I agree with much of what the son of thunder, Boanerges, wrote
I would just add that while the NT does not contain the violence that the NT does, it is still true that the NT speaks of God's holy and just wrath (no one speaks of Hell more frequently then Jesus Himself) and that grace can be found in the OT, which you seem to agree with already.
It may not be possible for you, but if you could get your hands on the ESV version of the Bible, as well as the NNAS (the updated New American Standard version of the Bible) and the New Living Translation (they are all available to read for free online) and consult different versions, it may be of help to you. I really like the New Living Translation because the editors of this Bible asked a simple question when translating the Scrptures, namely, who in the evangelical world is known for writing commentaries on this or that book of the Bible?" and based on this, they assigned the translation of a given book to that author or team of authors. So, to use my favorite book of the Bible, as an example, (Romans) those on the translation committee for this book are: Gerald Borchert of Northern Baptist Theological Seminary; Douglas J. Moo of Wheaton College' and Thomas R. Schreiner of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; all of whom are well known for their commentaries on the boiok of Romans... For more on this see
http://www.newlivingtranslation.com/...hescholars.asp
BTW, do not confuse The Living Bible (by Kenneth Taylor) with the New Living Translation.... though God could and did use the Living Bible, it is at best a very loose paraphrase (versus a genune "translation") and ought not be consulted as anything other then a paraphrase.... and, what is a bit worse IMHO, its a very loose translation by only one person.....
Secondly, even though we consult various versions, there are still some "hard sayings" that likely will not be answered by consulting different versions of the Bible.... I would encourage you to check out books dealing with "problem passages" such as "Hard Sayings of the Bible" edited by Walter Kaiser, or "When Critics Ask" by Norm Geisler (also check out his "When Skeptics Ask"-- directed towards persons who are not Christians-- and "When Cultists Ask", which are all very good too), or the Encyclopedia of Biblical Difficulties by Gleason Archer to help with the difficult passages.... you could also consult some good evangelical (evangelical = people who affirm the inerrancy and infallibility of the Scriptures) commentaries that discuss any passages you might have problems with... online, for free you could check out John Gill, or Jamison Faucett and Brown, or Matthew Henry, or Barnes' Notes on the OT and the NT for some help as well....
After all is said and done, there will probably still be some questions you have, and thats ok... what there is to clearly believe and know outweighs the questions regarding what we do not understand, IMHO.....
the last thing to remember is that when you are reading the Bible, you ought to be mindful of the various literary genres you will come across, just like any other book, we must interpret the passages in the way the author meant it to be interpreted (this is more precisely known as the science and art of Hermeneutics).... and if the biblical author was self consciously writing allegory or metaphor, we must not take what was written as being literal... the most obvious example might be that just as we do not think it ought to be taken literally when Jesus claimed to be the door (
John 10:1ff), there are many other areas in Scripture where these literary devices are being used.. and it can be hard work to get at the meaning... but don't despair!! Going to whatever lengths you can to understand the Bible will be well worth your time! You might be able to read the entire Bible in just a few days or weeks, but it will literally take a lifetime (and more!!!) to mine it's depths....
blessings,
Ken