first, i'll point you to my favorite resource on this:
www.whosoever.org
This excerpt is from the FAQ:
"First off, Jesus says "whosoever believeth in me." There are no conditions on God's love. God does not say "change a few things, then come to me." No, God loves us as we are. We are to come to God just as we are. If there are issues of sin in our lives, God will deal with them, but we are accepted by God without condition.
Also, Paul assures us in Romans 8: 38-39: "Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
What liberating words! NOTHING separates us from God. Not homosexuality, not disbelief in certain creeds, Bible passages, litanies or opinions of other believers. Not sin, not death, not anything. My fundamentalist friends, do you realize the freeing beauty of those words??? Nothing!! NOTHING! Will you take those words to heart? Will you believe the Holy Word Of God when it says NOTHING separates you from God??? Or will you continue to thump your Bible and point out all those who *you* believe have been separated from God?
The choice is yours."
I'm a fan of that...even if i would be slightly less confrontational...perhaps.
As a side issue on #3...one of my favorite book/programs is "Genisis" with Bill Moyers...it's a truely challenging text to study, and is very distinct theologically from "Xtian" ideas. God clearly bargains, changes decisions, and is otherwise much more anthropomorphic than in later, more sophisticated texts.