First post in ten years...life just took over, but now here again because our beloved idol is gone. Such a sad time and this is very difficult to process. I always thought if anyone would be immortal, it was Prince. Easy to forget sometimes that our heroes are all to human, as are the rest of us.

Out of curiosity, I did a little research on JW beliefs regarding death and the afterlife. From wikipedia:

"Witnesses regard the soul as mortal, based on the statement at Ezekiel 18:4 that "the soul that sins, it shall die" (MKJV)^[121] and thus believe the soul does not continue to live after one dies.^[122] Death is considered a state of non-existence, based on their understanding of Ecclesiastes 9:5: "For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all."

I thought Prince truly believed in eternal life and the immortality of the spirit...or was that only before he became a Jehovas Witness? And is the above actually true of JW beliefs regarding death? Surely Prince wouldn't have believed that there was "nothing" in the hereafter?

Here's hoping that his spirit truly does live on and he has found the bliss that he strove so amazingly for though his music. RIP Prince.

[Edited 4/22/16 22:00pm]

It's partly true. Jehovah's Witnesses also believe all we be resurrected to face judgment. Those who pass obtain eternal life in their new body, to live eternally here on a rejuvenated Earth. Some of those who get a super-duper pass get to live in Heaven. Those who fail to pass are simply annihilated, to have no further existence. I'm pretty sure that's the gist of the JW's beliefs on the afterlife. Any JWs in the house are free to correct me.

I would also add that although Prince considered himself a JW, my suspicion is that he had his own way of looking at things, and wasn't as 'to the letter' devout as many other JWs. I recall reading in an interview sometime that he was hesitant in labelling himself a JW, but believed they were the "closest" to what he personally believed. Or something like that...

"Future Soul Song" has always reminded me a lot of some of the accounts of near death experiences I've read.

"Reflection" also has the line about, when bodies wear out you can get another one. I'm not sure if that refers to reincarnation or to resurrection, which as far as I know, is more in line with the JW faith.

[Edited 4/22/16 23:25pm]

toejam said:

I would also add that although Prince considered himself a JW, my suspicion is that he had his own way of looking at things, and wasn't as 'to the letter' devout as many other JWs. I recall reading in an interview sometime that he was hesitant in labelling himself a JW, but believed they were the "closest" to what he personally believed. Or something like that...

This is similar to my take on Prince's beliefs--that he had his own personal spin on the dogma of his religion. But then, isn't that true for a lot of individual thinkers of any religion who don't necessarily "throw the baby out with the bathwater?"

I've been listening to Comeback from The Truth a lot lately. Says it all