For me, “hard” is a euphemism and “hyperbolic” is an excuse. Those passages are appalling to me not because they are “hard” but because they are examples of awful moral reasoning. Be forgiving to avoid being tortured by a powerful master? A powerful master who delights in the murder of those who don’t follow him? These passages are perfect illustrations of why an atheist like me can’t say “I don’t believe in god but Jesus is great.” Jesus is a mixed bag. He said some great things, he said some okay or obvious things, and he said some awful vicious things. (This all assumed that he “said” any of this stuff, or indeed anything at all.)
The conversation, BTW, was about how an atheist thinks of Jesus.
LOL, I am sure that everyone in this conversation has, like me, read the gospels many times.