Posted by
Pauli on Wednesday, September 13, 2006 9:42:01 AM
Madonna doesn't buy Christianity anymore, but it would seem she has no problem with borrowing from it.
Her concert in Moscow last night featured her on-stage self-crucifixion which has offended Christians worldwide, especially in
Moscow where Muslims have joined Orthodox in the condemnation of her antics.
"The pop star calling herself Madonna is abusing the Cross," said Valentin Lebedev, head of the Union of Orthodox Citizens. "At her concert in Luzhniki stadium, she will sing her songs hanging on the Cross in the image of Christ wearing a crown of thorns." Madonna probably doesn't think she is, but the interesting thing to me is that she is using this symbol. Her conversion to the Jewish Kabbalah sect was and is highly publicized and she continuously sings it's praises.
This 2004 USA Today article talks about one of the symbols of her new-found faith -- a red thread with 7 knots tied in it which is supposed to "deflect envious stares and looks of ill-will".
So why not come onto the stage swinging from an enormous red string, the most visible Kabbalah symbol, analogous to the crucifix of Madonna's castoff Catholic religion? The simple answer is that symbol would be weak and meaningless. The symbol of a human making the ultimate sacrifice is powerful by it's nature. A Christian would cite I Cor. 1:18 which reads "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." But nobody needs to agree with Saint Paul to see the power of the Cross . Hopefully someday Madonna will feel the embrace of this saving power and will cease to see and use the Cross of Christ as a self-serving stage prop.