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So you assert. And if we assert back that in fact our interpretation is correct, what then? From an inside view, we could argue over the verses themselves. From an outside view, we could observe that Christianity has been an absurdly successful religious and cultural force by pretty much any metric you could select, and despite reports of its demise for the last century continues to wield considerable (and in my view growing) influence even now.
I certainly can't speak for all Christians, having not met most of them. When I was a child, the Old Testament was my favorite part of the bible. When I was a youth, it was my least favorite as I found it strange and disconcerting. With maturity, it now seems of a piece with the New Testament, and many of the parts that seemed harsh and unforgiving now make good sense. The churches I've attended did not ignore the Old Testament, but they certainly treat them as "setup for Jesus" since that's, you know, the central thesis of our entire religion. This is the thing you do where you frame the discussion on the assumption you are right and everyone else is wrong. You haven't elaborated on how Christians supposedly do this, or why you believe they do, so what response is possible other than "no, that seems incorrect"?
If one believes that the correct way to read the OT is as setup to the NT, what's the proper way to argue that with you? Your argument that Christians "mostly just ignore" the OT is absurd on its face, given the amount of Christian teaching, commentary and theology centering on the OT. Your claim that Christians are "unequipped to properly analyze" the OT because their "religion is so deeply rooted in the mythos itself" seems to be an attempt to disqualify people with a deep knowledge of the subject at hand because they care too much, as opposed to dispassionate, detached observers of the Judaic mythos such as yourself. Is that about the size of it?
I contend that we do not, in fact, ignore the OT, that many among us study it in great detail, and that we are no more unequipped to properly analyze it than you are. Make an argument if you have one, but spare me the empty, pompous pretense of sophistication.
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