One of the
amazing things about the
Bible is the degree to which the reader can find just about anything he or she is looking for within its pages.
Someone hostile toward Judaism and/or Christianity and who expects to find nastiness, genocide, oppression, racism, sexism, homophobia and so on, will find it aplenty...and not much else.
Someone looking for messages of hope, courage, love, peace, goodwill, and freedom will find those as well.
Ideally, you should be able to look squarely and unflinchingly at both aspects and deal with them. After all, the Bible is by and about human beings, and human beings tend to alternately suck and rock.