How about this: Not watching something because you like it TOO much...

[CobaltAngel]

First off, I need serious prayer becuase I was stupid.


I don't know if anyone else has ever struggled with this, but I'm the type of person that when I care about something I analyize it to DEATH (ask my friends on dA XD). Even if that something is really retarded. And when I find a show I like alot, well, I think about it alot. And a while back I started watching this show that I simply LOVED and I know I'm the type that if I let something get into my mind enough that it will become something I can't stop thinking about. But still, I let myself because almost obsessed with it, and yes I feel like a fool saying that, but I guess that's what I was.

Anyway, I woke up this morning and the show popped into my head and suddenly I felt God tugging on my heart saying "NO!". I realized that the show had become before God, which would be basically, in my mind as bad or the same as having a god before him. I felt terrible, and discusted with myself, especially when I realized how hard it was to think about what God was really asking me to do: it had gotten to the point where it wasn't really enough to just kind of stop thinking about the show, I had to stop watching it or it wasn't going to get any better. Because I'd been saying I'd stop thinking about it alot for a long time now. This wasn't going to be easy. At first I felt totally hopeless and like a total idiot, but God has really helped me through it this morning and I feel alot better, and this seems alot more do-able. I'm so glad that I serve a King that will help me through my problems.

Now that I feel stupid venting that, has anyone else felt convicted to give up something because they liked it too much? It really doesn't sound all that crazy if you think about it... God is to come first, and anything that comes before him has to go. It's like that verse where it talks about its better to cut off a sinning hand and throw it into the fire than have your whole body go in.

Thoughts? Or tips? ^^

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I think everyone has gone through this, were we take something material in front or God.

[CobaltAngel]

Yeah, I did it all the time when I was younger, but I thought I was past all that, you know?

[Lochaber Axe]

Yeah, I did it all the time when I was younger, but I thought I was past all that, you know?

Sin is something that you are never past until you have passed from this Earth. Any addiction stays with you for the rest of your life, but that will be where God comes in to help you control it. We all have our idols, and it is the wise man that realizes his own.

[K. Ayato]

I second what Lochaber Axe said. We can obsess over and put things in front of God day in, day out, and we can overcome them. But keep in mind that being overcome doesn't mean it's the end of those thoughts and obsessions. You'll always have some form of addiction to something, but with God's help, you can keep it at bay.

[Tenshi no Ai]

Yeah, it is something that's pretty common. I was SO SO bad with this when I was younger and totally obsessed over shows, movies, games, things, and just whatever I was into at the time :/ Nowadays it's not NEARLY as bad for me :/ I like things, but don't sit there and constantly think about them or HAVE to own every single one of whatever. I think what was harder for me in the past though, rather than materialistic things, was valuing a relationship way up there, almost past God. Relationships are great to have and all, but at the time it was ALL I thought about (it was also my first one ever, but yeah that's no excuse). And since I wasn't too close to God at the time, the break up was so so hard, leaving me confused and angry :/

The world is filled with fun and entertaining things, but sometimes you just have to remember how far to take things without it being unreasonable or it getting in the way with your relationship with God.

[mitsuki lover]

Take a week off from watching whatever it is and test to see if it is really that obssesive.

[CobaltAngel]

Thanks so much everyone for your advice and encouragement. It is nice to know I'm not the only one this happens to. Tenshi I used to be terrible too, I thought I was pretty much over it, but I guess Lochaber is probably right that like that huants your your whole life. I'm just mad that I let myself fall again.

[Photosoph]

This is definitely something I've struggled with, and still do struggle with. Like you, CobaltAngel, I can easily get obsessive about things I like; not being able to get them out of my thoughts at all. >_<
This is why even now I have to be really careful about what I watch; it can be embarrassing, too. My first experience with it was the pokemon series, which I gave up, though it was hard, when I was younger. But then there were book series and other television series that I needed to do the same for. There have been quite a few things I've found I couldn't watch for risk of becoming obsessive about them.

Generally I find it the worst with series; things whose stories run on, especially if they have angsty moments; I can't seem to stop thinking about what's going to happen next, and it gets caught in my head.
And it can be hard when you really like something but know you have to give it up because it's not good for you.
Nowadays if I like something and find myself getting far too into it, I give it a break and make sure not to watch it as a series. Sometimes I'll just tune in every so often, perhaps one every couple of months, to watch an episode; but most of the time if it's too involving for me I just make sure not to watch it altogether.

To work around this, I try to only watch series that are light-hearted, without so many angsty moments or plot twists that can get me hooked. Mostly this leads me to either light-hearted series or finite series (like Angelic Layer) which I can watch, finish, and be done with. ^_^

It still is hard, especially if someone else in my house watches what I find hard to watch; but I find that I'm really a lot happier if I keep away from things I'd end up obsessing about. Not only because they could come between me and God, but also because I find that they generally make me grumpy, distracted, and depressed. *Shrugs*
So although it's hard, I'm happier as I am now. I'm just really glad that I've been able to find other series that I can watch and follow without becoming too involved; there are other things out there that are a lot better for me, and cause me much less hassle and give me much more pleasure. ^^

I know it's hard, but continue on; it is all for the best and it teaches you a lot about sacrific for God, discipline, and good things like that.
I can't remember if it says this in the bible or if it's just one of the things that my parents say, but "him who is faithful with little will be faithful with much." Passing 'tests' like these might mean that you'll be stronger in the future, and be trusted with other things with God. On the other hand, a sobering thought could be if you're unwilling to give things like this up for God, what won't you give for him, or really struggle to give him, in the future?

[CobaltAngel]

What a beautiful post, Photosoph! Thank you, you understand perfectly! Yeah, for me when I was much younger it was digimon I was crazy about. I think the angesty thing gets me too, or shows with lots of romance and relationship twists. I just hack away at the series in my mind, thinking through every possible thing.

Like you said, I also get grumpy and distracted, because my might is preoccupied with something so silly! Thank you so much for all the encouragement, its so nice to know I'm not the only one who has this problem.

Its also very encouraging to think God can bring good from even things like this. My failures can be his sucess. The quote from your parents is cool too. ^^ *highfive/hug haha* Thankyou!

[Evangeline-San]

I am incredibly passionate about anything I do and enjoy. Maybe slightly ADD hehe I get drawn into it and it takes awhile to distract me out of it. lol
It's been hard for me to keep God first in everything... I set my alarm clock in the morning and at night so when I get up and go to bed I read a little bible and Spurgeon Devotions. That way I give God the beginning and end of each day.
Good luck! You've done the hard part by noticing your fault! *hugs*

[CreatureArt]

Man, I really relate to this too, and its something I still struggle with.

I get discouraged and disgusted with myself too, but one thing that I'm starting to learn is not to let discouragement stop me. So even if you slip up (and I'm saying this because I slip up all the time) don't stop: go back to God, know that He has forgiven you (even though you might feel really, really bad about yourself and may find that hard to believe) and move on again.

If other people are like me in this statement (and I believe they are), we often fail at things quite a few times before we overcome them. So don't be discouraged - good on you for recognising this! - and keep on. You've taken a great leap already in making a start at working on this so keep on keeping on. Even if it takes a while, God will bring you through eventually.

I used to struggle with fantasy books in particular. This isn't a negative statement about fantasy books; personally I was so obsessed about them in the past that they occupied my mind far too much and came between me and God. My parents also didn't approve of fantasy, and I was convicted that I wasn't honouring my parents while living under their authority. It took a long, long hard struggle, but that is something that God has brought me through and I no longer have the same addiction to fantasy novels.

So be encouraged and keep on keeping on. You're on the right track in honouring God and He will give you the victory.

God bless you, CobaltAngel. ^^

[Mr. SmartyPants]

For me, I'm a big asian movie guy. Mainly because they can be so philosophical and emotional. (Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, Peppermint Candy, JSA, and The Host =D) And I love thinking about these films. The plot, cinematography, the characters, and the feeling. They all blend in super-well. Although I can't say I really had them between me and God.

[Yeshua-Knight]

i can remember a time when there were actually a couple of video games that i spent a lot of time on, and eventually i just got to a point where it was like "they have to go" so i split the discs in half in my bare hands and chucked 'em in the trash can, never to be seen in this house again

and since then it's been much better

[ShiroiHikari]

Sailor Moon was the first anime I really liked. As time went on, I became obsessed with it. Eventually, God laid it on my heart to stop. So I got rid of all my merchandise, which was really hard to do. I had hundreds of dollars worth of stuff. But it all worked out for the best.

[Photosoph]

Same with me and pokemon; I ended up getting rid of a lot of stuff from that.

What a beautiful post, Photosoph! Thank you, you understand perfectly! Yeah, for me when I was much younger it was digimon I was crazy about. I think the angesty thing gets me too, or shows with lots of romance and relationship twists. I just hack away at the series in my mind, thinking through every possible thing.

Like you said, I also get grumpy and distracted, because my might is preoccupied with something so silly! Thank you so much for all the encouragement, its so nice to know I'm not the only one who has this problem.

Its also very encouraging to think God can bring good from even things like this. My failures can be his sucess. The quote from your parents is cool too. ^^ *highfive/hug haha* Thankyou!

Thank you too; personally when I read your post it was almost relieveing to know that there are others who struggle with that too. I thought it was just because I was being over-sensitive or something; but I guess not, since other people feel the same things as well.


And me too; I just can't seem to get the situations and characters out of my head. Especially if there are any cliff-hanger moments, emotional twists and turns etc. But I don't want to repeat too much of what I've already said. ^_^
It's so much better when I have other, better things to preoccupy myself with. ^_^

[mitsuki lover]

Obviously some people are more obssessive than others.The thing to do is to
take time out at least once a month or so from watching whatever it is and do something else.

[Yeshua-Knight]

mitsuki, you make it sound as though dealing with idolatry is such an easy thing, if it is then why did God command so many to absolutely destroy idols in the old testament?

anything that comes between us and our relationship with God must be removed, for centuries the thing that stood between us and God was something that we couldn't even remove, then Christ came in and took care of that for us, now the ball is in our court as to how we will take advatage of what Christ has done for us in making the relationship with God possible again, to say to someone dealing with some issue concerning something that they are into too much that they should just take a break from it is like the israelites saying "oh we'll only destroy some of the idols, but not all of them", they operated that way on a number of occassions and look what happened, they ended up falling into idolatry and eventually slavery

[K. Ayato]

To add onto what YK has already said, I just finished reading the book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament, and there were several places in that book alone where the Israelites did their own thing, primarily in not sanctifying themselves and the strange wives.

[CobaltAngel]

First of all, thank you all so much for your wonderful encouragement and advice. You are amazing people and may God bless you all.
Second, I have a question. What do you do for mental purgng? Even to stop watching it it slips back into my mind and analyze, and as an artist I think of things that I would want to draw aand stuff of it. It makes me sick because I'll just start thinking about it for quite a long while and then go "NOO! Stupid Coby!". It's 100000 times harder, I think, because its break and when school's in session during the day I can use all the other things I have to focus on to keep my mind clean.
I would guess this is what a porn addictin is like. I hatehatehate it. Because its so gentle yet so deadly in not only my relationship to got but my realationship to others. I'm sorry for venting all this to you guys, I usaully talk to my mom but I'm kind of embarrased to mention this to her... maybe I shouldn't be.
The worst thing is that if I had just listened to God in the beginning, this would have never happened. Because I kind of felt like I should'nt what the show in the first place, and then when I started watching I felt like I should stop. But no.

...

Again... your prayers mean so much to me.

[K. Ayato]

Mental purging is always the hardest part, let me tell you that. One way (and it's probably the best way) is to occupy your time with activities, and not to let yourself end up in a time and place where your thoughts start to wander. You a social person? Try to hang out with friends and family, or just get in the car (if you have one, of course ) and drive around with the radio on. Or do activities on your own like work around the house. Stay busy! That's the key.

Above all, get in the Word.