Discussing
Why I Got Rid of My DVR

Great post and reminder Mary. Thanks, here and now.

My goodness. I have this as a definciency in my life. I did not have to wait for the DVR. I can pay attention really well, but I have a hard time remembering. I can listen to people talk and get what they are talking about. However I have never been good about talking to more than two people at a time because I get lost trying to keep up with what each is saying. It may be that some are talking while another one is still getting their point across, so I sit there and listen because I don't want to miss what the other has to say, yet I end up being the quiet one of the group. My husband makes fun that I watch DVDs with the subtitles, but I do this so I won't miss anything. It is quite the life I live but I long to be able to join in and still pay attention to what is being said.

Oh, ho! I think I'm seriously liking this new "Think Christian" direction you guys are taking. THIS is how I try and live a life of faith. Reading this post lets me know I'm not as crazy as I feared for thinking about some of the very same things in terms of self and soul because you guys are doing it too.

GREAT post.

I took an equally drastic step and just canceled my cable service. I was finding myself frittering hours in front of the tube. Frittering, I say. I now spend way more time writing and reading. It has been 1 month with no TV and I'm tickled. I went from frittered to tickled!

By the way, apart from time, money and donuts is there anything else that is "frittered". It's a fabulous word.

I love my DVR. But like you, I find myself wishing I had it in other parts of my life. The radio specifically, I wonder how long it will be before someone invents a DVR type device for our car radios. It would come in handy at those times your favorite song is on and your cell phone rings. Imagine if you could then pause the song until you finish your conversation. I'm hoping the DVR makes me more productive and not less. So many of the shows I watch now are full of commercials. An hour show may only be 40 minutes long without commercials. So if I can DVR it, it'll save me 20 minutes that I can use praying, reading, whatever. As busy as our lives our these days, its good to find time wherever we can. Of course we could save a lot more time by just not watching tv, but I'm not ready to take that step yet.

It's a very interesting subject. It's not my problem yet, surely because I don't have a DVR...but I see your exposition as a good example that sometimes we, christians, should give up in things, habits or activities that, being perfectly legal, moral and normal for everybody else, are obstacles for us in our service to the Lord or in our testimony to other christian or friend.
I would like to quote
1 Corinthians 10:23 (King James Version)

23All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.
Congratulations, God bless you
Dr. Nelson Arriagada

You of course have to do what 's best for you. I, however, am never giving up my DVR! I don't get anxious about missing a favorite program, or an important documentary or news show, because I know I can record and watch later when I have time (and am fully alert, since our family records a lot of late night TV). The thing I find I do is now is that I am so used to my car's clicker, sometimes when I walk up to my house I absentmindedly push the clicker to unlock the house!

I can understand what your saying about the DVR, but let's take it a step further. I believe that we are finding ourselves inn this era of creativity longing for the past times of simplicity. That personal time of REALLY sharing time with each other, in what ever manner it may be. No machine, ingenuity, or artificial creativity can replace the genuine creation of how God designed us. Essential, it's our soul longing for the intimacy of relationship, that is disturbed by many of the distractions now coming into the world. I for one still have DR, but I know it's place and keep it there. My brothers and sisters come first.

We all have some kind of "DVR"in our lives that take the place of the most important thing ,time with Christ.We all need to identify it and get rid of it ,God comes first!

Bold and courageous. Whoever thought when this technology first came out as "Personal TV" that it would become an obstacle between man and God. Sure, I can excuse it by saying I record many shows from Daystar and TBN, nonetheless, it's still an excuse.

Insightful post. Here, here.

This reminds me of an old Chas. Addams cartoon, where two children are looking out the window of a car, watching their father change a flat tire in the rain, and he is answering a question they have asked him "Don't you understand? This is life. This is what's happening. We can't change the channel!" I know what Newton is saying too, because I don't have cable at all, but sometimes I wonder about the time I spend reading and writing at discussion sites like thinkchristian.net -- do we really have an impact on how people live in the real world? Still, its fun.

you are a better person then I...

I am unsure as to why this is an issue for people. I can't say that I don't do this myself, but it's not difficult to integrate such a thing into your life. It is natural for your mind to wander during any part of your life/day/etc. Having a DVR only adds to it because you have the ability to go backward and forward through a program on TV. If it is believed that a DVR could be bad because it can exacerbate the tendency for your mind to wander, then the definition of bad needs to be changed. If your life is nothing but God, then are you truly free?
Ateísmo Viva!!!!!!

I need a DVR attached to my wife, that would be an awesome marriage helper.

Interesting. My hat's off to you. As Mom to adopted special needs darlins, we've had to do a lot of research into brain theory and how the brain works. As a teacher, for years I've noticed changes in how my students think/respond in class as tech. increases in their lives. Thank you for linking God into the whole equation. You are so very right.
anne