I'm a happy nerd

14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16

I have a confession to make.
I am guilty of buying pirated VCDs and downloading TV series over the net. Of course we all know it's illegal, and yet perhaps due to the Malaysian culture, it was something I did.

My conscience was twinged a little when being president of CF we adopted a Repent, Revive and Restore theme. Sadly to say (with judgment on my own self added with the judgment of leading people while in sin) although I did cut down from buying VCDs, I wasn't spot free. Not heavy downloading yet still catching up on the latest downloaded House series. Or buying the occasional "must see" movie.

When my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer, our whole family re-examined James 5: 16.
Where we really righteous? Of course, no one can be without sin and we are not advocating legalism, yet this was such a "preventable" sin! We were intentionally breaking the law; more importantly, grieving God...just to save a few bucks on entertainment?
So our whole family stopped buying pirated VCDs.

Well, I'd like to stop here but truth is, I am sinful.
I still watched some downloaded TV series, some which were transfered from friends.
I justified that it's on TV anyway, all I'm doing is watch the recordings that other people make. But one of my friends at uni did a bible study group topic on this and according to the copyright laws, while it's legal to tape a show it's not legal to transfer over the internet.

Over the last few weeks, much has happened in my life and has caused me to re-re-examine James 5:16 (yea I'm super sinful). Again, I am challenged to stop watching downloaded tv series.

And let me tell you, while it's not a "choose Jesus or die gunpoint" sacrificial situation to stop watching tv series online...
for a clinical med student nothing is as relaxing as coming home, eating dinner while watching an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond on the laptop!
Plus, my internet speed is an amazing 20mbps. An 350mb episode only takes 1-2 hours to dl.

But it does revel the rot in my heart, preferring to dabble in illegalities instead of honoring God.

So it's been 2-3 weeks since the downloading has stopped.

I no holy-moly, I do need to relax as well, so I did checked out the local rental shop to rent some shows. And I realized that when I was "forced" to pay for my entertainment, I actually became more selective on what I watched and also how much I watched. Another lesson learnt.

But God always surprises when we let go of things for Him.
Today on a whim I wandered around a shopping complex few min from my uni.
And there was a community library. Which was free and we could borrow 15 items!
Which includes DVDs, CDs, magazines and *glee* books.

Of course the DVD collection is not as staggering as the world wide web, but there are a few random gems. A whole series of West Wing, a crazy mix of movies from Elizabeth to Antz, lots and lots of classical music CDs. I manage to borrow a copy of Chariots of Fire!

And as most know, I'm a true blue nerd & miser who's terribly happy that she has in possession 2 borrowed copied of Reader's Digest June and July which she would never have paid $10 each to buy.


This is not a great story nor earth shattering revelation, but I hope that I'll learn to be faithful in "little" things. I still have a long way to go! (haha, imagine *argh*...even giving up illegal downloading took me so long to learn) Keep me accountable! Haha.



*I hope Youtube is not illegal. Last I checked, under US government laws it's technically legal although some lawsuits are flying in*