How to 'take' the Bible

I was reading various news items the other day and one article stirred my interest. It was a 3 part article about how to obtain peace in the Holy Land. One phrase really caught my eye. The phrase was "If we were to take the Bible literally". The article went on to explain how we should throw out all notions of any historical or Biblical claims to Jerusalem and the Holy Land in order to achieve peace.
I won't debate his biased opinion...others can do that. What bothers me is how easily it is to discard the Bible when it becomes inconvenient! The phrase "If we were to take the Bible literally" astounds me! How else could you possibly take it and have even a thread of honoring it. If the Bible is the Word of God, it must be taken literally. As such, it is perfect in all aspects including history. If a person does not believe it is the Word of God, why take it at all?
What the author of the article is really saying is that he doesn't believe the Bible is the Word of God and wants all others to disregard it as well, especially when it becomes inconvenient.
When the Bible becomes inconvenient or difficult to follow is exactly when we MUST follow it! We all like the part about Jesus loving us; about John 3:16 but we choose to ignore it when it says not to call Him Lord if we don't do what he says (from Luke 6:46).
Life is not a 'gray' area as so many teach us today. It is black and white as the Bible teaches us. Actually, it's black, white and RED (Jesus' words). That's what life is!