When I stumble upon a passage exhorting genocide, I grab my sword and cast about for any Amelekites that have the misfortune to be within my line of sight. And I then think that God is more complex and scary than I can really wrap my brain around. I've heard that the fear of the Lord is the begining of wisdom. I must be growing wise, because God scares me. I love Him, but He scares me. I've also heard that perfect love is supposed to cast out all fear--I'll let you know how that works out when I've attained perfect love. You'll know when I do because I won't sin anymore. And I then tell my non-Christian friends that if they think faith is the easy way out out of a challenging world they're ludicrously naive. Like love, faith is hard. Faith frequently requires that we accept some things that we'd rather not. And just as you can't selectively love the person you wish someone else was, so you can't have selectively have faith in the parts of God that you resonate with. And I then tell them to be grateful they're not Amelekites.