Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Sinead O'Connor's "Christianity"

I read with great interest a recent interview conducted by Christianity Today with musician Sinead O'Connor. I think she has a mesmerizing voice, and her rendition of Prince's Nothing Compares 2 U is one of the most haunting songs I've heard. Her infamy certainly increased following a performance on Saturday Night Live, when she tore in half a picture of Pope John Paul II while urging the audience to "fight the real enemy." She has seemed to mellow in the years since then. Even though her CD's haven't burned up the charts since I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, she continues to be prolific.

O'Connor is promoting her new album, Theology, which is reportedly inspired by the Old Testament. As if this wasn't strange enough, the album is supposedly being promoted to Christians. (Gareth Higgins, writing for Beliefnet, proves himself to be a fan.) Read this interview, and see if there is anything remotely Christian about O'Connor's spiritual beliefs.
What does Jesus mean to you?

O'Connor: I've had a lot of faith in Jesus ever since I was a little kid. I always joke with my friends that I have a cab company called "Jesus Cabs." And I tell my friends, "If you ask Jesus for anything, it will happen. But you have to believe that it's going to happen."

What about now? Where do you stand in your faith in Jesus?

O'Connor: I think everybody has an individual relationship with Jesus. I kinda really do believe in this Trinity thing, that God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are all one thing. I understand Jesus as being an interceder, someone you ask when you really need a big favor from God. I also feel that Jesus is inside everybody. It's almost like an energy or a thing that lives inside of us.

4 comments:

  1. It occured to me that context really determines how positive or negative this sort of response is. Certainly, there is serious, damning error here. But imagine if someone said something like this in a Muslim dominated culture. This answer has plenty of potential for dialogue towards a true understanding of salvation (and depravity and seperation from God, etc.)

    I hope that the interviewer used this opportunity to clearly share the gospel with her.

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  2. Isn't it sad how people think they are okay but have no concept of heaven and hell and sin and grace.

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  3. She's not too far from the Eastern orthodox position of "essence" and "energies". In other words, God is known to us through His distinct "energies" being the Father, Son and Spirit. She could be on to something, I don't know that we should be so quick to judge.

    Yes, her answer seems a bit elemetary but we all have to begin somewhere.

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  4. Pitiful. But she is not alone. Millions are dying and going to hell- kinda really believing....

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