revitalizedhusband

That might be your view on the Bible, but it is not what most Christians view on the Bible is. And since its a book for their religion, they should be able to use it how they see fit no?

Many, many verses in the Bible can definitely be taken literally, not every verse in the Bible is "figurative" as you are saying.

Spare the rod spoil the child is an idealogy on discipline, and who's to say that if a parent does use a paddle (aka rod) that they are wrong?

Sorry, but one thing you won't convince anyone who truly reads and believes the Bible is that its stance on homosexuality is "figurative". You can choose to believe the Bible to be wrong in this area or not, that is up to you. Don't also confuse "society" as accepting something as ok to believe that the majority of people believe its "ok".

What "society" believes has 0% to do with whether or not you can take the Bible literally or not.

The verse in Corinthians says nothing about "mutually pleasing time" and no one is trying to say that the spouse who wants it less should give it up EVERYTIME, because like you said that's impractical and not realistic. However, the verse is most definitely talking about the spouse who wants it less should give it up more often than they want, at times when they don't want, they should not purposefully "withhold" at anytime, etc.

There are plenty of verses you need to look "deeper", then there are ones that if you keep looking you'll eventually twist the meaning so out of whack to suit your own beliefs when it was originally quite crystal clear.