Some would also relegate them to moral stories as well. But our Lord Jesus said that the Old Testament was written specifically about Him.
I think the issue is really that people find it difficult to relate the God of the Old Testament to the God of the New. It makes them uncomfortable simply because they choose not to understand the very nature of God. Personally, I have always been a great fan of the OT simply because I have felt that it reveals God/man true interaction. It you want theology, the start of the Christian church, or to know the life of Christ you will find it in the New Testament. If you want an example or a principle of our fallen state and the way God redeems us and cares for us, you will find it in the Old Testament.
I agree completely! I have a hard time understanding the arguments I hear sometimes against the true nature of our God that he unreservedly revealed to us. Someone said on this forum that the OT God was a different one from the one revealed in the NT. I was shocked! They stated that the OT God was like "Odin", fierce, dreadful, angry and vengeful. It was then stated that the NT God instead was "love" and incapable of the same characteristics spoken of in the OT. I had a hard time convincing them that they are one and the same God and we do not have more than one true God.
There is only one true God and he does not change, his compassion and mercies are renewed every morning and they endure forever. Every promise that he spoke to the individual is relevant to us today. He does not change and that is why we can trust in him and surrender ourselves completely to him and his will.