Should Christian grow Lucky Bamboo Plants? A co-worker gave me 3 stalks of Lucky Bamboo for a birthday gift and I am not for sure if I should keep them.
Answer
If the plants were a gift, I see nothing wrong with keeping them, and much wrong with not doing so, as long as you aren't keeping them because of any "lucky" properties they may have. To get rid of the plants would insult the giver.
There are a lot of things we do that have their origins in non-Christian religious practices, but have lost their religious significance. (See my answers to similar questions at windchimes.html and practices.html.) As long as we don't place that significance on them, my opinion is that they are acceptable in everyday use. The same would be true of lucky bamboo.
The principle is stated in the Bible by Paul. Among early Christians many Jewish Christians objected to eating meat offered to idols, saying that that was the same as participating in the sacrifice. Probably many who had come out of idolatrous backgrounds held the same belief. Paul said that they should not eat such meats if they knew they had been sacrificed to idols. But he also said, "If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake. But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof: Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:27-31)
In other words, if it doesn't bother you because you know that "lucky bamboo" is no luckier than any other plant, keep it. But if someone insists you not grow it because they consider it "lucky" and a pagan practice, if you can't convince them that you don't believe in the lucky aspect of it, it would be better not to grow it. That is not because you believe in the luck, but so that you don't cause another Christian to violate their own conscience and sin thereby.
Also, most people probably couldn't tell a "lucky" bamboo from an unlucky bamboo. (An unlucky bamboo is one that would rely on someone like me to help it grow.)