Fortune cookie affirms SIL's atheism

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Larry1700

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My SIL is an atheist or agnostic. I have been trying to answer his questions/criticisms (with a LOT of help from you good folks on these forums!). My daughter, wife and I have been praying for him for years. It’s hard to tell if there’s been an inner change, but he still doesn’t go to church.

Unfortunately (from my perspective, not God’s), he seems to live a somewhat charmed life. He has a great personality (has lots of friends), has the job he wants (a teacher), and gets to teach them the way he wants to.

My daughter and son, on the other hand, have been hit with a lot of trials/tribulations over the years, in spite of fervent prayers and continuous attendance at Mass.

Tonight, we were at a Chinese restaurant we frequent, and we opened our fortune cookies. Unfortunately, his cookie said “Faith answered. No one there.”

Yes, it’s a simple fortune cookie, and nobody in their right mind believes them. However, why in the world would it have to be my atheist/agnostic SIL who gets THAT one?!?!
 
I’m afraid it was just an awful coincidence. It depends on whether or not having received that little “message” in his fortune cookie might make him start to wonder and think deeper. If it starts to have an effect on him, for the better, then I would say it’s possible God sent that. I think of these little things all the time, I’m always looking for “signs” in the littlest of ways when I feel I’m in most need of them.

I hope your son-in-law will grow more in his faith, and it would be special if a little fortune cookie could do that for him.
 
What your SIL received was an incomplete version of an ancient expression of faith:

Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. No one was there.

I am sure whoever wrote the fortune cookie had no idea what the original expression meant. Why not shorten it up to fit on this tiny scrap of paper? Or perhaps someone else received only, “Fear knocked at the door,” after a random snip of the scissors.

As for the trials and tribulations of your daughter and son, please refer to Hebrews 12:4-12. Of course, this will not be appealing to your SIL until he understands what little must be given up to gain so much. We are all like the rich young man in Mark 10:21-23. It is only our measure of earthly wealth and what we call wealth that changes, and it is difficult to give up what makes us comfortable.
 
If people want a justification for a certain point of view, they will find it if they look hard enough.

Remember the old saying (I am paraphrasing): For those with faith, no explanation is necessary; for those without faith, no explanation will suffice.
 
Your son-in-law does not believe in the judeo-christian God, but he believes *a piece of paper in a cookie *is the source of truth? :hmmm: How capricious :ehh:

tee
 
Crown_of_Stars said:
I’m afraid it was just an awful coincidence. It depends on whether or not having received that little “message” in his fortune cookie might make him start to wonder and think deeper. If it starts to have an effect on him, for the better, then I would say it’s possible God sent that. I think of these little things all the time, I’m always looking for “signs” in the littlest of ways when I feel I’m in most need of them.

I hope your son-in-law will grow more in his faith, and it would be special if a little fortune cookie could do that for him.
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I guess I don’t understand what you’re saying. It seems to me that the only effect it could possibly have on him would be for the worse.
 
Saburo said:
What your SIL received was an incomplete version of an ancient expression of faith:

Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. No one was there.

I am sure whoever wrote the fortune cookie had no idea what the original expression meant. Why not shorten it up to fit on this tiny scrap of paper? Or perhaps someone else received only, “Fear knocked at the door,” after a random snip of the scissors.

As for the trials and tribulations of your daughter and son, please refer to Hebrews 12:4-12. Of course, this will not be appealing to your SIL until he understands what little must be given up to gain so much. We are all like the rich young man in Mark 10:21-23. It is only our measure of earthly wealth and what we call wealth that changes, and it is difficult to give up what makes us comfortable.
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Very good information about the original quote! Thank you. I kind of remember hearing that sometime in my life, now that you mentioned it.
 
Larry1700 said:
Golden!

Thanks, tee!
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It’s sort of like the family members on facebook who go on about how judgemental and brainwashed all religous people are and that they should just accept everyone no matter what they do and not rely on “some book” to tell them how to live their life. Then their next post is a horoscope telling people born in April to avoid people born in June.
 
Allegra said:
It’s sort of like the family members on facebook who go on about how judgemental and brainwashed all religous people are and that they should just accept everyone no matter what they do and not rely on “some book” to tell them how to live their life. Then their next post is a horoscope telling people born in April to avoid people born in June.
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lol…or “post this to 10 people and you will receive cash in the mail”.
 
“When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything.”

― G.K. Chesterton
 
tee_eff_em said:
Your son-in-law does not believe in the judeo-christian God, but he believes *a piece of paper in a cookie *is the source of truth? :hmmm: How capricious :ehh:

tee
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Where did the OP say that his SIL believed that the fortune cookie was a source of truth?
 
heidi_storage said:
“When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything.”

― G.K. Chesterton
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And there are no atheist in the foxhole either. :rolleyes:
 
tee_eff_em said:
Your son-in-law does not believe in the judeo-christian God, but he believes *a piece of paper in a cookie *is the source of truth? :hmmm: How capricious :ehh:

tee
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What’s interesting to me is that often times believers will take a coincidence as a divine sign (see practically every episode of “The Journey Home”). It doesn’t appear the son-in-law is taking the happenstance of the fortune cookie as anything more than a bit of humor.
 
Mike_from_NJ said:
What’s interesting to me is that often times believers will take a coincidence as a divine sign (see practically every episode of “The Journey Home”). ** It doesn’t appear the son-in-law is taking the happenstance of the fortune cookie as anything more than a bit of humor**.
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What in the world gave you that impression?
 
Larry1700 said:
He did so when he showed the fortune cookie message to my daughter, saying, “See?”
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You didn’t share that in your OP. It appeared that you reacted to the fortune, but there was no mention of how he reacted.

I suggest not looking too far into a fortune cookie message. For instance, had you or your husband reached for that cookie, and received that message would it likely have made you question your faith?

Now, if your SIL has had the cookie message framed and refers to it as some sort of cosmic stamp of approval of atheism (which would be odd for most atheists) I’d think it cause for distress.
 
Larry1700 said:
My SIL is an atheist or agnostic. I have been trying to answer his questions/criticisms (with a LOT of help from you good folks on these forums!). My daughter, wife and I have been praying for him for years. It’s hard to tell if there’s been an inner change, but he still doesn’t go to church.

Unfortunately (from my perspective, not God’s), he seems to live a somewhat charmed life. He has a great personality (has lots of friends), has the job he wants (a teacher), and gets to teach them the way he wants to.

My daughter and son, on the other hand, have been hit with a lot of trials/tribulations over the years, in spite of fervent prayers and continuous attendance at Mass.

Tonight, we were at a Chinese restaurant we frequent, and we opened our fortune cookies. Unfortunately, his cookie said “Faith answered. No one there.”

Yes, it’s a simple fortune cookie, and nobody in their right mind believes them. However, why in the world would it have to be my atheist/agnostic SIL who gets THAT one?!?!
Click to expand...
maybe because it creates a paradox. if it was meant for him to read… then it means something. and therefore life/existence means something beyond what we see…
if it was not meant for him to see… then it is as pointless as life in general.

if he says “see?!?! this is what i mean!”
then you say "what? you mean that complete accident which means nothing anyway?? why would you hold on to the idea that this means anything?? maybe because there’s something in you … in all of us that is oriented toward a greater meaning, perhaps? "

that’s when he scoffs and the seed is planted. 😃
 
Larry1700 said:
My SIL is an atheist or agnostic. I have been trying to answer his questions/criticisms (with a LOT of help from you good folks on these forums!). My daughter, wife and I have been praying for him for years. It’s hard to tell if there’s been an inner change, but he still doesn’t go to church.

Unfortunately (from my perspective, not God’s), he seems to live a somewhat charmed life. He has a great personality (has lots of friends), has the job he wants (a teacher), and gets to teach them the way he wants to.

My daughter and son, on the other hand, have been hit with a lot of trials/tribulations over the years, in spite of fervent prayers and continuous attendance at Mass.

Tonight, we were at a Chinese restaurant we frequent, and we opened our fortune cookies. Unfortunately, his cookie said “Faith answered. No one there.”

Yes, it’s a simple fortune cookie, and nobody in their right mind believes them. However, why in the world would it have to be my atheist/agnostic SIL who gets THAT one?!?!
Click to expand...
Did you ever consider that your daughter and son might be suffering for your SIL, and sharing in the sufferings of Christ, not as a negative thing, but as a positive spiritual growth coming closer to Christ is their lives. A hard thing to understand, but true, it’s called being perfected, or purged. One can be lulled into a comfortable life, and have spiritual sloth. There is a saying " Nothing happens that is not permitted by God. The message could be a conscience diversion to your SIL , a type of superstition and Christians know who is active in these situations As a teacher he must have some intellectual acumen, and I don’t believe there are pure atheists, or agnostics. God instilled in all of us a desire to know the truth, even a liar doesn’t want to be lied to. There is always hope, keep on praying, and offer up some of the suffering for your SIL.
 
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