Your Irascible Correspondent is not a sola srciptura guy nor a Biblical literalist, while fully acknowledging the primacy of the Sacred Scriptures as THE guide to faith and morals.  Much of the difficulty comes in interpreting the ancient texts through contemporary cultural lenses, which inevitably distorts and obscures our understanding.  The ancients didn’t have our level of technology but they were astute observers of the world they lived in.  Enjoy.