Question:
Brother,
Thank you for answering my last question even though I used "texting shorthand." I do assure you though that was not my intention. I guess I either got too philosophical or I just don't have the command I thought I had over my language :). At any rate I was wondering if opening fortune cookies is a bad idea. I tend to think so my wife doesn't. Sometimes they have some little tidbits of wisdom. It's all taken lightly but I'd rather avoid anything like that based on what I have learned from you anyways. Thank you.
Dear Joseph:
In addition to everything else I am a professional writer and teacher of writing. The English language is my craft. I cringe at what I see as the bastardization of the language esp.
by the politically correct nimrods, and also the more recent "textlish".
As for the fortune cookie, I do not believe opening them is a sin because those "fortunes" are not actually the result of divinations. Reading one's horoscope, or using the I Ching, is another manner. Those things are divination and condemned in the Bible.
The problem with the fortune cookie is not that it is actual divination (fortune-telling), but that it is an image of fortune-telling (e.g., "Fortune" cookie). It plays with or flirts with what is a sin just for fun -- fortune-telling.
St. Paul said that we are not only to avoid sin and evil, but even the "appearance" of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22). While there are disputes on the meaning of this verse, St. Paul teaches elsewhere that we are to cling to that which is excellent (Philippians 4:8) and that even with allowable behaviors prudence may require us to abstain (1 Corinthians 6:12; 10:23). The principles suggested by these verses certainly begs the question as to whether or not we, as Christians, ought to avoid the appearance of evil (i.e., wearing devil, witch, goblin costumes at Halloween) regardless of whether or not the activity is strictly sinful.
We are our brother's keeper and thus, while we cannot be held slave to the sensibilities of others, we are to consider how our actions (even if not sinful) may affect others. The religious definition of scandal is doing something that leads others to sin. Could others watching a Christian enjoy the "fun" of a fortune cookie (even if the fortune is not taken seriously) come to think that it is okay for a Christian to read fortunes, such as the truly sinful divination of astrology or I Ching? Should we consider, in our liberty, to avoid the possibility?
I cannot answer that for you. As Christians were are not to be flippant about such considerations. We have an obligation to not cause scandal, even just a little bit. We, as Christians, cannot fall into the trap of the devil to say, "It justa ..... (movie, TV show, costume, book, or fortune cookie). All things have meaning. All things give a message of something. What is the message of the movie, TV show, book, game, costume, or whatever?
Thus, consider what you want to do about a fortune cookie. You may come to a different conclusion than I. Open it or not as you decide. Since messages in fortune cookies are faux fortunes, not real and not determined by actual divination, it will be no sin to open and read them.
Personally, I do not open them, but I do not chide those who do. We are at liberty to read them or not.
God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary
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