Okay…Just What WOULD Jesus Do?!Nov 30, 2005

US

Peggy L. Elliott

It recently occurred to me that it had been some time since I’d seen or heard that once ever-so-rousing Right-Wing Call to Action, “What Would Jesus Do?” (or, even more clever in it’s “secret code” mode, “WWJD"). 

Now, I should have been relieved, having considered this unctuous slogan Christian-dreck at its worst.  Initially aimed at the younger Right-Wingers-in-training, the catch-phrase was only one of the many brainwashing techniques housed in the arsenal employed by the burgeoning numbers of unfettered Christian fanatics. 

“What Would Jesus Do?” our Christian youth was first advised to question.  It doesn’t sound so bad, does it?  I mean, how could anyone fault a kid’s taking a moment to step back from a decision to be made, an action to be taken, to ask, “What would Jesus do in this situation?”

”I know!  He wouldn’t cheat on this test!....Steal this candy!....  Lie to Mary and Joseph about where He was last night, what He was doing and with whom!”

Because Jesus wouldn’t cheat, steal or lie, it was hoped neither then would those who followed Him. 

However, the saying took on a life of its own, reaching far beyond the original target audience.  “What Would Jesus Do?” was found everywhere you looked - splattered over books, magazines, newspapers, computer screens, sides of buildings, even achieving that highest accolade of public acceptance:  Becoming the most popular bumper sticker, found on all makes and models of bumpers throughout this mighty land.

With a little help from those whose interest in the subject was not exactly pure, it wasn’t long and we had Jesus writing off on just about every under-handed deed dreamed up by the Christian Right.  That’s the problem with fanatics, they can’t see beyond their narrow agenda, to which they are so often violently committed.

It never occurred to our happy group of Right Wing fanatics that other Christians could possibly come up with an answer different from that expected, that they could actually decide, “No, Jesus Would NOT Do This!”

In fact, this has been the case.  Christians not tipped quite so far to the Right, found themselves being coerced into accepting answers that could not be justified.  The Jesus they’d been raised to believe in simply would not do what they were being told He would:

The question:  “What would Jesus do?” The answer:  “Fire Bomb a Doctor’s House!”

Wait a minute!

There’s no denying that Jesus did demonstrate a nasty temper once and at a very inopportune moment.  Still, trashing the coffers of those money-lenders inside that temple - a decidedly violent act committed by one who professed loving thy enemy and turning the other cheek - is far removed from all of the violence that has since been committed in His name.

And so it was, our intrepid propaganda pushers found themselves in the position of having to manufacture a more, shall we say, “assertive” Jesus, as their psychological warfare evolved into actual combat.  But it would take the blind support of a whole lot of Christians to keep Jesus duking it out with Mohammad, while Buddha is warming up, awaiting His turn to come out swinging. 

These fanatics, in their skewed view of the world, believe that other Christians are all very stupid and easily lead.  They expected no one to question their motives as anything but noble when they systematically seized, shredded, then remanufactured the lessons Jesus taught, molding them into twisted sound-bites to suit their purpose.

And what would these supposed “Christians” have us believe that Jesus would do:  Plunder the employee’s pension funds!....Turn in the neighbors as suspected terrorists!...Attack and devastate a sovereign nation to protect a few old men’s obscene wealth, dependent upon their continued strangle-hold on Middle Eastern oil!...Then turn around and lie and lie and lie about why you sent those thousands of troops off to die!

Can you imagine any of the above scenarios - which have actually come to fruition, having been planned and executed by these good and humble “Christians” - as fitting responses to the question:  “What Would Jesus Do?”

I do believe I have my answer, why it is this once so popular catch phrase has been allowed to disappear from the public’s lingo.  Because those who dreamed up this campaign knew that the Christians they depend on, trusting though they are, still could be fooled for only so long.  That eventually the answers they were being given to the “WWJD” question no longer made sense. 

And when it doesn’t make sense, the question being asked turns from “What Would Jesus Do?” to “Why are YOU Doing This?” A thinking, educated, well-informed populace is the greatest defense against those who set violence loose upon this world in pursuit of their own individual power and wealth.

Steal from Employees?  Wage an illegal and immoral war?  Lie, cheat and dishonor on a wholesale scale while pretending to be pious and respectful of human life?  Would Jesus really do these things?

More importantly, what are YOU willing to do to put an end to this?  We all know what Jesus would do, don’t we?