Where Is Your God Now?

About

"Where Is Your God Now?" is a popular catchphrase often used as a caption for cursed or menacing images or pictures that depict something defying the normal order of things. The meme originates from a viral YTMND page of the King from Burger King advertisements in the 2000s. The phrase has also been repurposed as the "Where Is Your X Now?" snowclone.

Origin

The slightly altered version of the phrase appears in verse 7:10 of the Book of Micah of the Old Testament (seen below).^[1]

Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will look upon her; now she will be trampled down like the mire of the streets.

The phrase "Where Is the Lord your God?" is generally interpreted as "the enemy" (the Chaldean) luring the city of Jerusalem into questioning its faith in Jehovah when Jehovah did not aid the city as it was attacked by the Chaldeans.^[2][3]

Versions of the phrase also appear in the Bible, in Torah and in a number of Psalms, typically said by Israel's enemies to the people of Israel about their God (shown below).^[4]

My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, “Where is your God?” (Psalm 42:1-3)

He will say: Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted, which ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? (Deuteronomy 32:36-38)

In October 2004, a Burger King commercial called "Wake Up for With Burger King" premiered in the U.S. (shown below). In the commercial, a man wakes up to find The Burger King lying next to him and staring at him.

On March 28th, 2005, YTMBD^[5] user ilpadrino created a YTMND titled "WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW?" that featured a still image of The Burger King staring at the man, captioned with the phrase. The page received nearly 80,000 views in 16 years (still image shown below).

Spread

Following the viral spread of the YTMND page, the phrase gained viral popularity online in 2005, being used in comments and image macros on 4chan, Fark and Something Awful (examples shown below, left). The meme initially gained a strong association with The Burger King, with multiple memes in which the character was used in conjunction with the catchphrase posted online in 2005 and 2006.^[6][7] For example, on May 8th, 2005, an anonymous 4chan user started a thread titled "Where is your god, now?" in which he highlighted a similarity between Luciano Pavarotti and The Burger King (shown below, right).

Between 2005 and 2007, more YTMNDs titled or captioned with the catchphrase or referencing it in another way were created. For example, on October 25th, YTMND user MrCheez posted a YTMND^[8] page based on a photograph of penguins staring at a man in a penguin costume, titled "Where is Your Penguin God Now?" The YTMND received over 25,000 views in 16 years.

On February 11th, 2011, a TV Tropes page for "Where Is Your X Now?" stock phrase was created.^[4]

In Popular Media

Notable examples of the phrase used in popular media include a scene from the 2010 animated film Toy Story 3 in which character Lotso references it by saying "Where is your kid now, sheriff?" (shown below, left). In a 2012 episode, titled "Valar Morghulis," of Game of Thrones, the character Stannis Baratheon chokes character Melisandre and asks her "Where is your god now?" (scene shown below, right).^[4]

Various Examples

External References