I was in a few congregations growing up and like many things in the organization, rules were often regional. One of those issues I remember and it was something I always got a kick out of, was people's reaction to fortune cookies at Chinese Food restaurants. I had not run in to it as a child, and then I moved away as a young adult and was studying with Witnesses to get baptized and they would try to make me feel more welcome, by inviting me to meals with other Witnesses in the congregation. That way I was sure to be sucked into the fold and get baptized and not be tempted by the world, as I had been for so long as a teen and young adult. Well one time we went to this Chinese food restaurant, one Sunday after the meeting, and there was about six or so couples and a couple single men. I was eating my meal, enjoying it and then the check came with those fortune cookies at the plate. I grabbed one and opened it and read the fortune. I thought this was normal and never actually ran across anyone who did not, including my own mother who was the one who raised me in the religion. Everyone looked at me, like I just opened Pandora's box or something and the person I studied with said they would cover something about the "God of good luck" and "Divination" on our next study. No one else touched the cookies and I was the only one who did, and I kind of felt like some sinful idiot and little embarrassed. Well at the study, the person who conducted it with me, mentioned that fortune telling was mentioned as divination and Fortune cookies were another tool for this action. I almost laugh, but instead I just shock my head in agreement and figured I was just not educated or enlightened enough to fully understand. What I was wondering though, did the congregations and Witnesses you were in, have issues with Fortune cookies?
Did the Witnesses you know, see "Fortune Cookies" as evil?
by free2beme 28 Replies latest jw friends
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serendipity
I grew up in a poor congregation, and they wouldn't let good food go to waste. So there was no problem with the cookie, but the fortune was pulled out and not looked at or talked about.
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juni
Are you kidding me? Right up there w/fornication and murder.
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Wasanelder Once
Fortune cookies, why of course... These are the future predictions of chinese cookie makers and very evil. Duh? where are you from anyway. Some almost go postal when they see you read them.
Note: Here's the strangest fortune I ever read in one.... "All your rubberbands are facing the right direction." Wierd, eh?
W.once
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CaptainSchmideo
Interesting facts about "Demonic" Fortune Cookies
Tracing the Origin of the Fortune Cookie
Giving credit to the Chinese, most Americans have never considered an American origin to fortune cookies, the crispy, bow-shaped sugar cookies served in restaurants as the finale of a Chinese meal.
While the Chinese have no tradition of dessert, one competing legend of the fortune cookie suggests it was introduced in the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park and the idea pirated by a local Chinese restauranteur. A Japanese American heritage is claimed by others, contending the cookie is a descendent of the sembet, a flat, round, rice cracker.
The Chinese believe the fortune cookie is a modern Chinese American interpretation of the moon cake. Legend has it that moon cakes were used in the fourteenth century as a means of critical communication. In their efforts to stave off the Mongols, Chinese soldiers disguised as monks allegedly communicated strategies by stuffing messages into moon cakes. The concept of message-stuffed pastry has supposedly endured through ages.
Perhaps the most plausible story dates back to 1918 when, in Los Angeles, David Jung, founder of the Hong Kong Noodle Co., invented the fortune cookie as a sweet treat and encouraging word for unemployed men who gathered on the streets. Some claim the cookie was more likely invented as a gimmick for Jung’s noodle business than as an icon of social concern.
Revolutionizing the process of forming fortune cookies -- initially performed awkwardly with chopsticks -- Edward Louie invented a folding machine for his Lotus Fortune Cookie Company, which is still in existence today in San Francisco.
Now mass produced and widely distributed, the fortune cookie is exported to China and Hong Kong with fortunes written in English. Most popular in the United States, the cookies continue to lift spirits with promises of great success, love and harmony, fame and good fortune.
Text is Reprinted with Permission by the Copyright Holder:
Man-U Import News
980 So. Amphlett Boulevard
San Mateo, California 94402 -
Virgochik
We could eat the cookie, being veeeery careful not to peek at the message, which would bring us demonic harassment.
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damselfly
We would also have to turn the placements over so not to be tempted to peek at the chinese horoscopes. Invites the demons into your mind don't you know.
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blondie
No, in fact we found it fun since the fortunes were applicable to anyone in the group.
Blondie
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EAGLE-1
I read them and dont recall parents not liking it but I heard a jdub complain about them.
Chinese rest could be a safe zone away from jdubs.
Lets start a rumor.Maybe an urban myth........................
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free2beme
I always think they are a fun conversation piece at the end of the meal and in some cases, when the restaurant sucks, it is the one thing that taste good.