GeSmi1 said:

I'm sorry you feel that way but the Bible actually talks about the future resurrection of dead loved ones, the Bible talks about God's attributes , Love, Justice, Wisdom and Power and how we cannot be seperated by God's love. The Bible talks about what God hates, about his promises and how he does not lie and about guidelines and principles to follow that benefit mankind. Even though you no longer agree with our beliefs they are Bible based. Does all this mean you do not even believe in the Bible?

I know you do not like the organization and talk against us, but have you actually took the time to "study" the Bible, even if on your own? It just sounds like you want to pass it up as a cult (which it is not for various reasons) instead of taking the time to really get into what the Bible says on matters. When you were "let go" as you put it, after you fell once (which I do not believe only because the elders try to help an individual and disfellowshipping is a last resort NOT the first thing they do) was it because you just were not repentant at all and did not want to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses anymore? I know that they at least tried to help you so please don't say they didn't. Oh and by the way our religion does NOT stop family members from loving other family members who are no longer Witnesses, that is impossible. If a family has issues like that, it's a personal one not a "religious" one.

When people want to pass blame onto Jehovah's Witnesses for their own personal family problems, that is sad. My Brother for instance? Well he stopped being a Witnesses YEARS ago and we invite him to our family gatherings, we WANT to see him we WANT to be with him, we try to keep in contact with him, but does he come around? No, that is HIS decision not ours and not because of our faith. We will always love him and always welcome him back, whenever he decides to come back in our lives.
[This message was edited Sat Apr 10 13:33:44 2004 by SisterGirl]

Thanks so much for stating the truth, sis .
People can't seem to resist the urge to disparage our faith whenever they get the chance.

Prince is lost to us.

He is scared, because of all those deaths around him, so he gets involved in a very nasty little cult, and goes and marries a fam. Sure, he is acting different, but the Prince of old is who I truly miss.

Why do people hide under religion when they can't explain something? We have a very weak society. Death is part of life. Prince, you will die when you die, and there aint a damn thing you can do to stop the thundering hoofbeats. We are all appointed a day.

Jade said:

Would you be just as happy if he found even more joy in Satanism?

Cloudbuster said:

co-sign.

Most religions have some sort of afterlife/resurrection deal to them - they wouldn't be half as popular otherwise

Taken from the UK tabloid The Daily Mirror 10th April 04 www.mirror.co.uk

FROM SEX GOD TO DOORSTEP BIBLE BASHER

By Nick Webster


ON the quiet suburban streets of Minneapolis, he cuts a remarkable figure. Dressed in a tailor-made suit and trademark stack heels, he steps lightly out of his purring limo and, surrounded by four bodyguards, approaches the modest picket-fenced homes.

And to each astonished resident opening their doors to the peculiar group, multi-millionaire superstar Prince quietly asks: "Would you like to talk about Jesus?"

Welcome to the new world of the man who once outraged a nation with the song Sexy MF and who changed his name to a symbol. Gone are the wild parties, the womanising and the bizarre all-purple lifestyle. Instead, 45-year-old Prince's hedonistic excesses have been replaced with door-to-door preaching and Bible study classes.

Credit for this remarkable transformation, the Daily Mirror can reveal, is down to his mother's dying wishes, new wife Manuela Testolini, who, at 27, is 18 years his junior, and his baptism as a Jehovah's Witness.

It is Manuela - the fan-turned-employee-turned-spouse - who has stood by his side as he embraced his new faith and it is she who has helped him return to the musical spotlight after years of obscurity.

This month sees the release of his critically-acclaimed new album Musicology and he recently made a triumphant return to performing at the Grammy awards.

The bid to recapture his position among the pop elite is music to the ears of Canadian-born Manuela.

Prince - who has romanced a string of women, including Sheena Easton, Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles, Madonna, Kim Basinger, Kristin Scott Thomas and Carmen Electra - has never been a big fan of monogamy.

But now, in middle-age, he seems to have adopted it with Manuela.

But the way he and Mani, as she is known, met and married is a strange combination of fairytale and stalker fantasy.

She grew up in a tiny two-bed apartment in a run-down block on the thundering Don Mills Road in Toronto, Canada.

She was a plain teenager who, as a high school student, was known as an avid Prince fan.

Her passion for the diminutive musician continued at York University in Toronto - where she studied for a degree in art - to the detriment of her social life.

FELLOW student Sorayah Kassim-Lakha remembers her regularly playing her hero's hits, particularly If I Was Your Girlfriend and I Wanna Be Your Lover.

"Mani was always very quiet at college," Sorayah says. "She didn't go in for parties and stuff like that.

"She was only ever interested in her art and in Prince. She was obsessed with him. It's all she ever talked about."

Mani was a frequent visitor to the internet fan club alt.music.prince, a forum devoted to her then hero and now husband.

She admitted to being a "lurker" - someone who watches what others say but seldom joins in conversations.

One of the UK fans who did talk to her online was Antony Golding from Bolton, Lancs.

"It's all a bit surreal," he says. "She was just a fan who posted a couple of messages and then suddenly she was working at his Paisley Park recording studios... and then she was his wife."

Manuela graduated from university in the summer of 1998 and soon after she landed her dream job working with the singer. That year, she received a brief credit on Prince's New Power Soul album.

Twelve months later, she became his assistant. Rumours quickly began to circulate that she was more than just a member of staff before his marriage to first wife Mayte Garcia was annulled in May 2000.

Less than three years earlier, Mayte had given birth to the couple's son Gregory, who tragically only lived a week before dying from the rare bone condition Pfeiffer Syndrome, a genetic skull deformity.

SOON after the annulment, Prince, who was once worth £100million, took Manuela with him to Bible study classes with the Jehovah's Witnesses.

After a hush-hush romance, superstar and fan tied the knot in a Jehovah's Witness wedding in Hawaii on New Year's Eve 2001.

A year later, in a private ceremony at the Kingdom Hall in Chanhassen, Minnesota, Prince and Mani were baptised into their new faith in front of the 167-strong congregation.

A small bathtub-sized pool was hired for the occasion. Wearing knee-length robes with swimsuits underneath, they became full members of the church by being immersed in the pool.

Ronald Scofield - one of the elders of the Chanhassen Congregation, Prince's new place of worship - says it was a special day for all.

"Every time one of our members gets baptised it's exciting. But this was exceptionally exciting because it was someone who has made a lot of changes to their life.

"We have watched Prince since he started studying the Bible and noticed a dramatic change. It's something to be very proud of."

The death of Prince's mother, jazz singer Mattie Shaw, was a turning point for the star, who has sold more than 100million albums.

Her dying wishes were for him to become a Jehovah's Witness, as she had been for most of her life, and to see him married. He tied the knot with Mani weeks before his mother passed away and six months after the death of his father, pianist and bandleader John L Nelson.

As part of his new life, Prince and Manuela pay weekly visits to the residents of Minneapolis. At times, Scofield accompanies the couple and their bodyguards.

HE admits it can take a good few minutes before stunned homeowners recover from the shock of finding a superstar at their door.

Speaking publicly about Prince's new beliefs for the first time, Scofield confirms: "He's so well known that when he turns up on people's doorsteps, it really surprises them.

"To see him in a Christian lifestyle is very pleasant. He's doing very well and spiritually he seems to be making a great deal of progress, too.

"We go on Bible studies together and work in field service, the door-to-door ministry that Jehovah's Witnesses are known for. When you get past the initial shock of actually meeting Prince, he is very persuasive. He uses the scriptures very well."

After a decade of seclusion, the man christened Prince Rogers Nelson is back to being plain old Prince and playing the hits that made him famous such as Purple Rain, Let's Go Crazy and Little Red Corvette.

And no longer is he synonymous with Paisley Park and Minneapolis.

These days, he and Manuela spend much of their time in Los Angeles or the sprawling £3million grey stone mansion he bought at 61 The Bridle Path in an upmarket area of Toronto. At first, mystery surrounded the purchase of the luxury home by a firm called Gamillah Holdings, until it was discovered that the company's president is one Manuela Testolini.

While the couple are away touring the US, builders are constructing a large gatehouse and a new fence, complete with tennis court and pool.

Though it seems a world away, the estate is just a five-minute drive from Mani's parents' tiny apartment.

Despite the age gap and the star's colourful past, Prince has been welcomed with open arms by the Testolini family.

In January, residents of the village of Calabogie - on the outskirts of Ottawa - couldn't believe their eyes when he and Mani arrived in a gleaming limousine for the modest wedding of her sister Daniela to businessman Michael Dykeman. Onlookers say Prince and his wife happily mingled with the other 80 guests during the reception at the Dickson Manor ski lodge.

The singer admits that along with a new wife, he also has a new set of values. "There's no more envelope to push," he says. "I pushed it off the table. It's on the floor. Let's move forward."

PRINCE also says that TV viewers are now bombarded with dirty music videos.

"Back when I made sexy tunes, the sexiest thing on TV was Dynasty and if you watch it now, it's like the Brady Bunch," he explains.

"My song Darling Nikki was considered porn because I said the word masturbate. That's not me any more."

But with the new tour and album to sell, maybe the wife and new beliefs are just another marketing tool being used by one of the world's ultimate showmen.

Among those with a view about the "new" Prince is Minneapolis gossip columnist CJ, who has followed his career for years, much to the annoyance of the artist himself who wrote a song about her called Billy Jack Bitch.

"A lot of credit is being given to Manuela," she says.

"Both his parents died recently, too. And that's the last barrier to realising that you, too, will die. Maybe that's the reason for the change in personality.

"He was always capable of monogamy but the man got bored quickly. The traumatic death of his baby changed all that. It affected him in a big way.

"People are curious as to why he's changed. The joke here in Minneapolis is that it looks like they finally got the medication right."

SisterGirl said:

Thanks so much for stating the truth, sis .
People can't seem to resist the urge to disparage our faith whenever they get the chance.

EvilWhiteMale said:

-----
Why don't you go find joy in Satanism!!! You come off like you really belive some joy could be found in something negative.

I could be wrong but, at least I am not ignorant enough to think that the belief of an after life is some sort of marketing tool to make religion popular.

laurarichardson said:

Oh, you're most definitely wrong and ignorant!! You seriously don't think that religions use the Afterlife as a way to get people interested? As a way to give an incentive to join the religion?

Join us or you'll go to Hell...sounds like a fucking marketing tool to me. What planet do you live on?

laurarichardson said:

Oh, you're most definitely wrong and ignorant!! You seriously don't think that religions use the Afterlife as a way to get people interested? As a way to give an incentive to join the religion?

Join us or you'll go to Hell...sounds like a fucking marketing tool to me. What planet do you live on?

Surprisingly for the Mirror it seemed well written and researched. At least they have covered the gaps that no-one seems to know about!

Like I wasn't raised a Christian? I know what I'm talking about...and while OF COURSE they don't come out and SAY it's a "marketing tool," in effect that's EXACTLY what it is.

Like I said, join us or go to Hell.

Close your eyes, little sheep.

Prince is not a young dude anymore. He can't keep juggling different ho's like he did back in the day. He needs a steady woman in his life, a good woman.

Mani is a good wife for Prince at this point in his life. He doesn't need another empty-headed bimbo like Mayte whining and pulling at him.

If Mani's caretaking is responsible for getting Prince to love his early work again, getting him to sign to a record company and doing fan-pleasing shows, I'm cool with her as his wife.

I guess I am one of millions of sheep. Since Chritianity is still the biggest religion in the world
and you have been given some knowlegde that millions do not have. Stop being arrogant.

If I am a victim of a marketing tool than so are you as a non-beliver.

TheFreakerFantastic said:

I happen to know that some of the material is just untrue!!!!

The interesting thing brought up in this whole article is the suppossed claim that Mattie was a JW. True? I just don't know. I know she was a Seventh Day Adventist when P was a child (which is a religion with a common root with the Jehovah's Witnesses), so its not much of a stretch that she could have converted. If this is true, then it pretty much discounts the whole "Larry Graham made him a JW" theory. It has been suggested that P first heard about the JW faith from George Benson, and then later inquired about it from Larry. Now, if his mother was a JW, he may have already had quite a bit of knowledge of the faith before even approaching Mr Benson and Mr Graham (let us also not forget that BrownMark is also a JW, a fact that seems to be ignored by many fans who just want to "blame" Larry for P's conversion).

The fact of the matter is this: Prince sought out this religion. He wasn't coerced or brainwashed. You may not like that fact, and that is understandable, but it won't change a thing to continually bitch about it or point fingers. Debating endlessly whether the JWs are a "cult" won't change it either (but it will hurt the feelings of some really nice folks on here).

EWM brought up a very good point about whether or not folks would be okay with it if P had become a Satanist, and had found happiness. Would this make a difference? What if he had become a Muslim? Would claiming that he had been "brainwashed" be okay then? Folks, a certain level of respect for others beliefs really needs to be observed here, whether the person is a mainstream Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, an atheist, or a member of any of the world's different faiths and philosophies. If you wish to debate the merits of those faiths, we have a Politics & Religion forum, but outside of that forum you really should be respectful of others belief systems. This goes for all of them! Part of the reason Evil White Male gets so testy with some of y'all is that he is just reacting to the attacks that have been made against him and his philosophies. The same holds true for many of the JWs on this site. Most of them are fine folks who are more than willing to have a discussion with you. That's the key though: discuss and debate in a friendly manner. Be respectful, and folks will respect you back.