When it comes to the Bible everything inside it has to be taken with the context it was written.

Its not a book. Its an anthology of lots of different literary styles: poetry, song, journalism, prophecy, folklore, proverbs, correspondance, eyewitness accounts, legend and myth.

The Old Testament doesn't exist as a rulebook for life. Its inclusion is meant to provide context to the coming of Jesus. The book everyone gets worked up on, Leviticus was written as a set of laws for the Hebrews coming out of Egypt and having to function as a nation state for the first time and isn't any more applicable to us than the Magna Carta is to the people of Japan. Take it out of context and, well you've seen it already.

As followers of Jesus our first (and perhaps only) point of reference must always be the Gospels. If the founder of our faith didn't say anything about a topic then we shouldn't be getting worked up about it.

I'd thoroughly recommend tracking down the 'Your Move with Andy Stanley' Podcast series entitled 'The Bible for Grown Ups'.