XxAxX said:

prince changing his name 2 O+> made him the lauphingstock of the world but his followers continued to believe and support him... they purchased his new name sake, the symbol, and hung it as an ornimate of there devotion, around there necks, in there cars, and so forth... some tattooed his name sake on there bodies, purchased t-shirts, and other "symbolic" items all in the name of support for its "founder". you may not have said... " i am a member of this religion, sect, or cult" but are you showing support by financing this "organization".

think this...

when prince did change his name to O+> and it was the prime focus of his "identity" was this a practice of Idolitry and since idolitry is a pratice of an occult or satanism or what have you.. not only did he practice this but he also lead you in this practice which is against God... or Jahova as He now calls him.

question 4 you .....

when you lead others away from God in the name of God...
and then change your mind and say it was all a "business deal" and now u are doing THE WORK of God...

who is your God?
[This message was edited Wed Jan 22 14:34:39 PST 2003 by HRHthesmellofJazmin]

"I don't wanna b a new religion, that would be a tad bizarre, I just wanna see your shovel diggin', something that'll get you far." - Utopia, Lary Graham and Prince, 1998.

Guess he's already answered your fears "Download Society".

cosmicslop said:

in 1998 Prince was not Prince he was O+>... or was he?

i don't want to be the bearer of bad news, i just wanna see you free from something that might be holding you hostage and you not even know it. - Jerico @ The DownLoad Society 2003

HRHthesmellofJazmin said:

??!!! are you serious!!!??

1) prince did change his name to a symbol and yes the world laughed. some of us followed prince a little less intensely during this phase of his career, especially with the 'slave' scrawled on his face. most of us did NOT 'idolize' the symbol, nor the man behind it. most of us are sane and therefore do not mistake either the man or the symbol for something divine.

2) prince did not change his name to a symbol in order to worship himself, or to induce anyone else to worship him. even if a fan enjoyed the symbol and used the symbol that does not automatically convert to 'worship' or 'idolatry' in the biblical sense. I sincerely doubt that prince adopted the symbol as a means of sneakily converting folks to him and away from god.

3) my GOD has NOTHING to do with prince, his music, his belief in god, jehovah or jiminy cricket. i would never mistake prince for a holy man, nor would i take prince's advice on who and how to worship. prince's place in my life is that of music-supplier.

i thought you were joking when you first posted this but now i see you are sincere. i'm sorry HRH but this entire premise is nuts.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Yea, I'm stealing that one...

on the other hand HRH has a point, what is the definition of religion anyway? and besides, right now what with the child abuse issue imo the respectable catholic church ain't looking real hot.
so the Church of Paisley has kind of a nice ring to it.
and all the dancing people = worshipers? heh. grinding with god on the dancefloor.

but let me explain why i called this idea 'shimmy brained'. i was thinking in terms of a car in need of alignment. the wheels are out of joint and cause a definite wobble to the ride that just plain shouldn't be there.

personally i'm afraid if prince turned paisley park into a church and promoted his work as a religious order, it would come off more like a cult. because of prince's prior publicity and deliberately calculated image/stature as a 'rock star', he's already been formatted as: eccentric, flamboyant, highly sexed, fickle, women's-clothes-wearing, drug using, artist type. so, imo most folk would find it hard to 'see' him anew without that bias. they'd always be wondering if he was sporting an assless robe.

i would just be worried that he might lose a lot of credibility if he were to do that, and especially without notifying NPGMC members of this changed status, nor that they had automatically been 'converted' by the change.

"religion"

#1 Belief in and "reverence" for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe. (Theocratic order); To resolve to end one's immoral behavior. (aint nutn wrong with making the WRONG right - with one's personal actions towards others).

Religion . . . means the conscious relation between man and God, and the expression of that relation in human conduct. --J. K["o]stlin (Schaff-Herzog Encyc.)

theocratic

\The`o*crat"ic\, Theocratical \The`o*crat"ic*al\, a. [Cf. F. th['e]ocratique.] Of or pertaining to a theocracy; administred by the immediate direction of God; as, the theocratical state of the Israelites.


government

n 1: the organization that is the governing authority of a political unit ; "the government reduced taxes"; "the matter was referred to higher authorities" [syn: authorities, regime] 2: the system or form by which a community or other political unit is governed; "tyrannical government" 3: the act of governing; exercising authority;


Now U can surmise your thoughts in2 action as to what PAISLEY is and what it is not. Or what religion is or what religion is or isn't...BUT ONE THING STANDS VERY TRUE..."that you LOVE one another, as I have loved you."
THAT COMES from the GUIDE called "the BIBLE".

Feel in your heart what your word in action is (even to your neighbor) becuz...In the beginning is the "WORD" and that includes every word you speak with unconditional love ...for in the BEGINNING ...LOVE IS... U.

GODBLISS U

With Love Honor & Respect
SingMia

and Besides a PAISLEY is a wonderful cloth 2.

i just wanted to say thank you for the disscussion... in no way are we
saying that this indeed is what prince is doing or is going to do, we
simply just through a tough out on the table and wanted to see
how others would feel...

If it were possible


thank you with much respect to everyone who took part in this disscussion...

- Jerico
@ The DownLoad Society


we look forward to having more discussions with U.

DownLoad while U are Still Free
[This message was edited Thu Jan 23 10:32:43 PST 2003 by HRHthesmellofJazmin]