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What was MJ’s relationship with the Jehovah’s Witnesses like?

Mister_Jay_Tee said:
Well, now I'll just clarify. Because when you say JW, that's just too grandiose to me.
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It's just my lazy shorthand. I can't even be bothered to type out people's names, Mr JT :D

Mister_Jay_Tee said:
The more likely reality is that MJ talked to two or so older men, just a couple of adult men entrusted with responsibility, in his local area. In what he considered his home base. We're talking men that Michael likely knew, probably on a first name basis, perhaps for a significant period of time. Definitely, Katherine knew them. And trusted them, perhaps they even had a say in who they spoke to. This wasn't an alien encounter.

These men had their own personal feelings, and opinions, on various things, and they would've tempered this either way based on the Bible, on studied verses they've interpreted. They'd emphasize, modesty. A sensitivity to coming across in a way that would appear too, not tame.

This would all be shared with Michael in a, perhaps concerned, but still regardless, non-antagonistic way. But of course Michael was a sensitive soul, and it is fair to say he would not take counsel and/or criticism extremely, balanced, let's say. He'd get anxious. Nobody exactly loves counsel.
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Michael does react to things with great sensitivity, it would seem, and he seemed to really not want to hurt people's feelings or to transgress. Otoh, he was an artist and obviously decided that his art was not going to be compromised.

Mister_Jay_Tee said:
Either way still, this was over 40 years ago. In a totally different world with totally different sensibilities. What Michael did essentially began to usher in the modern world. Things are very different now, and most of what he did is considered tame, downright child friendly at times. So yeah, that is just the way of the world.

And MJ must've mellowed out some, he kept a tame image. Not any tattoos, not so much abrasive language. He did not go on too "wild" of an arc all things considered.
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Which is not unusual for a Christian and I love his image, conservative though it was. It was him, it was Michael and he always looked fabulous. He was way more radical than anyone else at the time, imo. An upfront Christian, dressing fairly conservatively (offstage), talking openly about prayer. Much more challenging and radical than some of his peers.

Mister_Jay_Tee said:
By his 40s he still had nothing negative to say about his faith, and he even entrusted the kids to stay with his mom and accompany her to the Kingdom Hall.

I think what's lesser talked about is MJs liaisons with women. Like you said, he had energy on the Triumph tour still.

Tatum O'Neal and Ola Ray, etc, have stories, they can't all be false. And what would offend most Christians more than fantasy and stories is relations with a woman you're not married to. I feel like that sort of thing would get brought up to Michael too. Hence maybe why he did embrace a more, conservative public appearance.
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Everything you have said makes complete sense to me. The 'elders' or the leaders will have had a convo with Michael but not necessarily in a confrontational way. That Boteach quote surprised me a little bit bc I can't understand why Michael would say he didn't know where the boundaries where. I would have thought by the time of Motown 25 - when he's an adult and has been in the church for years - he would know what sort of thing JW wouldn't be comfortable with. It's really interesting - to me - to watch Michael's performance and try to see it as JW would have seen it and look for the areas they'd be uncomfortable with.

A person's faith is their own personal business, imo. And I still think that, if JW was trying to 'control' Michael, they were doing a rubbish job, lol. In reality, as you say, it probably wasn't at all like that. And he was always his own person.
 
I still think the JW "church" was trying to exert an extreme level of influence on Michael in the '80s. Just because he fought against them and eventually left that group, it didn't mean they weren't very focused in their own attempts.
 
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