Justin Bieber is a believer in God, social media proverbs + more

Every teenage girls favourite “it” guy, Justin Bieber, has been in Australia this week, performing on Bieber Island (usually known as Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour). At the same time, Complex – a pop culture magazine – published a cover story all about Bieber. It charts his rise to fame, some of his guffaws, and, surprisingly, his faith in God. He says, “I, personally, love Jesus and that was my salvation… 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. Sometimes when I don’t feel like doing something, but I know it’s right, I remember, I’m pretty sure Jesus didn’t feel like going to the cross and dying so that we don’t have to feel what we should have to feel […] That’s the whole thing with religion that’s been throwing off the people. It’s not a ‘have to.’ It should be just like a personal relationship. Like, ‘Hey, I love you because you first loved me’.”

A new play off Broadway called “The Christians” is making some small but impressive waves. Christianity Today’s Alissa Wilkinson reviews it here, and says, “what sets The Christians apart is that Hnath [the author] is doing what great playwrights do: he is exploring human motivations and relationships with a sometimes-painful commitment to honesty that supersedes his own prejudices and lets the characters live and breathe as real human beings. It would be incredibly easy for Hnath to write these characters as caricatures—on one side, the kindly liberal, and on the other, the fire-breathing fundamentalist. But his pastors are not cartoons.” Read the review here.

Earlier this week, the Canberra Times published this oped piece by Andrew Masterson, which suggested that, “Turnbull’s elevation may well signal the end of the religiously motivated language and policy that characterised much of Tony Abbott’s tenure. And that must surely be a good thing. Even from this short distance, it seems clear that Abbott and many of his ministers couched their dialogue with the Australian people in a language of conservative Christianity that sat at dramatic odds even with mainstream Christians.” Is he right?

Ever wondered how they first came up with that list of key words at the back of your Bible? Here’s the story, in images. Hint: it has something to with really large and very old computers, and is actually pretty cool.

We all need wisdom when it comes to living portions of our lives online. Luckily for us, God knew that! And he gave us the book of Proverbs to help us out. Steve Kryger from Communicate Jesus has helpfully collated this list of 21 essential proverbs for every Christian on social media. What’s your favourite one?