Thou Shalt Not Have Fun

I'm writing this while another piece of writing is percolating through my mind. Often the best way of clarifying something, I find, is to purposely not think about it.

Anyway, back to the funfair.

Yesterday was a beautiful day, just right for a fair on a green next to a children's playground, and the space between the various stalls and rides was packed with people in summer clothes enjoying themselves in an innocent way. So innocent, indeed, that the two of us in our thirties seemed a little bit out of place not having an under-ten or two in tow. Not that anybody else cared.

So why should brethren? It was an obvious question as we wandered around and looked at things - what exactly is wrong with all this? How much more harmless could anything be than the hall of mirrors, for instance, where you can giggle at yourself squashed into strange shapes as people have done for years, decades, and for all I know, centuries. Admittedly there is some slight element of danger in the rides, and the brethren philosophy is to avoid any avoidable personal danger, but a tent full of vintage fifties slot machines? Maybe a symbolic connection to gambling could be a reason for vetoing that? And what about a carousel with painted horses?

It has to be said that this particular fair was perhaps even more innocuous than the average, as it was a self-consciously vintage affair with steam-powered rides, antique displays, and even carefully-restored fifties-era caravans. Still, I could guarantee that any of my old friends and acquaintance would be scandalised at the thought of visiting it ... those who wouldn't sneak in themselves, of course, while looking over their shoulders to see if anyone saw them.

I think the point is one that I may have made before. Brethren MUST NOT HAVE FUN. To enjoy some element of life on earth is to be disloyal to the life to come, and therefore is a sign of weakness even when it isn't in itself evil. This world we live in is one that has been condemned as irredeemably opposed to the world God would have us look for, and so anything that seems good and enjoyable while being unconnected to Christianity (and approved Christianity at that) is the worse for being deceptive about the evil it contains.

Really, it's amazing what you can turn into evil once you find the "correct" standpoint.

Undeterred by all this rotten badness, we gulped, gasped and screamed on the glorified multi-person swing disguised as a steam-powered pirate ship, wasted a good many old English pennies on one-armed bandits and swindling slot machines, and took deft avoiding action on the dodgems (until I was reminded that hitting others is most of the point). I can't say I feel very defiled as a result.