"What Christmas in “Christian America” tells us about ancient Israel"

[Htom Sirveaux]

Christmas in America is a national holiday woven into a secular liturgical year, with little authentic religious significance for many/most of those who celebrate it. It’s commercialized nonsense, a vehicle for reaching quarterly profit margins. Christmas means malls and some very dumb Christmas specials.

(SNIP)

What if the ancient Israelites celebrated their rituals—festivals, sacrifices, regular times of worship—with the same lack of awareness for their deep religious significance as most American’s celebrate Christmas? What if ancient Israelites sort of just went along with the momentum of their vaguely sacred holidays adapted to cultural norms of the day?

(SNIP)

The fact that the biblical writers protested so much against false worship probably tells us not so much how “rebellious” the Israelites were against clearly understood commands, but that the ancient Israelites were as detached from their official religion as are many/most Americans from official Christianity.

The celebration of Christmas in America today may give us a pretty good idea of what Israelite life was like, religiously speaking, during the time of Israel’s kings. The biblical stories of the past, in that respect, are more like sermons to catechize and motivate the Israelites rather than objective accounts of the past.

http://www.peteenns.com/what-christmas-in-christian-america-tells-us-about-ancient-israel/