WWJD- "What would Jesus do"

[Minni]

WWJD is a well-known slogan for almost every Christian.
I am one of those who cannot stand that slogan. I think it is abusive itself.

The thing is with this is that it makes people perform
or "do good". Jesus did not put "shoulds" on people. He offered something more real than just a new rule to follow. Or fix things by principles. And he was never focused on peoples behaviour and performance, like we are. But in the middle of our sincere wish of doing right, we get focused on the external things; like what is the right thing to do. I do not think that should be our focus at all. For me, it was a fear-based thing. I had to think WWJD so that I could do and take the right decisions. It had nothing to do with my relationship to him and the transforming life within me, but it had everything to do with "doing the right thing to please God, and show my actions for the rest of the church and then feed my flesh of feeling good about myself." I was more focused on doing the right thing than love people that God gave to me during my day. I think it became this way because me and my flesh was satisfied, it gave me a sense of control and power. Do you understand what I mean? If I could follow a list of rules, I would FEEL better about myself. But in the end of the day, it was about performing and it was not transforming and did not last long. And that WWJD appealed to my flesh, and myself, and I did it to feel better. And in the end of the day I did not feel so good on the inside, so it was my kind of drug and I tried to feed that by doing good. Maybe that is why this list is so appealing, because it if I do it, I would feel better. The problem with that kind of thinking and that it is only temporary. It had nothing to do with my transformed life in Chirst. It was not from the inside out. The reason why I am thinking about this it that as a mother I do not want to put that pressure on my kid- WWJD. And then they come to the end of themselves, like I did, and I shamed myself for not doing better, and it all was a big mess. Norwegian Sunday-schools are promoting this now in big scales. WWJD. And it scares me.

Almost everything that stems from religious thinking promotes performance/shame based motivation. As with any fad or "hip" catch-phrase, many wore bracelets touting the slogan who had no intention of doing what Jesus would do, anyway. But religion thrives on producing people, places or principles that people can identify with and sealing the deal with "should." Those who take the phrase seriously soon find that they can't do what they think Jesus would do, so the saying becomes retorical and they struggle on in their life with a new load of guilt.

I'm sure the author of the slogan was well meaning, but the devil will always help us to do good from a human perspective when it causes us to miss Jesus. We could never be certain of what Jesus would do in any given situation anyway, as perfect love often reveals itself in ways we would not expect. The scripture never encourages us to ask ourselves what Jesus would do, but to walk in the Spirit who will guide us in every situation as we lean on Jesus. Even then, of course, we won't always get it "right" but we will remain pleasing to God who loves for us to depend on what he has already done through Christ rather than on our own feeble efforts. And it is not either about “doing right”. It is about being authentic. You can be right in a lot of things, but very wrong in the spirit of it. So I am not a fan of WWJD. It creates a lot of religion and destroys relationship and is fear and shame-based. I guess that is one of the things why I do not go to church anymore….it so much about right and wrong, does and doesn’t, rules and regulations, and less about living a life of freedom in Christ.