My personal impressions of Michael Jackson have only changed over the years because of his obsessions and because of the molestation accusations. But Michael was a real genius artist and a one-of-a-kind. It's kind of a sad story, really, because all the time as a Jehovah's Witness I could see how he would be miserable - being brought to fame instantly, having to grow up without a childhood, and being haunted by that very deprivation the rest of his life… to the point of consuming him completely in seeking his lost childhood.
It was an obsession. Everything about Michael was about having a childhood of his dreams. Since he could not have that, he sought to fill this need through others, mainly children. Michael loved to entertain; he loved to make children happy. The sorrow the world now expresses is unprecedented – he was loved by so many millions, not only for his exceptional musical ability and dance moves, but for being who he was.
Children, especially gifted children and artistic children, are often very sensitive emotionally. They also crave a higher way of life, a spiritual life, whatever form it may take. For Michael, he did not have much choice, he was raised a Jehovah's Witness. Yet his very spirit inside could not be held back by such an oppressive fundamentalist system that actively seeks to suppress any ounce of talent, or any effort to stand out from the crowd.
Michael finally managed to extract himself from the Witnesses by the late 80s, but by then the damage was irreversible. His obsessions and his fame morphed his body and his mind. His obsession with children, with fantasy, and with the magic of being a child, was all part of a process that led to his early death.
This is not a phenomenon that occurs with most belief systems. It is only the ones that stifle imagination, creativity, talent, and popularity. They are the ones that scowl at children. They spank them repeatedly to make them behave, forcing them to sit in church and listen, or else. Somehow they think that this will brainwash the child into loving God, but in the end it destroys them. Not only do the children never end up loving such a cruel God, they end up being afraid of the wrath of the designers of that god should they not follow the dictates of those designers.
In the case of Jehovah's Witnesses, these designers are the Governing Body that make up all the rules. They convey the unspoken attitudes and promote the oppressive spirit in the Watchtower organization. Ever since the days of Joseph Rutherford, an abusive drunk who was the second president of the Watchtower Society, the youth-creativity-popularity has been squelched by the equivalent of an evil nun raising children alone in a convent. Birthdays, Christmas and other holidays are strictly forbidden. Further education is frowned upon and discouraged by the old authoritarians in charge.
It is interesting to see the young people of Iran rebel against this type of oppression by their formidable religious leaders. It is all over the issue of oppression. Oppression of free speech, of talent, and of popularity. It's all the same issue: religion, politics or otherwise. People will seek to control other people to their detriment, even as they believe they are doing them a favor.
If you have a child (and I'm speaking as a former pastor who has helped many families), please don't force your beliefs on your children. They will never have a healthy loving view of a God that has a stick behind his back, ready to beat them into submission. If God is good, then love and grace and kindness should be the lure, not threats of annihilation or hell.
I can understand why Michael would want to become a Muslim in the end. First many of them were his friends, and were not so judgmental like the Jehovah's Witnesses. Many of them were talented professionals, and they had the same sense of “morality” as the Witnesses. In many ways they were very similar. Probably they are more kind and loving them the Witnesses with children, I do not know. But I do know that Michael sought solace from their companionship and apparently it was enough to make him decide to convert to Islam. We all have our own intricate reasons for the choosing of what we are going to believe. Many of these reasons (or should I say drives; because they are not intellectual enough to be called “reasons”) are from roots much deeper, more primal than the thoughts in your head and speculations of your mind. For many people, the drive for religion is often due to pain, of loneliness, of helplessness. Of course, that is why Jesus is so popular, as he represents kindness love and peace to others. May Michael be at peace.
Randy
