I can't say that I am impervious to MMORPGs... WoW is quite fun.
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- iemsparticus

"My food is problematic..."

So I've heard. My roomate plays it incessantly. I mostly boycott it because of how addictive it is.
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"I'm out of it for a little while, and everybody gets delusions of grandeur."

It does not have to own your life, you know. It doesn't own mine. Just have fun with other things as well and you will be ok.
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- iemsparticus

"My food is problematic..."

That's great, Sweetie... next week you will be taking heroine to make sure you are not addicted!
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- iemsparticus

"My food is problematic..."

Yeah, I know what you mean. I wouldn't encourage people to play WoW either (no matter how much I like it), especially the gaming types. It's easy to lose track of time. And added to that, it eats your money every month. lol

Sparty: If it doesn't even appeal to me, it's not a test of self-control. The point stands that people (in general) don't exercise temperance in a whatever area they enjoy most. For me, that would be something like a good book. It's something I enjoy immensely, and, therefore, it's extraordinarily hard for me to do anything but finish an intriguing story once I'm into it.
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January 2011

"What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I think we are tested on self-control enough without testing ourselves intentionaly. I know I sure am. lol.
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- iemsparticus

"My food is problematic..."

You keep going back to what wasn't the point. The point wasn't to test ourselves; the point was that most people, when tested, fail miserably. And in order to help with that, I made a suggestion: If you test yourself in a controlled environment of your own making, it is possible to build up your self-control so that when tested from the outside, it's easier. Like caffeine with me as opposed to reading.
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January 2011

"What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

And so attempting to practice showing self-control using self-imposed methods in a controlled environment on things that do not matter that much to us is supposed to help us show self-control on things that really matter? Is this like a self-help type of thing? Meh... I don't know if I buy that... I don't think it would work for me at any rate. The lack of self-control is, in actuality a moral short-coming... and we need God's help for those.
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- iemsparticus

"My food is problematic..."

True, true. However, there are always steps we can take on the human side of things. For example, if you're going to run a race, it would be beneficial to start running every day. Obviously, you're in a controlled environment and you'll only run as far/long as you think you can (or as you make yourself), but it still helps when you enter the race if you've prepared. And it's still just as much up to God whether or not you win the race, or even finish the race, or injure yourself.
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January 2011

"What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Yes indeed... However I would challenge the similarities of running a race and being tempted to not show self-control. Self-control is a moral thing... running a race is a physical thing. We need endurance for both things... but our endurance comes from different sources. Physical endurance comes from physical training... and we do that with drills, practice, weight-lifting, etc... Moral endurance comes from growing closer and closer in your walk with the Lord. An ACTUAL temptation comes at you completely different than one that you created in a controlled environment (for obvious reasons). Running a race is... running a race. Controlled or not, you still have only the worries in a live race that you have in practice by yourself - the only exception would be nerves. Anyway... I still hold that inflicting temptation on yourself in a controlled environment is not an effective way to get better at dealing with the actual thing. At least... not for me.
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- iemsparticus

"My food is problematic..."