Another example is women not being able to fix their hair while at church or that they will only be saved by childbearing. I doubt you take those verses (1 Timothy chapter 2) literally. If you don't take those as they are literally written then it doesn't seem like a stretch for you to also disregard the comments attributed to Paul dealing with homosexuality.
I take the Bible as literally as it was intended to be taken. This straw-man argument that if you take the Bible literally you have to ignore context and figurative language is completely stupid and dishonest, and quite frankly I find it rather insulting. I guess the question I have for you is how you decide what to believe and what not to believe in the Bible, if you can't really trust it?
To answer your question about 1 Timothy: First of all, it doesn't say that a woman is only saved in childbearing -- you're completely misreading the text, or you've got a lousy translation if that's what you're reading. 1 Timothy 2:15 says "Yet she will be saved through childbearing -- if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control." (Interesting that the last part of that verse is usually left out when people attack this passage, as if it only speaks of childbearing.) The best study I've read on the passage is one I found at
bible.org (written by a woman, interestingly enough).
The words of 1 Tim 2:15 are confusing and often troubling to the modern-day audience. We do not choose this verse for our daily devotions and sometimes we wish it were not a part of the canon of Scripture at all. An overview of interpretations of this verse reveals many varied positions, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, which may tend to frustrate and discourage the would-be exegete. One thing, however, seems to be confirmed by most, if not all, of these commentators: the firm belief that this verse is NOT saying that women may be saved only if they experience childbirth. Men and women are saved by grace alone, not by any work. Thus, with this settled we must struggle with what the verse IS saying, how the grammar and words are functioning, and how it fits with the theology and theme of the entire letter. The present thesis concludes that the best explanation of 1 Tim 2:15 comes from the perseverance interpretation: A woman will experience the full reality of her final and ultimate glorification by means of her present good works in the realm of motherhood. It is her continuance in the faith through which she was justified, however, which is the true basis of a woman's final salvation.
As the preceding chapters and sections have revealed, difficult passages such as 1 Tim 2:15 are the reason we have such phrases as "the hermeneutic of frustration." We must grapple with the possibility that we may only know with unhindered certainty what this verse does NOT say and may never have the ability to dogmatically proclaim what it absolutely does say. However, this does not excuse us from exploring the options involved in such a text, for as we analyze the grammar, study the context, and discuss and debate the issues in community we can only come closer to a clearer understanding of this and other such passages and thus a clearer understanding of our gracious God and our responsibilities to him.
The problem is, people see difficult passages in the Bible and would rather throw their hands up in the air and give up than actually study the issues involved in interpreting those passages (of course, reading in context often helps a lot, but people don't do that, either). Yes, it involves work (actually, it didn't involve much work on my part, but Terri Darby Moore put a lot of effort into her study of the verse --
http://bible.org/series.php?series_id=131.