With such an influx of lies about their beliefs- JWs undoubtly remain out of conversations such as this one because of the malicious hatred, lies and accusations thrown at them over misunderstandings and ignorance.

Yes, once I was walking downtown and I had on my musicology T-shirt, I saw some JW's coming towards me and I was determined to just walk on by them and one lady said, "Oh, you know Prince is a Jehovah's witness. I swear I stopped and went over to talk to her, it wasn't that bad, she knew a lot about him but mainly talked about the faith.

prince is ultra-tired to me right now.


plus, i don't remember the last time i ran in to a jehovahs witness.
[Edited 11/24/08 11:39am]

I only know a couple of JWs and have never talked about Prince with them. They were raised as JWs from birth though so it's not like they go around quoting the Bible as answers to everything. It's usually the converts who are heavily into it, making them the biggest hypocrites.

The ones I know are not too happy about him wearing makeup and high heels, and I remember having a discussion about the song Black Sweat, a song that some JWs find offensive and strongly against their beliefs.
Most of them assured me that this type of behaviour usually doesn´t get tolerated, regardless of your celebrity status.

As far as I know there are dozens of Jehovah´s Witnesses here on the org, I´m quite surprised that you don´t know about this.
Prince being a JW is one thing and absolutely his own, private decision but I think since this is a fan board and since Prince tried to influence his audience numerous times ( especially during his celebrations) and since his religious decisions partly influence his work ( and have done so since the 80s) it is fair to discuss this here as long as nobody gets insulted or offended.
People also discuss the religious choices of other artists, whether it be Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens or the Beatles and their trip to India and George Harrison following his guru, or Santana changing his name to Devadip and following a guru.

It´s all good when people / the audience/ the listeners/ the fanbase discuss these things as an influence over a certain artist´s body of work.
I´m not into Christianity but I still liked a lot of his songs from the 80s and I still dig some of his recent output but there are a few things I totally dislike these days but these things have been discussed ad nauseum already.

Well, one of my cousins is a JW and she is OVER THE MOON for Prince.

Lord, she came over one day and I had left my 3121 cd lying on the coffee table.
She saw it, grabbed it, and screamed,

"Oh! That's Prince! That's my husband! I love PRINCE!"

If all that sexy stuff PRince does and sings about bothered her, it didn't show.

I try to avoid people from sects.

Interesting. I spent a month with them, aspecially one lady. She told me Prince does not behave as a Witness should at all. That she wasn't even sure that he was one anymore, that he shouldn't really be accepted by them the way he is. I actually felt personally hurt for his sake about it, and was close to tell her that without him and his GOD-given gift she would never had gotten inside my door at all! Imo they should be proud of having him in their religion...

One day when she came to me for the bible-studying, I put "Rave..." on the dvd-player and played "Purple Rain" and "The Christ" for her. After that she admitted that she didn't know he made those kind of songs and was that good.

After a while I realised their religion wasn't for me, but afterwords I can understand Prince better, though. It's easy to be among people with the same wiews on life. It really unites people without the conflicts you always meet in ordinary life. You can talk to anyone. It's all pretty simple that way. I also belive that for a celebrity like Prince it must be good to be able to be among and socilize with people without having to fear the usual problems he has in his position. Or something like that...
[Edited 11/25/08 7:24am]

Dayclear said:

How long did u listen?

Vanity45 said:

Nice post-very interesting

Last year I dated a JW. When he found out I was a Prince fan, and I told him Prince is JW, he said, "He's not a real JW." He was not open to anything I had to say regarding Prince. As far as he was concerned, Prince is just "playing" and he considered it offensive.

Vanity45 said:

I don't mind Prince being a Jehovah's Witness. It didn't bother me when Michael Jackson was one.

I respecdt Prince's religious decisioins. He's his own man and little old me can't possibly persuade him other wise.

But I couldn't date a JW. If you can't buy me a birthday gift, Christmas gift or anniversary gift it won't work because I ALWAYS buy gifts for those. LOL.

chocolate1 said:

That's what one of my friends told me who some JWs feel about him. He said Prince also gives free tickets away to JWs

bboy87 said:

disagree. his life is under a microscope- just because you are a JW doesn't mean life ends

Different people have different ways of calling other's unto them. For example...I have one fantastic experience to share in my ability to share the gospel.
I met a boy, ten years younger that worked at a local 7/11 years ago. He was struggling to get by and kicked out of his parents house. I lived a half a mile from the store and stoped in frequently.
One day he came to my home for cigarettes and something to drink before work and I came to find out that he worshiped the devil. I wasn't a born again Christian at the time, however...we talked and talked. I played music 4 him...He told me all about these meetings he would attend.
To make a long story short, he confessed to me all of his wrong doings...and a year later he came to my home and told me he started going to church and that he thanked me for it because I wasn't the typical person pulling him away from that sort of practice. I was thankful for him and myself.

The point is...some people in the wrong direction will not listen to a regular preacher...there are people that need to be reached in strange places. Prince has the ability to lure and preach. God Bless him 4 that.

Tame said:

Great testimony Tame

Evvy said:

what are you disagreeing about?

The JW religion put's up with Prince for the same reason as they did with Michael Jackson: that percentage of income that goes to the church. Dou you really think that a make up and high heel wearing male would be tolorated in the JW (or many other) churches if it weren't benificial for them? The JW's had a problem with Michael Jacksons "Thriller" video, yet they had no problem accepting what I am sure was a huge amount of money he made from "Thriller". They had no problem with that huge Kingdom Hall bought by Michael Jackson in Jersey City, NJ during that time.
[Edited 11/24/08 20:43pm]

totaldiva said:

They damn near disowned Michael a couple of times:

-When he did Thriller and they nearly made him destroy it
-When he decided to do the Victory Tour, they had a member come with the brothers on tour to report on him
-One meeting, there was a sermon that totally blasted Michael...and he was sitting right there. After the service, he went up to the speaker,although he was hurt and told him it was a good sermon


damn totaldiva, I didn't know about the Jersey City thing....and I'm a walking MJ encyclopedia!

Now I gotta step my game up

bboy87 said:

Yeah, they blasted Michael Jackson while continuing to accept his money. I know about Kingdom Hall in New jersey because I live in the next town and remember when he bought it. It was in the Jersey Journal (I was a kid, but also being a MJ fan, collected EVERYTHING with his face on it-no I do not have that paper now). My point is, you can't have it both ways. Any church which condemns a member for any reason should not accept their sinful money.
[Edited 11/24/08 21:10pm]
[Edited 11/24/08 21:37pm]

totaldiva said:

thank you for speaking the truth about why jw's turn a blind eye and say nothing to Prince... and I didn't know that about the Kingdom Hall in Jersey City.. I was born n raised there..

Flowers2 said:

Are you really that suprised - or do i sense sarcasm in ur response - lol

Of course they want his funding

jstar69 said:

there's nothing surprising in my post.. there was a thread just recently about that topic and I said it was money quieting the jw's and one here disagreed with what I said (dunno whoelse).. .. was thanking totaldiva for confirming what I previously said..

No, not really.

JWs don't publicly print out counsel they give their members- if necessary they do publicly excommunicate. All donations are done annonimously- no one publicly announces money each member gives- no one is obligated to give. there are non members who visit and donate- it's not publicly accepted or rejected.

Don't understand what you mean about "puttin up" with Prince- i've not known a JW to be so perfect that they didn't need counsel or so sinful that they were rejected if they wanted counsel and correction- they thrive on the principal that God loves the ones he disciplines- even if you are ex- or disfelloshiped- the elders in the congregation are there to talk with you and guide you- those ones can if they choose continue to to come to the meetings for spiritual - guidance.

i have talked 2 a woman about the faith but not because of prince but 4 my own curiousity.

totaldiva said:

Does anyone know if the JW top officials in the church have to approve of the music of any of their members before it gets released?

I was just thinking about Venus and Serena Williams. They are JW and they run around the tennis court in extremely short skirts. Same for Janet posing damn-near nude. Do they approve of this?

daPrettyman said:

Hell, I saw Serena on a French TV show making it clap and droppin' it to the floor. Does the church approve of that?