All About Bieber's Bathtub Baptism

If an apology wasn't enough for you to forgive Bieber for his naiveté (or straight-up racism, you be the judge), then that might just be fine with Bieber because he's seeking the forgiveness of a higher power. Reportedly, Justin Bieber was baptized in a bathtub in the wake of extortion attempts in connection to his racist joke videos. TMZ (who may have been in on the extorting themselves) spoke with Pastor Carl Lentz who explained that he spent a week with Bieber a month ago doing intensive Bible study. This is said to have included studying Bible passages and attending church service.

Following his studies, Bieber was baptized in his friend's bathtub rather than at a church because he wanted to keep things private. Page Six reports otherwise and says that Bieber was baptized in the bathroom of the Hillsong Church in New York City where Lentz is a pastor.

Back in February, Page Six reported that Bieber was scouting baptism locations in NYC and was looking for a church with a private pool. Bieber's relationship with Lentz (who in addition to being a pastor, looks like a model) was established at least several months before their Bible study sessions. Bieber tweeted Lentz in September 2013 thanking him for a moving sermon.

Of course, it's unclear if Bieber's baptism was directly related to the extortion and his racist videos, but just because he'd been considering baptism for months, it doesn't mean that they weren't connected. Allegedly, TMZ got access to the racist videos four years ago and has used them to blackmail Bieber into appearing on the show and giving information. Also, the person who attempted to extort Bieber for $1 million after they got a copy of the videos started making offers two months before the videos came out.

While parts of this story are unclear, if Lentz really did talk to TMZ, it means that Bieber at least got baptized in a bathtub somewhere and for some reason. It also means that Lentz totally let Bieber's bathtub baptism secret go public. Way to go, Pastor.