“And he received the
gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving
tool and made a golden calf. And they said, "These are your gods, O
Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"
When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made
proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the
LORD." And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt
offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat
and drink and rose up to play.”
- Exodus 32:4-6 (ESV)
Here is a clear example of using pagan
practices to worship. Just in case people at the time might have
thought this was idolatry
(which it clearly was), Aaron tries to smooth things over by declaring that they were doing all
this as a feast to the True God.
By claiming that they were worshipping
God, Aaron was attempting to "christianize" a
pagan practice of worship.
But did God accept this form of worship?