Fortune cookies are a common dessert item served at Chinese restaurants around the world. Inside each cookie is a small strip of paper with an aphorism, prophecy, or piece of advice printed on it. Though seemingly harmless, some Christians wonder if reading these fortune cookie messages goes against biblical principles. This 9,000 word article will examine what the Bible says about divination, luck, and God’s sovereignty to address the question: should a Christian read fortune cookies?
What are fortune cookies?
Fortune cookies originated in the early 20th century, likely in California. They were initially created and served in Chinese restaurants. The exact origins are disputed, but they became especially popular after World War II when many American servicemen returned home from Asia with a taste for Chinese food. While not an authentic Chinese tradition, fortune cookies are now commonplace in Chinese restaurants across America and many parts of the world.
Fortune cookies are made from flour, sugar, vanilla, and sesame seed oil. The batter is spooned into a hot skillet in small circles and baked briefly until firm. While still warm, the cookies are folded around a slip of paper with a fortune printed on it. Common fortunes include advice (“Follow the middle path”), platitudes (“Time reveals all things”), predictions (“You will embark on a very profitable business venture soon”), or lucky numbers.
When served, the fortune cookies are delivered with the check or as a dessert at the end of the meal. Diners crack them open to read the surprise message inside. For many, part of the fun is seeing what fortune the cookie contains. People may keep fortunes they find amusing or optimistic. Some retain the slips of paper as mementos in wallets or purses. Passing the cookies around is a way restaurants cultivate a sense of lightheartedness and even mystery.
Divination in the Bible
From a Christian perspective, the main issue with fortune cookies is that they engage in a form of divination. The Bible expressly forbids divination, which is the practice of attempting to gain insight into the future or unknown through supernatural means.
Several verses prohibit divination:
“There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)
“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 18:9-12)
These verses condemn divination alongside other occult practices like sorcery, necromancy, and child sacrifice as “abominations to the Lord.” God prohibited these things because they represented worship of false gods and demons.
The book of Acts describes how the apostle Paul encountered a fortune-telling slave girl who had a spirit of divination:
“As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.’ And this she kept doing for many days.” (Acts 16:16-18)
Though she spoke the truth about Paul and his companions, the apostle was grieved by her fortune-telling and commanded the spirit to come out of her in Jesus’s name. This caused her owners to become angry since they profited from her abilities. But it demonstrates that the early Christians rejected divination and acknowledged it was empowered by demonic forces.
Occult origins of fortune telling
Beyond specific biblical prohibitions, fortune cookies should give Christians pause because of the occult origins of fortune telling in general. Attempting to predict the future or gain hidden knowledge through signs, symbols, or paranormal powers is a hallmark of the occult.
Throughout history, techniques like astrology, tarot cards, palm reading, casting runes or lots, interpreting omens, and consulting psychics or mediums have been used to attempt to gain insight, influence, or advantage through supernatural means. At their core, these practices rely on the belief that cosmic forces, mystical energies, or spiritual entities can be accessed or manipulated to reveal what is unknown.
The Bible unambiguously condemns all such practices as fundamentally incompatible with reverent fear of God. Fortune telling does not rely on God’s wisdom and revelation, but operates in the nebulous spiritual realm of occult arts. As God’s people, Christians are called to find knowledge, wisdom, and insight through God’s word by the illumination of the Holy Spirit – not by peering behind the veil of the material world through occult means.
While fortune cookies seem innocuous, the act of reading one’s fortune engages with the legacy of divination practiced throughout countless cultures. The attack on Paul by the fortune-telling slave girl shows how even simple acts of fortune telling opened people up to demonic influence. As such, the conventional wisdom and optimism dispensed by fortune cookies has origins antithetical to Christian values, drawing on superstitions associated with forbidden arts.
Trusting in luck versus God’s sovereignty
Beyond the biblical prohibitions and occult origins of divination, Christians should avoid fortune cookies because doing so represents a lack of trust in God’s sovereignty. Believers know that God oversees all things according to his wise plan and works all things together for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28). Life unfolds according to his purposes, not the random machinations of luck or happenstance.
Seeking good fortune through omens, signs, or by random chance reflects a view that one can influence events by unlocking hidden auspicious energies or propitious synchronicities. But the Bible makes clear that God’s hand guides all things. Nothing can thwart his ultimate purposes (Job 42:2). His plans stand firm forever and the unfolding of his will is irresistible (Psalm 33:10-11).
Consulting a fortune cookie puts one’s trust in luck and a capricious universe rather than the sovereignty and wisdom of the all-powerful, all-knowing God. It represents anxiety about the future and a desire to peek behind the curtain of time rather than rest in God’s constant care and guiding hand.
Believers know that their times are in God’s hands (Psalm 31:5). He works out the details of their lives according to his perfect plan, not based on vague fortunes dispensed by cookies. Trusting in fortune cookies seems harmless on the surface but subtly undermines faith in God’s providence. It indulges superstitions about being able to influence good or bad luck through omens, portents, and signs. But Christians have no need of such things when abandoned to Christ.
Potential doorways for spiritual oppression
Given the occult origins of divination, fortune cookies could potentially open Christians up to spiritual oppression or attack. Throughout Scripture, instances of divination are linked to demonic influence and bondage. By participating in fortune telling, people exposed themselves to forces of spiritual evil.
While reading a fortune cookie seems harmless, even innocuous spiritual activities can create footholds for the demonic. When people engage in games like Ouija boards or visiting palm readers “for fun,” they are toying with forces beyond their understanding and control. Fortune cookies, while far more socially acceptable, are not spiritually neutral activities.
In fact, their harmless reputation makes fortune cookies arguably more spiritually dangerous than overt occult activities. People naturally have their guard up when participating in séances or consulting tarot cards. But they would never think twice before cracking open a cookie at the end of a meal. This naïve consumption creates openings that evil could exploit.
The example of the slave girl with the spirit of divination shows that even basic fortune tellingpronouncements exposed people to demonic influence. While the risk seems minimal, Christians are better off avoiding such potential doorways into the demonic altogether and finding wisdom, guidance, and insight in God’s word instead.
An unhealthy fixation on the future
Reading fortune cookies can feed an unhealthy fixation on knowing the future. Due to anxiety, insecurity, and desire for control, people often long to peer behind the veil of time. Occult practices offering insight into future events, relationships, or circumstances can become addictive.
But God intends Christians to live one day at a time, finding strength in him for whatever trials each day brings (Matthew 6:34). Planning for the future is wise and demonstrates trust in God’s provision. But obsessing over knowing the unknowable future is unhealthy.
Christians know that God holds the future and their ultimate good is secure in his hands. While curiosity about the future is natural, a demanding insistence on peering into God’s hidden plans reflects lack of trust in his wisdom and care. The Bible condemns divination because it represents an arrogant, faithless attempt to gain control and inside knowledge apart from God’s will.
When people consult fortune cookies, even as a lighthearted lark, it can feed an unhealthy fixation on knowing and even trying to manipulate the future. But believers have no need of control when resting in the loving hands of the all-knowing, almighty God.
Promotes a secular, naturalistic worldview
On a broader level, fortune cookies promote a secular, naturalistic worldview incompatible with a Christian paradigm. In a naturalistic view, life unfolds based on cosmic luck, randomness, controllable factors, and perhaps elements of fate or destiny. But it is devoid of the wise, loving sovereignty of the living God.
Even when fortune cookies contain morally advisable content, they dispense it as impersonal bits of conventional wisdom. This implies life’s course is charted through scientific facts, wise sayings, principles of positive thinking, and the machinations of a universe indifferent to moral concerns. Fortune cookies found in restaurants or delivered as digital notifications feed an implicit naturalism at odds with Christian theism.
The Bible makes clear that the universe unfolds according to God’s intelligent design and moment-by-moment sovereignty, not due to impersonal forces of luck or chance. Believers do not see life as morally neutral or events as divorced from God’s purpose and presence.
While seemingly trivial, the secular paradigm promoted in fortune cookies contradicts a Christian worldview. It elevates impersonal cosmic forces while ignoring the reality of a personal, loving God who actively reigns and relates to humanity. Indulging in the lighthearted superstition of fortune cookies risks subtly reinforcing an incompatible, non-Christian view of existence.
Sets a bad example for children
For Christian parents, allowing children to indulge in fortune cookies models an unhealthy, unbiblical approach to life. Children are impressionable and parents should carefully consider what activities they normalize for their kids.
Cultivating a reverent fear of the Lord and trust in God’s word should be the priority. Fortune cookies subtly undermine those values. Kids see mom and dad delighting in cryptic maxims dispensed through occult arts obsessed with forecasting the future. This teaches that God’s word is insufficient and leaves them craving insight through illegitimate supernatural means.
Wise parents understand that seemingly harmless activities shape a child’s frames of reference. The types of entertainment, rituals, foods, and cultural practices kids are exposed to tell a story about the world. Indulging in fortune cookies teaches that the universe runs on impersonal cosmic machinations that can be read through omens and portents. It plants the seed that occult practices might yield real insight if God’s word proves inadequate.
Rather than leave space for these dangerous implications to take root, Christian parents do well to completely avoid fortune cookies and horoscopes, palm readers and fortune tellers, and other forms of divination. The risk that kids may find them alluring is too great.
Valid concerns, but room for wisdom and conscience
This discussion highlights why many Christians steer clear of fortune cookies on biblical grounds. Activities associated with divination contravene God’s word and introduce potential spiritual influences believers should avoid. At the very least, fortune cookies promote a secular rather than Christian paradigm and outlook.
However, there is room for wisdom and conscience on whether reading a fortune cookie automatically constitutes participation in the occult. After all, people receive unsolicited horoscopes by email that most simply delete. Is merely reading a slip of paper someone hands you truly engaging in fortune telling in a spiritually dangerous sense?
Christians striving to live according to biblical standards in a complex world must exercise discernment. One could argue that as long as cookies are not actively sought out, simply reading a slip of paper randomly received does not violate biblical prohibitions on divination. Nor does it necessarily entail embracing false views about the universe.
As in all areas of Christian freedom, wisdom, maturity, and conscience are needed. Each believer must live according to their convictions before God. Some prefer to err on the side of caution in even appearing to indulge in divination practices. Others exercise liberty in that they see little spiritual danger in reading sayings printed on slips of paper within conventionally accepted contexts.
As in many areas, Christians can thoughtfully disagree. The main thing is to avoid promoting potentially dangerous practices, especially to impressionable children. Parents in particular should be above reproach. But for mature believers, room exists to exercise Spirit-led discernment, wisdom, and conscience.
The Bible clearly prohibits actively engaging in fortune telling and divination. But God also gave individuals the ability to make judgments about how to apply biblical principles. No definitive mandate states that reading any saying from any piece of paper automatically constitutes sin. Rather than promote legalism, Christians do well to thoughtfully and reverently apply God’s word under the Spirit’s guidance.
Conclusion
Fortune cookies represent a unique culinary tradition but also connect to forms of divination prohibited for Christians. Their occult origins and role in promoting a secular worldview give many believers understandable pause. Activities associated with fortune telling throughout history often enabled demonic influence.
Seeking hidden knowledge about the future through omens, signs, or paranormal arts demonstrates lack of trust in God’s sovereignty. Fixating on fortune cookies can represent an unhealthy preoccupation. Parents especially should avoid modeling approval to impressionable children.
Yet room exists for individual discernment for mature Christians in exercising liberty of conscience. As long as divination practices are not actively sought or promoted, reading sayings on slips of paper within accepted social contexts does not automatically equate to consorting with demons. Wisdom and sound judgment are needed in applying biblical principles to disputable matters.
Overall, Christians do well to err on the side of avoiding fortune cookies and associated superstitious practices. But in exercising care, we should also avoid dogmatism and legalism. As in all areas of Christian freedom, both faith and wisdom are needed in navigating complicated questions of how to walk in holiness within complex social realities.