Fortune Cookie Fallacy
I had the privilege of eating dinner at P.F. Chang’s last night. The Mongolian Beef there may be my favorite meal. Anyway, as my wife and I began slowing down and finishing our dinner, the waitress kindly placed the bill on our table along with a couple of fortune cookies. Now, before I go any further, let me clarify my stance on fortune cookies. Quite simply, I’m only interested in stuffing the crisp delight in my mouth, not picking up life goals and advice from it. But, with that said, I would be lying if I implied that I don’t read the message just for fun.
Well, last night, my fortune cookie surprised me a bit. Again, I don’t pay a lot of attention to this stuffing inside my golden treat, but I am aware enough to recognize a general theme that exists among fortune cookie messages. They usually include a series of lucky numbers on one side and words of faux wisdom or prophecy on the other. They usually make random, innocent statements like, “Your ability to juggle many tasks will take you far” and “a plucked goose doesn’t lay golden eggs.” But, last night that changed.
No longer was I reading harmless advice with little impact on an interested (and desperate) reader. My message read as follows:
Be Tactful. Overlook Your Opportunity.
Wow. This is bizarre and possibly ridiculous. I have read this over and over and keep telling myself that I must be misreading this or at a minimum just misunderstanding. Surely there is some hidden truth that I’m just not getting. So, I’m asking for some input. Any guesses on what this means? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
(By the way, I am all about capturing our opportunities and running through the doors that God provides. Ephesians 5:15-16 says, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.”)
About the Author
Jason Hayes is the young adult ministry specialist for Threads. His primary role for Threads is to serve as a speaker, church consultant, and writer. He is the co-author of Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches That Reach Them and the author of Blemished: How the Message of Malachi Confronts Empty Religion. Jason earned a Master of Divinity from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Prior to coming to LifeWay, he served at Long Hollow Baptist Church in north Nashville. He is also happily married to his beautiful wife, Carrie, and is a proud dad to their two sons. Learn more at jasonhayesonline.com.
There have been 4 replies so far
I think to properly exegete the fortune cookie, we have to look at the context of the original message. The first question that comes to me is what kind of opportunity would you need to overlook and should you? Since the overlooked opportunity is prefaced by “be tactful”, it could be assumed that by seizing the opportunity one would be less than tactful. So what situation would that be? To me, it seems like if you have someone already against the ropes in terms of being in the right, this is saying the tactful thing to do is to overlook the opportunity to obliterate your opponent. It’s kinda like a weird fortune cookie-esque version of the idea of meekness and mercy. Meekness isn’t weakness (although it sounds similar), it is having great power under submission to authority. Combined with mercy, that would translate into having all the power to crush someone but showing mercy.
Just my two cents. (Which is probably about what that fortune cookie cost to make)
1 | thymn412
Thursday, June 21, 2007, at 11:11am
This past year our pastor went through the life of David, and after this study of David’s life I’m not as quick to run through those open doors. You will recall he had several opportunities to kill Saul, but he passed them up because he recognized that those weren’t open doors that God wished him to walk through. The creator of most fortune cookies is probably not attempting it ignite a deep spiritual discussion. However, I think we can learn something from almost any situation.
Be Tactful. Overlook Your Opportunity.
tactful: having or showing tact tact 2 : a keen sense of what to do or say in order to maintain good relations with others or avoid offense
Based on the definitions, maybe the unexpected wisdom from the fortune cookie can encourage us in our Christian walk. Would we be brighter lights and saltier salt if we used a little more tact? I think all of us can think of times we have said things we shouldn’t have or repeated gossip. Many times I think I’m guilty of saying something to promote myself by bringing the other person down a notch. I’m not at all comfortable when the Spirit convicts me that this is just as much of a sin as any other.
So, after reading this fortune, I’m going to try and practice overlooking my next opportunity to ‘zing’ someone.
Richard
2 | RichardS
Thursday, June 21, 2007, at 4:21pm
These are great ideas, guys. Thanks for putting some thought into this. RichardS - point well taken regarding running quickly through the doors of opportunity. The life of David is an amazing study. I agree, it’s not about doors being open, but rather God directing us through them and then our response of obedience. Thanks again for connecting.
3 | Jason Hayes
Thursday, June 21, 2007, at 8:52pm
Perhaps the message got obfuscated during translation. Here are possible de-obfuscations using Google translation:
English-to-Chinese-backto-English: Be tactful. Neglect your opportunity. English-to-Korean-backto-English: Wit be. See you chance. English-to-Japanese-backto-English: There is no ability, but be. Overlook your opportunity. English-to-Spainish-backto-English: To be discreet. To ignore your opportunity.
My best guess is that it is a bad translation of:
“When you consider others first you overlook your own opportunity.”
Maybe a “go for the jugular” kind of thing.
4 | benny
Wednesday, July 11, 2007, at 12:38pm
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