Is it a mortal sin to have fun?

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Kathrin said:
don’t we in some way glorify God whenever we rejoice in the beauties He gives us? Unless something is wrong or sinful, of course
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Exactly! Enjoying the things He made and the life He gave us does glorify Him as long as we are not going against His commandments of course. 🙂 That’s like planning an awesome party for someone and then they don’t have fun or enjoy it, we would want them to enjoy what we made for them, same with God, He wants us to enjoy the beauty of the life He made for us. 🙂
 
If ones fun is any of the following: lusting after women, fornication, adultery, murder, robing banks, stealing cars, burning down schools, skipping Sunday Mass, getting drunk ( loosing ones reason), worshiping idols, sorcery, serious detraction, terrorism etc – then yes.

If good reasonable good fun – no.
 
jimmy said:
Is it a mortal sin to have fun? I have looked at several threads on the moral theology forum, and they seem to point in this direction. But none of them state it outright. They might say it is a sin to be a seat hopper at a baseball game, or to rub your belly because it feels good. They might say it is a sin to drink beer, or to smoke a cigarette. They might say it is a sin to eat an icecream cone. Some say that it is a sin to look at a beautiful woman, because, damn, she looks good. All of these threads imply that life should not be fun, and any attempt to have fun or enjoy life is a sin, and most likely mortal. So, is it a sin to have fun?
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Pleasure is not sin it is the antecedent action that determines the morality.
 
Joe_5859 said:
I know this question can seem a bit silly, and I don’t want to distract from the ironic and tongue-in-cheek responses, but I’m going to give a more serious response.

I think that this question illustrates the underlying sentiments that those who suffer from scrupulosity – often subbconsciously – embrace: if it feels good, it must be wrong.

This is not – nor has it ever been – the Christian view! It is really a veiled form of the old gnosticism that says “spirit = good; body = evil”.

Yes, we can enjoy things. God does not want us to be curmedgeonly mopes. As the saying goes, there are no sour-faced saints.

I think sometimes scrupulosity can lead people to think that they must find joy in pain and sorrow in pleasure in order to be “really” holy. I think that’s one of the devil’s great cons. He can get you to feel miserable about feeling good and incapacitate you towards doing good. Win-win for him. Really, it leads one to feel miserable when they have fun, and also miserable when they feel miserable because they are not enjoying their misery (and they think they should be)!

Of course, none of us are exempt from suffering. And – since the Cross of Christ brings meaning to our suffering – we really can maintain our joy through that suffering. But we are not masochists.
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VERY WELL SAID Joe. I suffer from scrupulosity and the scruples have often attacked especially what gives me joy :(. Which is actually a very sad thing. It made a part of me kind of like LOOK for reasons why the thigns I enjoyed might be in soem way sinful, even in very twisted complicated ways…

And really I am a better persona lso for others when I am joyful and happy 🙂 🙂
 
what is not good is having fun at the expense of others in the sense of putting them down, let’s say by making mean jokes about them etc
 
Kathrin said:
what is not good is having fun at the expense of others in the sense of putting them down, let’s say by making mean jokes about them etc
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What if there is a cute girl I like? Can I get a little sassy with her? Can be a little bit of a smart ***, and tease her a little? Nothing serious, just a little playfulness.
 
i meant mean jokes that are hurtful, as when a group of people has a lot of fun talking bad about another or trasing another in a mean way.
 
jimmy said:
What if there is a cute girl I like? Can I get a little sassy with her? Can be a little bit of a smart ***, and tease her a little? Nothing serious, just a little playfulness.
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I am scrupulous myself so I may be the wrong one to try and reply to this as I am afraid I might say something wrong… 😉
 
Kathrin said:
i meant mean jokes that are hurtful, as when a group of people has a lot of fun talking bad about another or trasing another in a mean way.
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Ahh. I see what you mean and I agree. Follow up question: is it alright to have fun at the expense of a bully? For example there is a show on MTV called bully beat down. It can be pretty funny or enjoyable seeing a bully get his payback.
 
Kathrin said:
I am scrupulous myself so I may be the wrong one to try and reply to this as I am afraid I might say something wrong… 😉
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Hahaha, you are fine answering it. Don’t worry about saying something wrong, it is a conversation in which hopefully we all learn something. Even if you do get something wrong someone is bound to correct it. I used to be more scrupulous, but I have become a little cynical. I am quickly becoming a smartass, or maybe you would call it colorful.😛
 
jimmy said:
Hahaha, you are fine answering it. Don’t worry about saying something wrong, it is a conversation in which hopefully we all learn something. Even if you do get something wrong someone is bound to correct it. I used to be more scrupulous, but I have become a little cynical. I am quickly becoming a smartass, or maybe you would call it colorful.😛
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i’d rather somebody else answer it 😉

ok my answer would be it depends on what you mean by teasing? Just playfully? As in joking around woth her? To get to know her? And you both have fun?
Or, on the other side… making sexual advances? Making fun OF her and you know she doesn’t like it? Making her feel pushed?
 
I’m sooooo no expert in such stuff, let’s hear somebody else …
 
Julianna said:
When I signed up on CAF, the first question I found unreal was, “Is it a sin to work at Starbucks or buy their products?”

You wouldn’t believe the silliness. Another one was about finding out your real estate agent is gay, would you still hire him/her? Yeah, really, I kid you not.
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Those sound like valid questions to me.
 
Zenkai said:
Those sound like valid questions to me.
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Seriously? Even the question about ones real estate agent??? So you think that it is immoral to hire sinners to do a job for you, or even that there is any sort of question as to whether or not it is moral??
 
thewanderer said:
Seriously? Even the question about ones real estate agent??? So you think that it is immoral to hire sinners to do a job for you, or even that there is any sort of question as to whether or not it is moral??
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Well, now that I read it again, the real estate one might be a bad question.
 
jimmy said:
Is it a mortal sin to have fun? I have looked at several threads on the moral theology forum, and they seem to point in this direction. But none of them state it outright. They might say it is a sin to be a seat hopper at a baseball game, or to rub your belly because it feels good. They might say it is a sin to drink beer, or to smoke a cigarette. They might say it is a sin to eat an icecream cone. Some say that it is a sin to look at a beautiful woman, because, damn, she looks good. All of these threads imply that life should not be fun, and any attempt to have fun or enjoy life is a sin, and most likely mortal. So, is it a sin to have fun?
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No, it is not. A lot of people here on CAF are very extreme. Don’t come here for moral guidance. Go to a priest or spiritual director instead.
 
DexUK said:
No.

Christ Himself had fun.

He went to the Wedding at Cana… and, what’s more, made some more wine, of the finest sort, for the revellers. Were they not having fun?

Puritanism has no place in Catholicism.
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I disagree. Self denial is a good thing. So some puritanism as you put it, is good for us.

But before you reply, I do think that there is nothing sinful with having fun, laughing and joking.
So long as it’s done in such a way that no one else is hurt in any way.
 
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