Not liking certain songs because they question God.

I don't consider Something to Believe in to have anything particularly to do with religion/God, but just uses them as a reference. If anything it's a bit of a shout out at hypocrits who say one thing but do another. Take the line about heroin/coke as a prime example. It's basically saying Jon doesn't agree with doing heroin, therefore he should think the same about doing lines of coke. Fact is, both are drugs and although one is more likely to kill you than the other, neither are a good choice.

As for Hey God - like others have said, it's just someone yelling out and questioning whatever deity they believe exists.
Jon was brought up a staunch Catholic and I seem to remember him saying that at the time of writing the album a lot of the band were questioning whether those beliefs etc were valid because of everything happening in the world.

I'm a Christian who had a VERY church based upbringing (dad was a pastor), but I don't get offended by an awful lot. It's all about opinion....
My dad never wanted me to listen to Bon Jovi after he heard me blasting out Santa Fe many years ago (specifically "Now I'll never get to heaven, if the devil has his way", but now he couldn't give a hoot, and my mum even listens.

I've always thought 'Bad Medicine' was a deeply religious song!

Sex is, if anything, very personal. Religion is too, as it is once own belief about something. Perhaps religion will rub more people in certain directions than sex will, but there's no truth in saying the latter isn't personal.

Slightly off topic perhaps, but as a result of this, I just watched the video to Hey God, and it's ridiculous just how much it appears to be a completely different band to nowadays. I know that seventeen years is a long time, but it really is a shame to think that the band who once had the balls to put that as the opening track to the first album that they released after hooking in a ton of new fans with Always is long gone and in all likelihood is never coming back

Not only that. Have they ever since produced a song that is as edgy (not sure if I found the right word here) as HG, lyrically, but moreso musically? I mean, times and sounds were different back then, but even in 1995 a song like HG didn't scream "hit". Quite the opposite. (Surprisingly it got released as a single.) It's my 2nd favourite BJ tune, but it's one that probably doesn't appeal to everyone (hence Jon saying in the WWWB book that it works well for him live, but not the majority of the audience), and it takes a couple of listens to 'get it' (I assume, since I 'got it' a looong time ago...).

Get what I mean? It might be compared to "Homebound Train" or "If I Was Your Mother". The category of songs your average housewife (or regular Joe - nothing against housewives at all) will probably skip while listening. I miss those songs that challenge the listener and not just play it safe. There's a reason why "Hey God" is my 2nd favourite song of all time.

Lovely post. Agree.

Not sure what you're trying to say here...marriage is god's blessing for love between two individuals hence..

Marriage existed before religion and can exist without it - there is no implied religion with marriage.

Where have you found that it says that marriage existed before religion?

Really?! Bullet, Learn to Love (what do you think 'halle' is short for, exactly?) and what about Welcome... probably the most religious song they've ever released 'everybody's perfect, god makes no mistakes'. recent albums have been as religious if not more than any others. Bounce would have had their most religious but they cut it and smacked it out as a B side (Another Reason to Believe).

I don't personally have a problem with it, God and religious imagery is some of the most powerful you can use poetically - it has the advantage of universal understanding even if not universal acceptance, and if the listener is willing to interpret it themselves rather than taking it literally it can still make for a powerful message.