Pleasure. The Ultimate No-No?

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thechrismyster

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A lot of talk on these forums as of late, i’ve noticed, are about this is a sin, this action is kinda sinful, this is mortally and painfully sinful, this isn’t a sin…

Do you ever do anything simply for physical pleasure? Enjoying a triple scoop Rum Raisin & Coffee Ice Cream Waffle Cone with a tall, cold glass of beer… Having wild sex with a wife/husband (yours, of course), with spontaneous pleasure in mind, Smelling the ocean air, hot sand under your feet and the warm sun stroking your face and thinking the physical pleasure is and end unto itself? Smoking a fine Havana Cigar while sitting at the racetrack betting on the ponies just for the love of watching the races?
are these sinful?
enjoying things in this life that make you smile?

part II:
what is your guilty pleasure? what makes you grin from ear to ear and makes you happy to be alive???
 
How can pleasure be a sin? God created everything in the universe, he created it good, he gave us everything we need, and everything he gives us is good. We cannot sin by enjoying the good gifts he gives us if we use them according to his plan, for the purpose he intended, in justice and in charity. The pleasure attached to using the things we need for our health and well-being are part of his gift to us. He built us with the capacity for pleasure, so it must be good.

The only way we can sin by indulging in pleasurable use of created things is to use them without justice and charity. Using things that don’t belong to us–in violation of the commandments i.e. sex outside of marriage, stealing, gluttony. Using things only for their pleasurable aspects without regard to their proper use–eating solely for pleasure of the senses without regard to proper health and nutrition.

Natural law itself guides us on proper enjoyment of the pleasure attached to created things. We know perfectly well the results of eating the wrong foods just because they taste good–we see it on the scale, on our cholesterol test, in the mirror. Just look around and read the newspaper or watch CNN and see the result of the misuse of sexual pleasure. Sin and immorality result from deliberately misusing creatures and created things for our own selfish desires rather than the way our Creator intended.

If anybody out there is obsessing about what minor act or choice is sinful, they should consider turning their attitude around and considering what acts and choices are pleasing to God.
 
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thechrismyster:
A lot of talk on these forums as of late, i’ve noticed, are about this is a sin, this action is kinda sinful, this is mortally and painfully sinful, this isn’t a sin…

Do you ever do anything simply for physical pleasure? Enjoying a triple scoop Rum Raisin & Coffee Ice Cream Waffle Cone with a tall, cold glass of beer…
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Yes, but without the beer. I think Chambord or another dessert liquor would be better with ice cream.:cool:
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thechrismyster:
Having wild sex with a wife/husband (yours, of course), with spontaneous pleasure in mind, Smelling the ocean air, hot sand under your feet and the warm sun stroking your face and thinking the physical pleasure is and end unto itself?
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Yes and yes, but these things usually lead me to praise God. They are FROM Him after all.
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thechrismyster:
Smoking a fine Havana Cigar while sitting at the racetrack betting on the ponies just for the love of watching the races?
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I don’t smoke cigars, It doesn’t look pretty with skirts.😉
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thechrismyster:
are these sinful?
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Done in moderation, I’d say no. But it could be SLIPPERY!
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thechrismyster:
enjoying things in this life that make you smile?
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It depends on what it is that is making you smile.
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thechrismyster:
part II:
what is your guilty pleasure?
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Staying up to late on the computor!:yawn:
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thechrismyster:
what makes you grin from ear to ear and makes you happy to be alive???
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God.😃
 
Thinking back to my childhood, I would be walking home from school and for the sheer joy of it, start to run as hard as I could for a block. It was pointless and sheer pleasure. Or when I pet my dog now, there is no reason for that. I could say it is theraputic and will lower my bloodpressure. I grin from ear to ear when the RCIA candidates get confirmed or my younger brother comes home with motorbike in tow and all the fun and life that causes.

What about rocking on the screened in porch with the moon and a gentle breeze for a few hours, or to kiss a baby on the head and breathe in their babyness, that’s heaven.
 
I went with the “31 flavors” choice. Pleasure is not a sin within the proper context. We need to keep in mind that there are 31 flavors that God gave us - not 32 (or any other number - just going with the ice cream analogy). 😉
 
You’ve got Havana cigars? Let’s not be hoarding them, now. Pass some around.

JimG
 
forgot to confess my guilty pleasure: Dove dark chocolate squares (high in anti-oxidants and made from a plant, so counts as one vegetable serving)
 
My guilty pleasure is Baskin Robbins’ Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream! Love the stuff. Evidentally, so do a lot of other people because I’ve been told that it’s their best-selling ice cream.

I think God invented some things just to make us happy and bring joy into our lives. And I think joy was invented to make some parts of our lives even better. For example: Mass in and of itself is an absolutely wonderful thing. The fact that I thoroughly enjoy going and that it’s one of the highlights of my week makes Mass even better.

Scout 😉
 
I love this thread! and this question is interesting, because it is so easy to be so worried about sin all the time, at least it is so for me. I am not quite scrupulous but tend in that direction lately, mainly because of the pleasure I sometimes take in “the solitary sin,” which I do not believe is actually sinful in healthy moderation, but because the Church says it is I confess it. Anyway, I do not believe pleasure, per se, is a sin, unless it causes me or someone else pain or sorrow. Why be alive if we cannot enjoy pleasure?! God gave us so much beauty, so much love, so much joy it is a sin to be dour! I rejoice in my health and my body’s enjoyment of good food, big hugs, breathing the mountain air. There is nothing sinful about feeling good! This is something that drives me nuts on these forums sometimes, all the dour judgements and attitudes about the body, yes, about the human body. I refuse to feel badly or sinful about my normal human sexuality that God gave me! I am a normal and healthy fortysomething woman who has lived too long to be made to feel that the pleasure I find from living in my body is sinful, for crying out loud!! I love every square inch of my body because God made it and there is much pleasure in being alive, being made in His image and likeness and eating much icecream! Haagen Daasz is the best!!
 
I like the contention of C.S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters that only God can create a pleasure. The devil is stuck with taking the pleasures God created and twisting them somehow. Satan’s ultimate goal is then to warp us away from God so that we do what is neither pleasurable nor good, and are happy neither in this life nor the next.

So yes, pleasure for pleasure’s sake, but never in spite of whether or not there is good in it in the larger sense. No pleasure is a pleasure if we don’t remain in God.
 
Re pleasure in marriage read "Good News About Sex and Marriage " by Christopher West 😃
 
I am still trying to figure out the diffrence between answers 2 and 3…
 
same question really, just seeing if people bite the positive spin or negative spin.
 
Chrismyster, you might want to check out the thread *Poll: Solitary Sin: is it always a mortal sin? *in the Miscellaneous forum. The issue of pleasure comes up quite a bit in that thread. It’s pretty interesting how so many Catholics believe pleasure is selfish…
 
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Sarah_louise:
I am still trying to figure out the diffrence between answers 2 and 3…
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I recently lost a bunch of weight, so I have to think Jesus might be handing those 31 flavors to yours truly just one scoop at a time.

But to not enjoy the gift of life… that seems an ingratitude.
 
I actually voted on #1 because isn’t Carnal pleasures a pleasure that leaves God out of the experience?
For example: Sex for sexual gratification leaves God out of the act (especially if it is NOT in marriage).
OR eating your favorite food to be guttonous?
It’s just being selfish and that’s the sin of carnal pleasures.

I easily could have voted for ALL of the choices, but just as long as we include GOD in all we do, then I do not see pleausres as a totally bad/sinful thing.

go with God!
Edwin
 
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renee1258:
Who wants pleasure, when you can have joy?
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False dichotomy! And if God made pleasures to be a part of His plan for my life, then* of course* I want them!
 
It’s sad when people reject pleasure. My mother (who is not a Catholic, btw) cannot enjoy something simply for the pleasure of it. She has some kind of deep inner fear of pleasure, especially physical pleasure. I have tried to buy her gift certificates for a “spa day,” for instance – and she gave them away. I tried to get her to go get a pedicure with me once, and she actually invented back pain so she could get out of it! She can’t even enjoy the sensuous pleasure of a luxurious fabric. And perhaps unsurprisingly, she’s a remarkably bitter person. Sad.

Everything in moderation. St. Benedict knew all about it.

Make mine Ben and Jerry’s chocolate!

Naprous
 
I truly believe God wants us to be happy, but not at the expense of our souls. That might seem like a contradiction, but what makes us personally happy may not make another happy, therefore we have the law of the Church and the law of God ( which are the same) to ensure by obtaining our own happiness, we harm no-one else’s happiness. I think having your favourite ice-cream, a small drop of the good stuff (alcohol) or a long hot bath is every bit God’s happiness for us as it is for ourselves. But if in the pursuit of happiness for ourselves we hurt another in the process, this is not the happiness and pleasure God desires, therefore when it is considered in respect of carnal pleasures, that can only be done in full obedience and compliance with God’s will and laws, so as we are sure NOT to harm anyone in the pursuit of our own pleasures.

As for the icr-cream, the drop of the good stuff, the bath, the clothes, not to be GREEDY is the ticket. Moderation in all things and not to let ourselves become pre-occupied with seeking pleasure over all other things. Get the balance right and don’t feel guilty for having some pleasures in life, because it is by God’s will, you have it xx
 
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