesn't know the future where others books do but I can't find the quotes right now so apologies there
(I did have examples written down somewhere but I seem to have lost it, i'll try and find more if you so wish).
As such I believe the OT to be often an interpretation of what He is like through the eyes of society and the individual, for example as a tribe who believed God was always on their side alone it is likely that they would say that God is pro their wars and some of the atrocities they did afterwards. There are things though such as the story of Abraham which i'm much more inclined to believe are divinely inspired and did actually happen, but yeah basically I believe the Bible has to be taken in historical context to understand the spiritual meanings behind it, especially books such as Genesis and the creation myth, Leviticus and Numbers where the culture and neighbouring cultures need to be considered. I also believe it's important to take into account ancient writing styles and how often symbolism is often used to demonstrate spiritual truths and not historical ones and how some books (such as Job) are written in a parable style and so should be read as such. Fair to say if you take the OT (and to a slightly lesser extent the NT) without considering the prejudices and culture of those who wrote it, you're going to come out with some weird ideas.
As for the NT I take it much more as a literal instruction and account of the spirit of the law by which we are to live our lives as well as understand the nature of God. Although you still need to look at the historical contect of it, it's important when reading the words of Jesus to understand who it is he is talking too as well as the Jewish culture he worked in. It's also helpful when reading the Gospel of John if you know the Greek philosphy of the age so you can see the influences and in Paul's letters for instance, as you can tell when reading his works that there is a conflict between the traditional orthodox Jewish background he came from and the radical message of Christ (Imho his writing on women demonstrates this well). There is finally
who he is writing to in his different letters, the Church in Romans for example had the pagan sex cults to deal with which would explain his verses on sexual immorality. Hence having an understanding of what his background is can help explain what he is writing and why, thus giving us a better picture of the meaning behind his words.
/Why people at my old church thought I was a heretic. Sorry there's no Bible verses but my internet is working at a snail's pace ;__;