Horrible things in the bible

[Esquilax]

My other thought was that we, as christians, accept God as perfectly loving and just.

No, you don't accept that. You define god as perfectly loving and just, and then either retrofit the atrocities, the unloving and unjust things in his back catalogue, into that definition by hook or by crook.

Or you just ignore them. Because god is all loving and just, therefore everything he did must be too!

But a sane person can recognize the difference between a justified claim, and definitional fiat.