Deut. 32.8 said:
Assume that you had never heard of the Bible ...
Were I to walk up to any of you and suggest that drowning the world's children was acceptable, or that slaughtering the children of a people was valid, or that killing the first born of an empire was justified, what would you think?
And if I told you that life deserved nothing other that the fact that it's victims deserved what they got, what would you think?
And, if I were to tell you that I hold these views based on a primitive text, but "am not even sure that it has been translated accurately", what would you think?
You are presuming God and man are equal. Your above suggestions do not posit who was performing the drowning, slaughtering, and killing, so of course the person you walked up to is going to assume you are talking about another person. I do not know anyone who thinks they are God, who claims to be responsible for every living creature, is omniscient and knows the outcome for any cause (I have a sneaking suspicion this is going to degrade into a "bad things happen, therefore God doesn't exist" debate.)
As a believer in the dogma you are referring to, my impression is to fear God, as my life is in His hands to serve His purposes. It is certainly not my impression that I can drown lots of children because, hey God did it.
Also, I do not know who you are quoting, but I suspect the notion they are trying to communicate is that we may be given only a small snapshot of the big picture. I believe he or she was trying to express a sense of faith that when horrible things happen, justice will be done in this life or another.
As far as the accurate translation part, I do not share that belief, so I will not try justifying it. If I come across a passage that I do not understand, I tend to think that I am not wise enough, not that the translation is wrong.
Deut. 32.8 said:
The danger of this theology is not that it flies in the face of science, but that it enables the sweeping and brutal dismissal of humanity on the basis of virtually nothing. And the mindset that accepts this dismissal is in principle no different than that which burns witches, coerces conversions, bombs abortion clinics, and perpetrates Islamic terror.
I suppose you might believe that most Christians are simply too casual with their beliefs to reach their full anti-humanitarian potential, and that if we were to become overly obsessed with our religion, the dogmatic teachings of humility, love and gentleness will eventually snap us into a wicked frenzy.
From my perspective, most Christians desire to be obsessed with Christ's teachings, however, it is the draw of pride and fleshly desires that keeps us from doing so. It is quite possible for a Christian to conduct themselves in an ugly way. I certainly do on many occasions. However, it is essential for the Christian to recognize that those who conduct heinous acts in the name of Christianity should not be followed nor imitated, for they do not bear good fruits.