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What did Michael think about god?

PixieJ

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I'm sorry if this has been discussed in the past. I have been a fan for over 20 years but just wonder whether anyone has a more concise and more solid idea of what Michael's thoughts on god and spirituality are. Thank you!
 
Well I'm sure most on this forum know that he was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, a belief that almost led to Thriller not being released as the Elders of his church believed it endorsed the occult.

However, I think Michael's faith in God did not waiver during his life but his idea of what God was perhaps shifted. In his interview with Diane Sawyer, he claims: "I believe in spirituality and I believe in a higher source, such as God. But I'm not a Scientologist."

Because he did not specify his faith, i.e. 'Jehovah's Witness', and said he believed in a higher source such as God, I feel he is hinting he has a vague idea of what God may be, or what higher power controls the universe, but not exactly what Christians imagine him/it to be.
 
Thank you PrettyYoungThaang, that is the idea I have as well of his beliefs. Thank you. It is an interesting topic.
 
My personal interpretation of what I pick up what Michael believed... he believed in God heavily, later in his life it seems that he may have been more agnostic in his beliefs.. As in I think by root he held many core beliefs he grew up believing but thought was bigger than what a specific book can teach.. He often mentioned the bible and it's teachings but in life he seemed to get more so guidance from people in different faiths.
 
I've been a fan since the old days, so as a teenager and young adult I had observed him along the way and a fan who was inspired to understand God due to MJ making God very simple from what I would read about him. In one article, the 1980/81 Ebony or Jet, sorry, (may be on Jetzi's site of periodicals about MJ)

he gave me the biggest key to the basis of who and what God is when he said, (and I'm so very paraphrasing) that whereever he is he tells God when He (God) has done an amazing job on something like seeing a butterfly and saying to God, "Wow God, look how you did those wings, or wow God, what an amazing sunset you have made" I think those were the examples MJ used and it got me to realize what it means to truly "praise God' and deepened my appreciation for the Creator as the Creator. Michael was inspired by all of creation and drew inspiration from nature in every form, including the people who come to the planet and are in their most natural state, children, which inspired me also.

He went to Kingdom Halls in every city he visited during the Thriller era and at the time there were many articles here and there about it quoting him as talking about how he drew a great deal of grounding from the members of those congregations because (and from what I know from personal experience) they were very focused on God and not on him per se as he was just another member who had to do all the things necessary to remain in good standing etc.
That is a place where they study the bible citing various scholars that support their choices of interpretations.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus is The Great Teacher,that Jesus is the Son of God and that we are to follow Jesus' example.

It was also talked about in the old days that his mother, Katherine used to love to play songs by Mahalia Jackson, who mostly sang Baptist hymns which are very deeply moving and spiritual in nature.

He also seem to have opened himself up to a more metaphysical outlook seeing the relationship between the mind and the physical reality. This was around the time he wrote songs like, Mind is the Magic and hanging out with different types of people of varied beliefs like, Uri Geller, the spoon bender with his mind, and Jewish Rabbi Schmuley and seems to have at least looked briefly at Islam, Nation of Islam (slightly different teachings) and earlier with LM, Scientology, and I believe his book of poetry, Dancing the Dream reflects that he was exposed to a number of spiritual expressions, but I believe MJ worshiped the creative spirit above all because I believe he was amazed and inspired by it and that creative spirit being the spirit of God. That's the impression I always got.

At the end of the day MJ always used Jesus as the example to follow and he seemed, all the way up to the end, to try to do just that.

Some fans talk about how he 'accepted Jesus' during his last months on earth. I personally believe he already had accepted Jesus long ago. At the same time, he seem to have tried to be all inclusive.
 
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SoS said:
I've been a fan since the old days, so as a teenager and young adult I had observed him along the way and a fan who was inspired to understand God due to MJ making God very simple from what I would read about him. In one article, the 1980/81 Ebony or Jet, sorry, (may be on Jetzi's site of periodicals about MJ)

he gave me the biggest key to the basis of who and what God is when he said, (and I'm so very paraphrasing) that whereever he is he tells God when He (God) has done an amazing job on something like seeing a butterfly and saying to God, "Wow God, look how you did those wings, or wow God, what an amazing sunset you have made" I think those were the examples MJ used and it got me to realize what it means to truly "praise God' and deepened my appreciation for the Creator as the Creator. Michael was inspired by all of creation and drew inspiration from nature in every form, including the people who come to the planet and are in their most natural state, children, which inspired me also.

He went to Kingdom Halls in every city he visited during the Thriller era and at the time there were many articles here and there about it quoting him as talking about how he drew a great deal of grounding from the members of those congregations because (and from what I know from personal experience) they were very focused on God and not on him per se as he was just another member who had to do all the things necessary to remain in good standing etc.
That is a place where they study the bible citing various scholars that support their choices of interpretations.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus is The Great Teacher,that Jesus is the Son of God and that we are to follow Jesus' example.

It was also talked about in the old days that his mother, Katherine used to love to play songs by Mahalia Jackson, who mostly sang Baptist hymns which are very deeply moving and spiritual in nature.

He also seem to have opened himself up to a more metaphysical outlook seeing the relationship between the mind and the physical reality. This was around the time he wrote songs like, Mind is the Magic and hanging out with different types of people of varied beliefs like, Uri Geller, the spoon bender with his mind, and Jewish Rabbi Schmuley and seems to have at least looked briefly at Islam, Nation of Islam (slightly different teachings) and earlier with LM, Scientology, and I believe his book of poetry, Dancing the Dream reflects that he was exposed to a number of spiritual expressions, but I believe MJ worshiped the creative spirit above all because I believe he was amazed and inspired by it and that creative spirit being the spirit of God. That's the impression I always got.

At the end of the day MJ always used Jesus as the example to follow and he seemed, all the way up to the end, to try to do just that.

Some fans talk about how he 'accepted Jesus' during his last months on earth. I personally believe he already had accepted Jesus long ago. At the same time, he seem to have tried to be all inclusive.
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Wonderful post, thank you. Lots to think about.
 
He tought more about god than me, that's for sure.
 
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Maxym said:
That would be assuming that God is "You" (2nd person) in the song. But that single where he mentions God in 3rd person breaks this hypothesis for me.
Will You Be There would work better I think.
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Both are in my opinion.

Of course you can address god as a "you". That's what most prayer is ...
 
PixieJ said:
Of course you can address god as a "you". That's what most prayer is ...
Click to expand...

That's not the issue I'm pointing at, I mean that he would be addressing God ad "You" (which I perfectly understand) for almost the entire song, in just one line addressing god in 3rd person, lyrics: "... when God is on my side" ... To me, that doesn't sound right (I'm not sure if I should say it's for grammatical or just text/story writing reason.)
 
Maxym said:
Will You Be There would work better I think.
Click to expand...

Earlier today, I listened to Will Be You There (live from Dangerous World Tour in Bucharest).
In that version MJ sings something like "... strong enough to hold me" (which I don't think is included in album version, checked lyrics on genius.com , didn't find the word "strong").

As my first hypothesis was that this song could be read in different ways, one addressing to a friend, one addressing to God.
As I don't that MJ would ask if God will be "strong enough", this goes against my second interpretation.
 
After he left the Jehovah's Witnesses, I feel like he was way more open to any other interpretations. He still believed in a "higher source," but he was extremely open to the idea that things weren't exactly how the Jehovahs Witness told him how it is, or what the Catholics say it is. I feel he was very spiritual still, and deeply believed in God, but he didn't follow those ancient textbook rules to a T anymore. Prince (his son) said something like that once.

Maybe that's why he almost got roped into Scientology
 
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