Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Jesus Christ or The People Who Cried Wolf

As I was sitting in my stupid little cube getting ready to leave for the day, I overheard the (Name? Epithet? Curse? Prayer?) ‘Jesus Christ!’ uttered by a co-worker.

Whenever I hear this particular name outside of a religious, or rather an organized religion, context I’m immediately filled with a sense of curiosity.

The first thought I had once I heard it today was ‘I wonder if he (the guy who said it) is religious?’

My second thought was, ‘If so, is he a Christian?’

I often wonder if Muslims say things similar to this, such as ‘Abraham and Muhammad!’

I wish I knew more about Buddhist beliefs … Are they allowed to exclaim, ‘Guatama!’?

I have a friend who is an atheist and the first time I heard her say ‘Jesus Christ!’ I calmly said to her, ‘As a non believer, shouldn’t you have said ‘Jesus Christ??’ you know, with more of a question in your tone?’

I wonder if this particular way of voicing frustration is a by product of praying. The Bible says that God wants us to pray in JC’s name. I wonder if saying ‘Jesus Christ!’ is just a shortcut for impatient prayers.

My daughter said this once a few years ago. I think she was 5 or 6 at the time. If I remember right, I think the conversation went something like this:

The players:

MJ as MJ
Daughter of MJ as DMJ

MJ: How was your day, lil one?
DMJ: Hi dad. It was a good day.
MJ: How was school?
DMJ: Jesus Christ! We I did a lot of coloring.
MJ: (spluttering) Uh, what did you say?
DMJ: (completely innocently) Jesus Christ, dad, we had a lot to color.
MJ: (trying to stop from laughing) DMJ, you aren’t allowed to say that . . .


I think its safe to assume that the phrase is used quite frequently. I sometimes picture God and JC in heaven having a conversation:

God: So, son, the thing with the dinosaurs was some of them were just too horny for their own good.
JC: Dad, that is about the worst pun … (distracted) Did you hear that?
God: What?
JC: I thought I heard someone say my name.

Except it happens about 12 thousand times an hour. At some point, you’re gonna stop paying attention.

3 comments:

GETkristiLOVE said...

What I want to know is who is this Jesus H. Christ guy? Is he related somehow?

vikkitikkitavi said...

What about "Jesus Christ on a crutch"? That's one of my favs.

MonstrousJoe said...

GKL -H is for Hiro. He's to make an appearance on NBC's hit show 'Heroes' for the sweeps. Powers: Walking on water, turning said water into wine and finally, falling into wine that was, until recently, water.

Vik - Not to be contrary, but I believe you've mangled the second letter... the term is 'Jesus Christ on a clutch ... three point shot as time expires and its good!' .. duh.