Justin Bieber: ‘I Just Wanna Honestly Live Like Jesus’

Relevant reports that, in a lengthy interview with Complex magazine, Bieber opened up about his lifestyle, his faith, and the controversy surrounding him.

Faithit.com states that Bieber has been in the news with such charges as public urination, a confiscated monkey scandal, and drag-racing a red Ferrari in his yellow Lamborghini while intoxicated— with an expired license.

The popstar says he has changed, but acknowledges that he can’t just tell people that he is turning his life around because they need to “start seeing something tangible.”

In the interview, Bieber says that he loves Jesus, but he understands that Christians often give a bad name to Christianity.

“At this point, my faith has gotten me to where I am. My faith has brought me to a whole other level. I love talking about my faith,” Bieber candidly stated.

“I think that with Christians, they’ve left such a bad taste in people’s mouths,” he continued. “Just like, overly pushy with the subject, overly churchy and religious … You ever flicked on a channel and a late-night church show is on? Sometimes it’s like, “You better do this or you gon’ die and you gon’ burn in hell!” And you’re like, I don’t want anything to do with this. I’m the same way. I’m not religious. I, personally, love Jesus and that was my salvation. I want to share what I’m going through and what I’m feeling and I think it shouldn’t be ostracized.”

Faithit.com reports that Bieber said he doesn’t want to hide his faith, but wants to be vocal about it.

“My voice, I’m not gonna let it not be heard anymore. I’m gonna use my voice for a reason. I think that people, as soon as they start hearing me saying I’m a Christian, they’re like, ‘Whoa Justin, back up, take a step back.’ Also, I do not want to shove this down anyone’s throat. I just wanna honestly live like Jesus. Not be Jesus—I could never—I don’t want that to come across weird. He created a pretty awesome template of how to love people and how to be gracious and kind. If you believe it, he died for our sins,” Bieber stated.