Saturday, March 20, 2010

WTFWJD?

My non-Christian co-worker recently told me about the acronym WTFWJD. It took me a minute, but upon realizing what it meant I laughed and immediately began looking for a t-shirt with that phrase on it (I found some, but haven't bought one yet).

After mentioning this phrase on Facebook though, I understandably got mixed reactions. Part of the negative reaction was from the fact that I am one of the leaders in our church's youth group, and many of those youth are Facebook friends of mine. Oops! Yes, upon realization and reflection I think it is inappropriate to encourage this phrase for younger kids. Sorry parents.

Another negative reaction stems potentially from misinterpreting unintended emotions. Since it's written (as opposed to spoken), it's hard to tell if it's being stated with anger. The "F" word is a pretty strong curse word, so is the writer (in this case me) shaking his fists and yelling with a furrowed brow? From my minimal experience, most Christians only speak the "F" word under extreme conditions, such as hitting your finger with a hammer, just after getting in a car accident, or even worse - when their sports team loses a game. But most of the cases that I've seen the phrase "WTF" used isn't out of anger, but more commonly confusion. Such as a crazy picture with the caption WTF under it. Or someone stating something ridiculous or outlandish in a forum and another person commenting with "WTF?".

Another concern with WTFWJD is the question of using God's name (Jesus' - same thing) in vain. By cursing in the same sentence/phrase as Jesus' name, am I possibly taking His previous and holy name in vain? Well, since I'm not cursing at God or using his name to curse something else, I personally don't think that is the case.

Now that I've covered the reasons why people might not like this phrase, I'd like to explain why I do like it. 1) It gets people's attention. WWJD is an old and overused phrase, and this puts another spin on it in a fresh and funny (although vulgar) way. 2) It's relevant to today's culture. WTF is one of the widely used phrases for texting and chatting, along with OMG, LOL, and many others that have become common with the current technologies used for communication. 3) It can be used to promote my faith. I'm (perhaps optimistically) hoping that because this statement is controversial, the attention that it draws could potentially be used to actually start a conversation about my faith with someone who could benefit from it.

Now the real question is this though - if I were to wear a t-shirt with this printed on the front of it - what Bible verse would best be suited to be printed on the back of it? Any help is appreciated.

1 comment:

CatholicMom said...

That is a very good question actually... I took a while to search for a witty or interesting option, and the very best I could come up with was:

Romans 12:14 - Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them.

a) because when YOU get unapproving glances from the more uptight "religious" people - this will be a subtle reminder that they should be praying for your wayward soul instead of judging you.
b) it really is what Jesus would do...
c) it is subtely ironic because the verse tells you not to curse, but the WTF contains a curse

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