New Years resolution

How many people actually make a resolution and stick to it for the entire year?  Have you ever actually done that?  Apparently only about 8% of people keep their New Year's resolutions.  I'm sure it's true.  I see it every year.  The gym is packed in January, still full in February, but by March it's as dead as October.  Only the true gym rats (like me) make it last the second or third month.

So this year, I have decided to do a new resolution every month.  I figure, it's hard to keep something up for 365 days, but how hard could it be to keep it up for 31 days?  If I decide I like it, I can keep going, but I'll have something new to focus on in the next month.  This is what I'm thinking:

January will be the month of abs.  For the entire month, I will do at least 10 minutes of ab work right before bed.  Maybe I'll increase the time each week, and I'll probably switch up the exercises, but every day I will do at least 10 minutes of ab work.

February will be multivitamin month.  I will have a multivitamin every day for the full month.

March is meatless March.  I'm going to attempt to be a vegetarian for the entire month of March.  I figure this will expand my menu.  I can experiment more with vegetables, pastas, beans, etc.

In April, I'm going to attempt to go gluten-free.  My sister says she has a lot of recipes she's used for my brother-in-law when he tried to go gluten-free for health reasons.

In May, I am going to do at least 30 minutes of conscious cardio every day.  When I say conscious cardio, I mean that I can't get to the end of the day and say, "well, I probably did 30 minutes if you count all of the times I was moving.  It took me five minutes to walk from my car into the office..."  No.  I actually have to be purposefully doing 30 minutes of cardio for it to count.

June will be strength training month.  I will do strength training every day.  Maybe I'll get a one-month CrossFit membership.

During July, I'm going to attempt to not eat any fast food.  I define fast food as a place that has a drive thru and/or where they don't take your order at the table.  So Cheeseburger Bobby's would be fast food.  They don't have a drive thru, but they don't take your order at the table or expect you to tip.  Steak n Shake would be fast food (although they are NEVER fast) because they have a drive thru option.

August I'll do P90X or Insanity every day.

September will be no sweets month.  No cakes, candy, brownies, cookies.  I'm going to attempt to eat as little sugar as possible, live like a diabetic (since it runs in my family and one day I may have to do this anyway).  The only sweet thing I will be able to eat is ice cream.  I can't give up that.

October will be push up month.  I'll do 25 push ups in the morning and 25 push ups at night every day.

November will be food diary.  This is perfect since November is the month where the holiday endulgences begin.  If I have to write down everything I eat, maybe if won't eat as much as I would normally.

December will be a low carb month.  I'll attempt to eat as low carb as possible, close to a South Beach diet.  Again, this will be helpful during the holidays so I don't over eat.

Sounds simple enough, right?  Who wants to join me?  You can do anything for 30 days at a time.  Let's make 2014 the year of health and successful New Year's resolutions.

Shoplifter Pride (Part Two)

The last post was inspired by a conversation that my Sunday School teacher had with another person, who is a homosexual.  The man's comment to my teacher was that Christians single out homosexuality of all the sins listed in the Bible.  He quoted 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 which says, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."

"Why," he asked, "is so much emphasis put on homosexuality in the list?"

Everyone is a sinner:  Christians and non-Christians alike.  Ever since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, we have been born with a sinful nature.  That means we were born with sinful tendencies.  I have things on the 1 Corinthians list that I struggle with (shoplifting is not one of them, by the way.  That was just used to make a point).  But I'm not proud of my sin, and I'm not asking for people to change their views or accept my sin as okay and allow me to keep on sinning.  Instead I ask God for strength to overcome those sinful tendencies.

Does God like that we are born with a sinful nature?  Absolutely not!  That is why he made a way out for us through the death and resurrection of His son, Jesus Christ.  Becoming a Christian doesn't eliminate the sinful nature, but it gives you strength to stand up to those temptations.  We will still fail from time to time, but we aren't proud of those failures.

Pro-gay people tend to lean on the thought that homosexuality isn't a sin.  They quote various "contradictions" in the Bible as proof that either the Bible can't be trusted or that times have changed, and we have to change with those times.  Christians view the Bible as the moral authority and believe it is the word of God, given to various people to write down so we could have a glimpse into His very being.  So called "contradictions" in the Bible must be taken into context.  The Old Testament (or old covenent) was made with a specific group of people, the Israelites (or Jews as we call them today), in order that they might stand out among the people of the time as a people set apart to God.   This was a very rule-based covenent, where the Israelites had to follow God's many rules in order to stay in favor with God.  The New Testament (or new covenent) was made to all people, Jews and Gentiles (that's anyone who isn't a Jew), so that God can have a relationship with all of mankind (if they choose to accept that relationship).  This is a very relationship-based covenent.  Even the early church had trouble determining what rules from the Old Testament needed to be followed (read the book of Acts to see the struggles the early church had to determine what part of the law still had to be followed by the Gentiles who accepted Christ).

In both the Old Testament and New Testament, though, homosexuality is listed as a sin.  It was called an abomination in the Old Testament, and whole cities (Sodom and Gomorrah) were destroyed because of that sin.  There are no contradictions when it comes to homosexuality in the Bible.  Just because the Pope says "it's okay to be gay" doesn't mean God has the same view.  And it is God, not the Pope, who will make the ultimate judgment as to who is accepted into heaven.  In Hebrews 10, it says, "For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries."

The reality of the situation is that people who commit the other sins on the 1 Corinthians list usually aren't proud of their sin.  In fact, they often are ashamed of it and try to stop the behavior.  Take "drunkards" for example.  We have Alcoholics Anonymous and detox programs that help alcoholics rid themselves of their sin.  They aren't organizing pride parades and saying they're proud to have this affliction.

What did Jesus have to say about homosexuality?  Jesus was mostly silent on the issue, maybe because it wasn't as prominent in his time.  Although the "sinners" Jesus ate with could very well have included homosexuals.  But he never condoned any of the behavior of the sinners he associated with.  On the contrary, his message was always "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."  Think of the story of Zacchaeus.

"And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham."  (Luke 19:2-9 ESV)

Jesus accepted Zacchaeus as a person, even though he was a sinner who had defrauded much of the population in order to get rich.  But he didn't accept the sinful behavior that Zacchaeus had participated in.  Instead, he praised Zacchaeus for repenting of his sin and turning from his sinful ways.

So it should be with homosexuals.  Okay, so you were born with sinful tendencies toward people of the same sex.  But that doesn't mean you should be proud of that and continue in that sin.  Instead, you should repent and ask God to give you strength to overcome those tendencies.  

So to answer the man's question from the beginning:  we aren't singling out homosexuality on the 1 Corinthians list.  The homosexual community is singling it out by refusing to repent, continuing in their sin, and being proud of it.

1 John 3:6 says, "Those who live in Christ don’t go on sinning. Those who go on sinning haven’t seen or known Christ."  When people repented of their sin to Jesus, he said "Go and sin no more."

Shoplifter Pride! (Part one)

When I walk into stores I have this uncontrollable desire to take something that doesn't belong to me.  It's nice that other people pay for their items, but that just doesn't appeal to me.  It doesn't matter how attractive you think the sale price is, it isn't as appealing to me as hiding it in my pocket and walking out of the store without paying.

I can't help it.  I was born this way.  I was born with this desire to take what isn't mine.  I think I would know if I made a choice or not. I’m the shoplifter. You’re not. You don’t know. I never made a choice. I was literally born this way. You have no idea what it took for me to come out and admit how I am. I had a hard time coming out of the closet, because I tried too hard to change myself. I thought it was normal to pay for things at the store. But then realized there's no stopping it. I can’t even change myself. You can ask just about every shoplifter, and I know for a fact they’ll answer that it’s not a choice. Why would you argue against the ones that would actually know? That's like asking a dog what barking means, then saying they’re wrong.

God made me this way, and He doesn't make mistakes, does He?  If God is perfect, and He made people shoplifters, either God made a mistake or being a shoplifter is okay to God.  Since He made me this way, He must be okay with me shoplifting.

It's hard enough accepting who I really am without people criticizing me for things I have no control over.  People need to get over their fear of things that are different and start to learn to accept each other.  Isn't America about tolerance?  Well, it's time to demand tolerance for people like me too.  

This is a free country, and my shoplifting practices are my own business.  We don't need the government to tell us we can't live like this. It's time for the shoplifters and thieves to unite and demand equal rights.  We're people too.  We shouldn't have to hide this from others. Today I am starting a new SLRT community for shoplifters, robbers and thieves.  We deserve the same rights and tolerance as those who choose to pay for items.  

We should probably come up with some sort of symbol that we can wave proudly to let everyone know that we are shoplifters.  Maybe a dollar bill in the shape of a crescent or a broken rose or something.  We should also show our pride by organizing parades and march through the streets of major cities demanding tolerance and equal rights.

It's time to be proud of the sins we're committing and demanding that others change their views and accept us for who we are.