My friend Joshua DuBois<\/a> writes a column for The Daily Beast<\/a>. While I haven\u2019t talked publicly about Justin in a long while (as I mentioned earlier I felt I had nothing helpful to say) I trust Joshua as a good man with the heart of a true pastor so I agreed. I\u2019m pleased with the result, which you can read in its entirety HERE<\/a>. But thought I\u2019d also share the answers I sent him as a few were edited for length, etc. <\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s Sunday. Let\u2019s remember our little brother Justin and his family in prayer.<\/em><\/p>\n +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Q1. Cathleen, is Justin Bieber\u2019s arrest and recent troubles evidence of a deeper spiritual struggle, or simply the normal behavior of a 19-year-old seeking to find his way?<\/p>\n A1:<\/b> Joshua, I think the most honest answer I can give to this two-part question is: Yes.<\/p>\n Yes, Justin\u2019s arrest and (mis)behavior of late (and I\u2019m talking about the last 18 months or so, at least from what little we know publicly about his life and activities, much of which he\u2019s provided himself via Twitter\/Instagram and the like, as well as through video and photographs from the paparazzi, which hounds him) seems to me to be the outward manifestation of some of what\u2019s going on with Justin spiritually.<\/p>\n And yes, I do think that some of this is \u201cnormal\u201d behavior for a 19-year-old boy\/man seeking to find his place, stance, and stride in the world. I have a 19-year-old nephew who is just a week younger than Justin. He\u2019s a freshman in college and experimenting with new freedoms \u2014 most often making good, sound decisions, but sometimes not. That\u2019s normal. When I was 19, I spent a lot of time depressed, wearing black, sleeping 14 hours a day, while listening to The Smiths and The Cure and mooning over the 19-year-old man\/boy who\u2019d broken my heart. That, too, is normal.<\/p>\n But what we have to remember is that Justin, while a \u201cnormal\u201d kid in many ways, is living a life that is anything but normal. At 19, I had a $100 stipend (it may have been a lot less than that, it fact) from which I lived. Justin has more money than most small nations in the developing world. So what and how he is able to \u201cact out\u201d and the magnitude of his less-than-stellar decisions is a whole different ballpark. And so, then, too is the worldwide amplification of his worst public moments, the world\u2019s access to and judgment of them, and (I would imagine) the level of his embarrassment, shame, and humiliation.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Q2. From the time you wrote \u201cBelieber\u201d \u2013 which quotes Justin as saying, \u201cThe success I\u2019ve achieved\u2026comes from God,\u201d to today, clearly something has changed. To what do you attribute the apparent radical shifts in Justin\u2019s character and life?<\/p>\n A2:<\/b> I don\u2019t necessarily agree that \u201cclearly something has changed.\u201d I am far from an apologist for Justin (whom I don\u2019t know personally, just to be clear), but I think you can know and love God, be cognizant of where the blessings in your life come from, believe in the God of grace, mercy, redemption, and salvation; and still make incredibly stupid mistakes. Just because Justin is famous doesn\u2019t make him inure to the pitfalls of being human, young, and at least occasionally idiotic.<\/p>\n What has changed, in my opinion, is how much we see of his misbehavior in public, and the extent to which, again publicly, we see him thumb his nose at authority and, at least in some sense, his legions of very young, very impressionable fans.<\/p>\n I have a 13-year-old niece who is a Belieber (aka big fan of Justin). When news of his arrest broke earlier this week, she texted her mother from school, saying, \u201cMommy, Justin Bieber is in jail!!!!\u201d She clearly was heartbroken, worried about Justin, and trying to make sense of why he\u2019d do what he apparently\/allegedly did. Her mother reponded by saying, in part, \u201cYou know God loves him and this might be just how he comes back to living in a way that pleases God and tha tis much happier and healthier for him.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019ll add my amen to that.<\/p>\n I also have the sense that Justin\u2019s parents \u2014 biological and chosen \u2014 let go of their parental responsibilities for Justin far too soon. Again, I don\u2019t know Jeremy Bieber or Pattie Mallette (his biological parents), nor do I know Scooter Braun (his manager who has played the role of a surrogate parent for much of Justin\u2019s career), but when a child turns 18, yes he or she is of the age of majority, but that doesn\u2019t mean one\u2019s job as a parent stops. In fact, the transition from boy-to-man or girl-to-woman is the time in many children\u2019s lives when they most need a parent\u2019s guidance and involvement, even if it\u2019s precisely the time they want it least.<\/p>\n If it\u2019s true that Jeremy Bieber was present for Justin\u2019s Big Mistake in Miami Beach, whether he was \u201cpartying\u201d with his son or not, the elder Bieber entered the land of Bad Parents the moment he let his child get behind the wheel of a car whilst impaired. Justin may not have been drunk, but (if police reports and the glassiness of his eyes in his mug shot are any indication) it sure looked like he was higher than Jerry Garcia at Woodstock. Jeremy Bieber is still physically larger than his eldest child. I have a teenage son who soon will be bigger than both his father and me. If we were standing there while our drunk\/stoned\/rolling-on-Molly\/otherwise-impaired son attempted to get behind the wheel of a car and drive it (whether it was a rented Ferrari or our 22-year-old Miata) we would physically stop him, even if that mean tackling him to the ground or dragging him out of the driver\u2019s seat, or jumping on the hood of a moving automobile. Jeremy Bieber apparently did none of those things and that\u2019s a world-class PARENT FAIL.<\/p>\n I wonder whether there are any people in Justin\u2019s inner circle today who are there simply and only<\/i> because they love him for who<\/b> he is and not what<\/b> he is. That seems to me to be the most significant shift I\u2019ve watched from a distance in the last few years.<\/p>\n Q3. Some folks watch Bieber\u2019s challenges with bemused interest, others with disgust, and others with genuine concern. What are the responsibilities of a society \u2013 and of people of faith \u2013 towards a mega-star facing this type of trouble? Do his fans enable his behavior? <\/b><\/p>\n A3: <\/b>We have the responsibility to be kind to one another, and that responsibility extends to celebrities, too. We\u2019re the ones who placed them on their teetering pedestals. Justin didn\u2019t ascend his without our help. So when they tumble off, the fact that we cheer and sneer is awful, hypocritical, and deeply, sometimes savagely unkind.<\/p>\n As for people of faith, we should be rushing to his aid in whatever way we can, which for the vast majority of us is prayer. Pray for Justin. Pray for his family, blood and chosen. Pray for Justin\u2019s friends. Pray for God to send Justin his Anam Cara \u2013 soul friends, the rarest and most valuable and necessary kind for any of us to have as we navigate our lives on this side of the veil.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t shame Justin. Instead, let\u2019s remind him of who he is: A beloved child of the Most High God whose love for Justin is the same as it was last week and last year and every moment since he took shape and form in his mother\u2019s womb. There is nothing Justin can do to make God love him any less and there is nothing Justin can do to make God love him any more.<\/p>\n Grace isn\u2019t a get-out-of-jail-free card, but it covers not just a multitude of sins \u2013 it covers them all. Even if you\u2019re a celebrity. Even if you act like an entitled, spoiled brat. Even if you get drunk and pee in mop buckets, or swear like a sailor at the cop who\u2019s arresting you for drag racing. Even if you get behind the wheel of a car drunk or stoned and you drive it and you hit someone and you kill them. God loves you. And God\u2019s grace is still available to you. Grace is the final word and we should remind Justin of that.<\/p>\n Q4. How can Justin turn it around \u2013 practically, emotionally and spiritually? If you could speak with him today\u2026what advice would you give? <\/b><\/p>\n A4: <\/b>As a mother and a person of faith who has made myriad mistakes (some of them fairly epic) in my lifetime as a believer, I don\u2019t think Justin can turn this around. I KNOW HE CAN TURN THIS AROUND. But in order to do that, he needs a sabbath. A long one. Out of the public eye and surrounded by or at least accompanied by someone who loves him, will be honest with him, kick his arse when he needs it, hold him while he bawls his heart out, and make him matzo ball soup. He needs time to heal (and no, I don\u2019t think he should go to rehab \u2013 I don\u2019t believe he\u2019s an addict) with the help of people who can help him get healthy, whether they are therapists or clergy or friends (famous or not).<\/p>\n I know for a fact that several older celebrities \u2014 goodhearted people of faith who share Justin\u2019s Christian faith and upbringing and have been in the business since they, too, were teens \u2014 have reached out to him as mentors and friends in the past, but were rebuffed. Now is the time, Justin, to let them help you. Let them accompany you through this difficult time.<\/p>\n Find a spiritual director or pastor or rabbi or clergy person (and please not the kind who is interested in having his or her picture taken with a pop star or asking you to endorse his or her latest book) and lean into their wisdom and care. Let them remind you of God\u2019s promises to all of us. Also read Eugene Peterson\u2019s \u201cRun with the Horses.\u201d You are a Jeremiah.<\/p>\n And then go away. For as long as you need to go away to get well and remember who you are and why you are here. Don\u2019t worry about your career or the Bieber Industrial Complex. Those people got on fine before you arrived and started lining their pockets with Benjamins and they\u2019ll be fine if (and hopefully when) you take a break for a few months or years or however long you need to be whole.<\/p>\n AS an artist, you break yourself open and pour yourself out. It\u2019s like Eucharist. But you can\u2019t share that amazing gift of Eucharist with the world if your internal well is dry.<\/p>\n Go fill it up. Let people help you find a way to do that. Be gentle with yourself \u2013 shame is not helpful \u2013 but neither is arrogance.<\/p>\n SAY YOU\u2019RE SORRY TO YOUR FANS. Fans like my 13-year-old niece. Don\u2019t just tell them how much they mean to you and thank them for putting you in the spotlight and giving you this life. APOLOGIZE FOR NOT BEHAVING THE WAY YOU KNOW YOU SHOULD; FOR NOT BEING YOUR HIGHEST AND BEST SELF.<\/p>\n And then go take care of you. Not for the sake of your career, but for the sake of your heart, mind, body, and soul.<\/p>\n Justin, I\u2019m sorry for being party to the atmosphere of media pressure around you that at the very least contributed to where you are right now. Please forgive me. I don\u2019t want to sell another copy of the book I wrote about you. I just want you to be well. And if there\u2019s anything I can ever do to help you privately to get whole, please call on me.<\/p>\n Praying for you, dear brother in the One who loves both of us more than we ever could fathom.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We have the responsibility to be kind to one another, and that responsibility extends to celebrities, too. We\u2019re the ones who placed them on their teetering pedestals. Justin didn\u2019t ascend his without our help. 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