CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Guilty pleasures: Everyone has them. But are they really that bad?

I wish there was an 'it depends'. I mean, it really does. For instance, mine is usually one or two new volumes of manga a month, and two pieces of bite-size candies when I'm watching anime. But for someone else, it might be something a little more harmful.

I think it depends on if they're actually something you should feel guilty over.

Surely the phrase does not apply to things which we are actually morally culpable. It usually refers to something that one enjoys (hence, a pleasure) while knowing it is not objectively good/praiseworthy. One is perhaps even a bit embarrassed to fess up to liking this thing (hence, "guilty"). Bottom line: it's just a ''spreshun.

If so, I suppose I'd better stop reading/watching Hellsing.
I was so close to the end too. :<

In all seriousness, guilty pleasures (or anything for that matter) that draw you away from God aren't good. :\
But if your guilty pleasures don't draw you away from God, then yeah, sure, I would think they were okay (for the most part, unless they take away all your time when you should be being responsible.)

Usually the word "guilty" would imply that you feel bad about doing them because you should be doing something else ("more productive" for example).
But then in my own personal case, my feeling "guilty" about watching Hellsing (for example) is completely justified since I consider myself a fairly reserved person who dislikes loads of violence in the anime I watch (I do often refuse to watch an anime if it has too much gory violence in it), yet I watch Hellsing, thus I feel guilty to refuse all those other anime that are just like it in violent content. XD;

Short answer to the OP: Agreeing with mostly everyone else, it depends on the situation and the individual's own convictions.

In agreement to all that's been said to this point.

In the end, one must hold themselves accountable to how they spend their time.

Depends on what you mean by guilty.
If they're pleasures that make you feel guilty, they might be okay.
If they're pleasures that make you actually guilty, they are not okay.
I'm gonna go ahead and say 'yes' because if you don't have any other information you should go by your feelings. No substitute for prayer of course.

goldenspines (post: 1431242) wrote:Short answer to the OP: Agreeing with mostly everyone else, it depends on the situation and the individual's own convictions.

I fully agree with this post, and most other posts on here that I've read. I wouldn't say that "guilty pleasures" would be something you should really feel "guilty" about unless they're doing something that takes you away from God. I should feel guilty if I'm getting pleasure out of doing something wrong, but if it's something that's okay (like a guilty pleasure I get from reading manga), then I don't see a problem with it (as long as it's not a bad manga).

Personal conviction also comes into play, if you ask me. There are some things I'm okay with that certain friends of mine aren't, and some things they're are okay with that I'm not. We still respect one anothers' convictions, though.

I thought "guilty pleasure" meant liking something that's unpopular, heavily stigmatized, or of questionable quality. Didn't know there was any literal guilt involved.

When did "guilty pleasure" start to mean something other than "Things that would get me laughed at if people found out I liked them?"

Nate (post: 1431296) wrote:When did "guilty pleasure" start to mean something other than "Things that would get me laughed at if people found out I liked them?"

That's what I'm saying.

yeah, are these "guilty pleasures" unharmful things, like for instance the fact that i like kate nash, a lot of people (guys mostly) would seriously give me a hard time if they know i liked her, but that's not really bad, but when it comes to things like, inflicting pain, well then that would be very bad!.. so which kind of guilty pleasure are you refering to?

According to the popular definition, not necessarily.

Guilty of what? That's the question. Guilty of being a fan of Japanese highschool girl anime and manga? Definitely. Is that a bad thing? ... Well... not the stuff I watch, at least. >_<

I voted "no" and I'm thinking the same way as others. It depends! Like if you like something you're embarrased about liking, that is considered a guilty pleasure. And other non-harmful situations where you like something, but consider it a guilty pleasure.

One of my main guilty pleasures are dark/scary stories. I used to write alot of stories like this, and in fact, I wanna make a manga one-shot that fits in this genre. I love to read/watch xxxHOLiC, and I'd love to find more stories that fit in this genre in the anime/manga world. One of my fave books is "Kwaidan: Japanese Ghost Stories" that my dad bought for my birthday this year! ("Hoichi The Earless" was one of the most terrifying tales! And one of my faves in the book >.>)

And I agree, if your "guilty pleasure" goes beyond, like instead of being that non-productive past-time of yours it turns into something like an addiction, by all means, stop! And if something you like becomes a literal "guilty pleasure" like you know iit's something you shouldn't be liking, and have conviction to discontinue, by all means, follow the conviction. I used to LOVE the show "Supernatural" (fits perfectly in my "guilty pleasure" genre, eh?), but by season 4....I felt it started to get blasphemous, and I decided to give up watching it. I just prayed and gave it all to God, saying "Lord, help me never to watch this show again!". And since then...I stopped watching it. Because I felt as if God told me it was bad and I shouldn't watch. I haven't felt that with some of the other things, because it's not pulling me away from God. "Supernatural" was beginning to disgust me, and that's when I knew it was time to stop.

So, usually, a "guilty pleasure" is something you are either embarrased about liking or it;s a useless past-time, but it isn't bad. But if it becomes bad somehow, like it pulls you from God or makes you literally feel "guilty", stop!

That is my take ^.^

Screwtape wrote:"He's vulgar, Wormwood. He has a bourgeois mind. He has filled His world full of pleasures. There are things for humans to do all day long without His minding the least -- sleeping, washing, eating, drinking, making love, playing, praying, working. Everything has to be twisted before it's any use to us." -- C.S. Lewis

Now, what was that about guilty pleasures?

[SIZE="5"]Guilty pleasure[/SIZE]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[INDENT] For other uses, see Guilty pleasure (disambiguation).[/INDENT]

A guilty pleasure is something one enjoys and considers pleasurable despite feeling guilt for enjoying it. Often, the "guilt" involved is simply fear of others discovering one's lowbrow or otherwise embarrassing tastes, rather than actual moral guilt. Fashion, music,[1] and food (especially unhealthier foods high in sugar and/or fat) can be examples of guilty pleasures.[2]

[SIZE="4"]See also[/SIZE]

• Schadenfreude - pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others

[SIZE="4"]References[/SIZE]

1. Rolling Stone's List of the 25 Undisputed Guilty Pleasure Bands
2. Fashion and food can be guilty pleasures

This philosophy-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

I voted "no".

If a pleasure gives you "actual moral guilt", as Blkmage's Wiki article called it, it would probably be called a "sin" or "addiction", rather than a guilty pleasure.

Under the more commonly used definition, I think there is nothing wrong with having a guilty pleasure. In fact, I don't see why you'd feel guilty at all. If people would totally shun you because you like whatever, they're not very nice people. If they're going to ridicule you, they're not being very nice people.

Although, if you're concerned somebody will cause you harm (am I overthinking this much?) and that's why you don't mention your "guilty pleasure", then you're not really feeling guilty, are you? XD

blkmage wrote:Rolling Stone's List of the 25 Undisputed Guilty Pleasure Bands

Ha ha I'm not embarrassed to like any of those ba-

Bon Jovi

Well...crap.

I voted no for basically the same reasons everyone else seemed to vote no. It depends on what the "pleasure" is and what it's "doing" to you spiritually, emotionally, physically, and mentally. Follow the Holy Spirit in your heart, and He will guide you the right way.

I voted yes, because I thought Rock meant in the more literal sense.. As in, things that make you feel guily. Rather then, things that you're too ashamed to like xD;

If it makes you feel guilty, then it's bad. Yes, everyone has their own definition of "bad", but for talking about yourself lol

I voted yes.

Say I enjoy cookies. that is my most favorite pleasure in the world. well say I make that the focus of my life, then that pleasure has become bad because God should be the center of my life. not my cookies. (like Tsukuyomi, I'm thinking from a literal sense.)