Fortune cookies?

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brittrossiter

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I posed this question in the Ask the Apologist forum but don’t know if they will get to it, possibly because it sounded silly to me when I first posed it, but the more I thought about it the more it bothered me.

Simply put, does it violate God’s instructions not to participate in witchcraft, necromancy, fortune-telling, sooth-saying, and similar evils to consume a fortune cookie and read the fortune?

I have no desire to participate in any of the above activities, but I love Chinese food and find it hard to avoid those pesky cookies. Is this insidious sin trying to creep its way into our society, or is it harmless?
 
Well, that depends upon the credence you give to them. Are they a yummy dessert with a fun message, or do you believe in them?

In general, I find it hard to classify this as violating any commandments at all.
 
How about the First Commandment - putting faith in whatever force is behind those cookies ahead of the One True God?
 
brittrossiter said:
How about the First Commandment - putting faith in whatever force is behind those cookies ahead of the One True God?
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There isn’t any “force” behind the cookies-- there’s a fortune cookie factory stamping out a million cookies with the same dozen fortunes.

If you are in fact putting faith in the fortune cookie god, then yes you are violating the First Commandment.

Only YOU can make something an idol. Otherwise, it’s just an ordinary object.
 
brittrossiter said:
I posed this question in the Ask the Apologist forum but don’t know if they will get to it, possibly because it sounded silly to me when I first posed it, but the more I thought about it the more it bothered me.

Simply put, does it violate God’s instructions not to participate in witchcraft, necromancy, fortune-telling, sooth-saying, and similar evils to consume a fortune cookie and read the fortune?
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OK. At this point in my reading of your posting I burst into uproarious laughter at the UTTER goofiness of the quetion…! 🙂

No offense. This was simply my actual reaction.
I have no desire to participate in any of the above activities, but I love Chinese food and find it hard to avoid those pesky cookies. Is this insidious sin trying to creep its way into our society, or is it harmless?
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It’s no more “dangerous” than reading, and not believing, a “predictive (fortune cookie like)” ad on a billboard.

“You WILL buy a Prius… TODAY!”

I just read “fortune cookie fortunes” to see what weirdness the authors have come up with. You can often tell when a fortune was written by someone “late a night on way too much caffeine”…!

If you’re not asking “forbidden questions” of “forbidden to communicate with critters”, you’re cool.

Thanks enormously for the giggles, by the way…!

Mahalo ke Akua…!
E pili mau na pomaikai ia oe. Aloha nui.
 
last week i got a fortune in a cookie that said:

“We’ve ran out of fortunes, too tired to think, try back tomorrow”
 
thechrismyster said:
last week i got a fortune in a cookie that said:

“We’ve ran out of fortunes, too tired to think, try back tomorrow”
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You too? I got one that said ‘Some fortune cookies contain no fortune’. I felt ripped off.
 
thechrismyster said:
last week i got a fortune in a cookie that said:

“We’ve ran out of fortunes, too tired to think, try back tomorrow”
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I especially like the one that read:

“Get great goodness from back room available if obstacles not fleeced.”

Not sure how this translates into Chinese, although I’ve heard that fortunes are sub-contracted to Korea and Bhutan these days, but it did make me laugh,…

…which is probably better than the “great goodness” in that back room, that was apparently available to me.
 
One word: “scrupulosity”.

In short, if anyone is dumb enough to actually expect a machine generated slip of paper with a non-specific adage on it to foretell their future, then they might have a problem, otherwise, read it, laugh at it, and go pay the check.🤷
 
brittrossiter said:
How about the First Commandment - putting faith in whatever force is behind those cookies ahead of the One True God?
Click to expand...
I think more people are putting their faith in a deck of cards, or a one-armed bandit than in fortune cookies! Or the Lotto, or even the stock market.

Astrology is a far more serious sin than fortune cookies, likewise ouija boards. Most of these require us to suspend our disbelief in order to enjoy them, in the same way we watch the cinema 🙂

Sometimes…people put their faith in themselves, or even late-night television info-mercials 😉

…or the weatherman.

Enjoy the cookies and laugh at the fortunes.
 
Well, I don’t know about ouiji boards, but I love getting my horoscope out of the paper! It’s always good for a laugh. I also love watching Jedi fight scenes in Star Wars, but don’t take that very seriously either… Although I’d have to say, I’d rather have a good lightsaber than a good horoscope! 👍 :eek:
 
If not for fortune cookies, how would we know what numbers to play in the lottery? 😉
 
My favorite fortune cookie fortune said “Vote for Perry Moy”. Perry Moy is a local restaurateur (guess what kind of restaurant) who was running for County Board at that time. As it turns out I did vote for him. I thought that I did so because I agreed with his positions on several important issues (and more to the point, disagreed with his opponents). But is it possible that I really had been manipulated by occult cookie forces?

Somehow I don’t think so.
 
I usually go with adding ‘in bed’ to the end of the fortune. 😉

Although once I got ‘Your labors are well-utilized and esteemed by the commensality!’ (no kiddin 😛 )

Wow, I had never seen a Maoist-oid fortune cookie before. Still gives me the giggles though. All praises to the Group of Seventeen!
 
Years ago, I got one that said “Don’t go out tomorrow”. What kind of sick fortune cookie company is that?
 
“Fortune Cookies” are a relatively recent invention meant for entertainment. I know of NO ONE that takes them seriously. If they CAUSE you to stumble, then don’t read them, just eat the cookie.

I don’t know where you guys are coming up with these’ “Fortunes” the ones I get are usually pretty straight forward and bland.

If you’re married, you and your spouse might get a giggle out of silently adding the words “in bed” at the end of the “fortune”…you’ll giggle almost every time.
 
Yerusalyim said:
If you’re married, you and your spouse might get a giggle out of silently adding the words “in bed” at the end of the “fortune”…you’ll giggle almost every time.
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I’ve only seen a couple that didn’t work with that, and we eat a lot of Chinese food.
 
No, unless you are taking them seriously.

Of course every action we take is a profession of our faith so I guess sometimes it might not be a good idea. But if you’re doing it with your friends for the fun of it then I’m sure it’s not sinful.
 
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