Singer/songwriter Justin Bieber has slammed media outlets who accused him of comparing himself to God after he shared a photo of himself with the caption "And on the 7th day."
The 22-year-old "Sorry" singer shared the black-and-white photo, in which he appears to be asleep, on his Instagram page earlier this week. The caption referenced the story of Creation in Genesis, where God rested on the Sabbath after creating the world.
However, a number of popular news outlets were quick to speculate that Bieber was hinting he believes himself to be a deity: "Hmm, what are you trying to tell us, Biebs?!" quips an article from Hollywood Life.
Fed up with such assumptions, Bieber clarified the caption to his 66.3 million Instagram followers: "People love to twist what was meant for good and maybe it was my fault by not explaining my thought correctly. You can think the worst about me but never ever want people to think I compare myself to The MOST HIGH," he posted.
He changed the caption on the original post to read: "And on the 7th day..... AND MY GOODNESS I WAS MAKING A REFERENCE, I AM NOT COMPARING MYSELF TO GOD IM THE FARTHEST THING FROM!!!! IT WAS MY WAY OF SAYING HOW IMPORTANT REST IS.. WHEN THERE IS NOTHING TO PICK AT ME FOR YOU MAKE SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING BUT I GET IT YOU NEED RATINGS AND TRACTION YOUR BLOGS. But if truthfully if you were offended it was in no way shape or form me comparing myself to the most high."
The "Love Yourself" then repeated this in another post, and added: "Would love to talk about this because it's another moment to point to God. When I said on the 7th day it was a reference to say that on the 7th day he rested giving us a template and example letting us know how important rest is."
Bieber, who is currently busy with his Purpose World Tour, has previously warned against idolizing celebrities, arguing that God alone is worthy of such praise.
"I would really suggest to people, 'Don't put your faith in me,'" he told The Mirror back in February, "Because I'm gonna disappoint you every time. Yeah. It's scary. But I want them to know that I'm not going to be able to solve their problems... I'm not that higher power. I'll never be. I'm not perfect. I've made so many mistakes. I just want to get to a place where... I just want people to know humans aren't meant to be worshiped. We're just not. So when a human is being worshiped, this is dangerous. 'Cause it does nothing but give you pride."
In an earlier interview with GQ Magazine, Bieber said his newfound faith is what keeps him humble, and said that without it, he would be a "terrible" person.
"I feel like that's why I have a relationship with Him, because I need it. I suck by myself," he said. "If I was doing this on my own, I would constantly be doing things that are, I mean, I still am doing things that are stupid, but... It just gives me some sort of hope and something to grasp onto, and a feeling of security, and a feeling of being wanted, and a feeling of being desired, and I feel like we can only get so much of that from a human."
