Foods offered to idols – Do you eat them?

I have grown up in a Taoist home and followed Taoist faith practice. It was the only way I know and it was the way I lived for 38 years until I converted to Catholicsm five years ago.

I was joking with my eldest son today. My hubby brought back a lot of food stuffs which include roasted chicken, roasted duck, roasted pig and fruits and cakes.

I told my son, “Foods for the idol, you know?”

He replied, “No…those are not idols. Those are my grandparents.”

True enough!

We do eat because to us, it is just foods. However, I do make it clear to my sisters-in-law that I won’t be bothered with any of their discussion on what to cook for the prayers. I told my hubby that it is against my principle to get involve because as far as I am concerned, it is NOT part of my faith to prepare meals for our deceased ancestors as my Lord will provide all that.

One of the thing that I find annoying is the importance placed on the pineapple as it is call ‘ong lai’ or ‘prosperity come’ in Hokkien. After the prayers, the in-laws will cut the pineapple and place the skin at appropriate places on the tomb while asking for the blessings of their parents to let them prosper. After that, they will slice the flesh and pass around and loudly proclaim that eating the pineapple will give them luck. If that is not enough, they will go as far as cutting apples to eat for harmony (peng kor) and oranges for gold. *roll eyes*

I gave them killer stare that I won’t join them in eating.

In the Bible, I remember clearly Jesus’s words and St. Paul’s words.

Jesus said that what goes in our mouth is not very important. (hence, if there are clean and edible foods that nourish our body, then, I won’t reject it)

But St. Paul said if our Christian acts of joining in such prayers will cause others to weaken in their faith, then, we should not join in. That’s why I don’t look amuse if they offer me pineapples. That’s also why if we go to the Ching Ming, I will burn my own bunch of joss-sticks, gave them to my children and loudly say, “Ask Jesus to watch over grandma and grandpa. And burn this joss-sticks to give fragrance to grandma’s tomb and at the same time, so that the mosquitoes don’t bite.” Otherwise, my sisters-in-law (all of four of them) may get the impression that we are praying along with them.

It is hard and awkward to be the only Christian in the family and it takes a lot of patience to tolerate people who look at Christians like they are some freaks or even worst, people who do not ‘pray’ their ancestors and hence, not being filial.