7 New Year’s Resolutions I Invite Others to Steal
For 2013 at PJ Lifestyle we’re going to try to organize the seemingly endless abyss of “Lifestyle” topics with a general theme each day. These appear on the About Us page and include links to some of the articles we’ve published this past year:
We try to blog on seven general subjects each week from a variety of perspectives that do not always agree. The topics include:
Family
On Mondays, you can read up on parenting, marriage, interpersonal relationships, dating and romance, motherhood and fatherhood, male/female relations and more.
Practical
Every Tuesday, we post career advice, self-improvement tips, product reviews, and how-to guides as well as blogs on entrepreneurship, disaster preparation, gardening, and self-sufficiency.
Laughter
The middle of the week requires some laughter. That’s why every Wednesday we’ll have humorous pieces featuring satire, viral videos, goofy images and amusing photoshops, cute animals, slideshow galleries and other memes from across the Web.
Culture
On Thursday, PJ Lifestyle is your go-to place for the latest info on pop culture – ranging from movies, TV, novels, music and celebrities – as well as posts about other cultures – like military culture, counterculture, California culture, traditional culture, international culture, odd subcultures, geek culture – and more.
Mind
End the workweek with some brain food. On Fridays, we’ll have posts on science, technology, the future, history, philosophy, and the natural and animal world.
Body
Spend Saturdays finding new recipes and cooking tips, learning about new ways to exercise and stay healthy, reading medical stories, and keeping up with sports and outdoor life.
Spirit
And on Sundays, you’ll find content featuring interfaith dialogue, religion-based commentary, and posts on spirituality, ethics and morality.
One of the most important contributors to PJ Lifestyle this year has been Charlie Martin. His Thirteen Weeks diet and and exercise regimen has been an inspiration. This past fall Charlie has updated us every week on his progress to improve his health and live a long, long life. We’re going to try to provide more content like this — but on all seven subjects. Not just blog posts pontificating on what should be, but articles documenting what we do. Too often as writers and bloggers we forget that these New Media tools aren’t the end. They’re merely the means to whatever end we want to pursue and achieve. And at PJ Lifestyle that end is a happier, more fulfilling, richer life appreciating all the possibilities of what it means to be free.
A book I’ll be blogging about more this year and including on a future update of my Counterculture conservatives book list…
I’ve decided on 7 New Year’s Resolutions this year, each corresponding with one of these themes and inspiring my daily blogging. I invite others to join me and offer their suggestions.
Monday – Family
1. Spend More Time And Better Time With The Wife and Dog-Daughter.
One of my biggest problems is that even when I’m not supposed to be working, I actually am still working. Wherever I am and whatever I’m doing, I’m still a writer and an editor. Ideas for articles and posts always stew around in my head, with writing gradually coming together as I piece together new thoughts or turns of phrase. This rightfully annoys The Wife. When I’m supposed to be spending time with her and our Siberian Husky Maura, often I’ll still have work and writing on my mind. With the advent of internet-enabled smart phones it’s even worse, as I can technically start “working” from anywhere, answering emails from writers and researching articles from anywhere.
This year I resolve to cut that out.
When it’s family time, the internet goes off. But the camera will still go on. And on Mondays I’ll blog with pictures from the family’s weekly adventures and offer reflections on dog ownership and how I’ve come to regard it as the training wheels for parenthood. (Thanks for the tip, Rhonda.) Some day I’ll be a Dad; but I still have a long way to go before I’m ready — as if any man ever truly is.
Tuesday – Practical
2. Be more Diligent About Sticking to a Schedule.
I think part of the way I’ll do better about giving Maura and April the quality time they need and deserve will be to better use and manage my working time. This Christmas I received an iPad from my parents. One of the things I’m going to use it for is to help me get better organized and efficient. On Tuesdays I’ll offer updates of how I use it and other technologies to bring more order to the chaos.
Wednesday – Laughter
Hat tip to Evan Pokroy
3. Take a Break From Arguing with Obama Cultists, Postmodern Marxists, Atheists, Moral Relativists, Racists, Secular Fundamentalists, Anarchists, and Antisemites on Facebook. Instead Start Finding and Sharing More Humorous Stuff on my Twitter and Facebook and Here at PJ Lifestyle.
I think I’ve done about as much research as I can stomach for now. Maybe in another few months I’ll take it up again, but my preoccupation with arguing against those who still preach the kind of nonsense I once believed is too disturbing and distracting. I’ve recorded the dialogues for further analysis and blogging in the future as sequels to the first visual presentation of an ongoing series I call 10 Tips for How to Talk to a Marxist Who Thinks He’s a Liberal (If You Must). But for now I think I’ve learned all I can from progressive Jews who refuse to declare Nazism and human sacrifice as objective evils. SERIOUSLY! She insisted that “in her opinion” Nazism was worse than liberalism. But I could not get her to say she believed anything was evil. She was even defending prostitution, saying only that temple prostitution was “forbidden,” not evil. And she had the gall to tell me that because I was not fluent in Hebrew like her that I could not understand the Torah.
So on Wednesdays I’ll try to take a day off from worrying about all the people in this world who don’t have the courage or understanding to declare anything an evil that must be eradicated. It’ll be a day of laughter and comedy in the items I blog at PJ Lifestyle.
Thursday – Culture
4. Start Developing Some New Hobbies Beyond Internet Trolling. Something New Each Season Sounds Like a Good Goal.
Every three or four months my wife and I should both strive to learn something new together. Any suggestions for where we should start?
We’ve lived in the San Fernando Valley for almost three years but still have so much to explore and learn. If any local businesses are interested in demonstrating their services and appearing on PJ Lifestyle, please contact me at DaveSwindlePJM@gmail.com.
On Thursdays I’ll blog about my efforts to go out of my comfort zone and try new things that I never had any interest in before. Maybe it’s time to finally time to give sports a chance again? And to start exploring the rich mix of cultures that come together in Los Angeles?
Friday – Mind
5. Read Five “Big Books of Anti-Marxism” That I’ve Put Off Too Long.
My writing project for 2013 is to expand and develop my list of counterculture conservative books. Here are five extra long ones that I intend to finally discipline myself into reading:
- Main Currents of Marxism by Leszek Kolakowski
- Red Horizons by PJ Media’s great columnist Lt. Gen Ion Mihai Pacepa
- Witness by Whittaker Chambers
- Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
- A History of the American People by Paul Johnson
(I think if I read both Witness and Atlas Shrugged simultaneously then I can balance the positive and negative reactions of both my Catholic and Objectivist friends…)
Saturday – Body
Can I finally kick the fast food addiction this year? Yes. Anyone want to join me?
6. Stop Sacrificing my Health on the Altar of Workaholism. Every Morning I Will Really RUN with Maura Instead of Making an Excuse and Just Doing a Short Walk. And April and I have Agreed to Again attempt a Pescatarian (vegetarianism + fish and shellfish) Diet Accompanied by the Elimination of Refined Sugar.
Here’s where I rip off Charlie Martin’s format. Every Saturday I’m going to report on my own exercise and dieting adventures. Any other PJMers want to start experimenting with different combinations of programs? The more the merrier.
For me I approach the eating and exercising from opposite direction — I need to gain weight, especially muscle. Too many years of skipping meals and running on caffeine and sugar have taken their toll. No more.
Sunday – Spirit
7. Re-read Howard Bloom’s The God Problem: How a Godless Cosmos Creates Again Over The Course of the Year as a Daily Devotional Book, Consuming a Little Bit Every Day.
When I was an evangelical Christian I used to love the “devotional” series of books that were designed to be read a little bit each day. Other religious traditions utilize it too. Joseph Telushkin’s The Book of Jewish Values: A Day-by-Day Guide to Ethical Living is another book that I adore that uses this format. Someday I hope to write some of my own books in this style.
I think this will be a good way to explore Bloom’s magnum opus, a book that I think when properly understood can do a better job than any other at bridging one of the deep intellectual rifts in the world today: the war between religious fundamentalists and secular materialist fundamentalists. The battle between science and mysticism is a false dilemma. And Bloom shows how in his mind-blowing history of science and sweeping portrait of the development of Western civilization. On Sundays I’m going to encourage inter-faith dialogue and blog about reconciling the divides between the religious traditions.
I now extend the invitation to my fellow PJM editors, writers, contributors, and commenters to offer their own resolutions for 2013.
****
Images courtesy tarczas / Shutterstock.com / Creativa
In conjunction with my New Year’s resolution to express my gratitude to those who labor to make the world a better place, I would like to commend and thank you for a brilliant article and beautiful plan for 2013.
In order to pay it forward as suggested, one of my resolutions for the upcoming year that I started to do last year was to expand my definition of acts of charity to include targeted overtipping. Example: instead of giving money to the homeless guy weaving in and out of traffic at major intersections: I handed the guy who helped put the Christmas tree on our car a $20 bill. He was working his tail off and seemed to be in a bad mood, until he looked at the denomination on the bill and gave my a very hearty thank you. I looked him in the eye and said Merry Christmas, warmly, and he returned the sentiment.
Some charitable causes are more worthwhile than others, and it would be impossible to give to all the genuinely worthy ones. Nevertheless, why not recognize the efforts of the many hard-workers who do not have their hands out, but could use and certainly appreciate your sharing some of your hard-earned but not necessarily deeply missed good fortune. As far as redistribution goes, it certainly beats writing a check to some overpaid and underworked bureaucrat in DC.
Have to correct you there. You can’t be an evangelical Christian in the past tense. If you left the faith you never belonged to God to begin with. “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.” (1 John 2:19 ESV).
Your friend is wrong, there is a correct way to worship God. He inspired people to write it down in the Old and New Testaments. Examine yourself and pray that God would save you from His judgment. My guess is that you’ve been deceived by the dual tenets of rationalism (which wrongly puts human reason above God) and skepticism (which rejects truth and wrongly teaches that nothing is knowable). It appears as “open-mindedness” but in reality is a rejection of the sovereignty of God.
So which church or denomination practices the only correct way to worship God?
Depends on the individual church. Do they practice Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Christus? If not it’s highly unlikely they are practicing Biblical Christianity. Do they draw people in using carnal means and entertainment (i.e. praise bands, feel-good topics, and overall trendiness)? Then those people must be kept using carnal means, and you will not likely hear Biblical preaching there. Personally I have avoided large churches because it is difficult to maintain a large body of churchgoers without resorting to those means.
Is the Gospel preached consistently and accurately? You should be hearing about the sovereignty of God, the inherent sinfulness and depravity of man, and the saving grace of God through His son Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It should not be a variation on having your best life now. The Gospel is inherently offensive to sinful people. If you don’t offend anyone with it you’re no longer preaching it.
It’s difficult to point to a particular denomination because even with oversight, individual churches may go off the reservation. That being said you will probably not find many Biblical churches within Roman Catholicism, the Methodists, or the ECLA Lutherans (much less cults like Mormonism and the Jehovah’s Witnesses). Again, each individual church should be judged against Scripture. Compare what their elders/pastors/ministers are saying in the name of God to the Word of God, and you’ll quickly find the false teachers. Non-denominational churches are especially dangerous because of the aforementioned lack of oversight.
I attend a small Baptist church whose elders are very careful to keep to Biblical instructions for church leaders, choose worship service content based on Scripture and not on entertainment, and keep to the three tenets i mentioned above. A church is a place where believers come to fellowship together and are fed and comforted on the Word of God, and where non-believers can hear the Gospel and through God’s grace might be saved.
So what does your theology teach is the way to get to heaven, believing the right thing about God or worshiping God in the “correct” way?
And I assume that you believe that all Roman Catholics, Methodists, Mormons, Jews, etc. are going to hell?
First off, it’s not “my theology”. There’s no such thing as individual truth, a product of our postmodern thinking. It’s Holy Scripture, written by men who were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). You don’t earn heaven, because all have fallen short of God’s standards and none are righteous (Romans 3:10). You are saved by God through His grace, made possible by Christ. And despite many Christian churches reliance on “altar calls”, you can’t even choose to be saved. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day”. (John 6:44). Mankind is inherently and totally depraved, and therefore men cannot save themselves.
I’m unable to make blanket judgments on groups of people. Roman Catholicism, Mormonism, Judaism, etc…they don’t preach the Gospel (or preach a perverted form of it), which is the means by which God saves people. There have been thousands of people saved out of those and other religions and have subsequently left. So yes, it is possible for a former Muslim or Mormon to be saved, but through hearing the Gospel, not the heresies those religions teach.
Inspirational. Two I am going to steal – more dog walks and read some of those books!
Happy New Year to you!
Running is not the way to gain muscle. At least not any significant amount. You can do a lot with pushups, situps, pullups etc, but gyms are full of lots of ways to move heavy weights for a reason.
Yes, moving to the heavier weights is on the to-do list this year. Any advice would be appreciated.
I like the focus on each area one day a week. I’ll look forward to it.
Personally, I have found that many of us got caught up in the trap of “chasing politics” this last four years and especially in the election. We baked candidates we didn’t really feel that great about out of desparation. Maybe we are now seeing the fruits of that wasted labor.
I am resolving to focus more on culture change than on politicians. I believe that if we saw the culture turning back to stronger values and refusing to put up with the cultural junk food we’ve been fed for so long, the politicians would change, too. After all, they are mostly chameleons that will turn whatever color they need to, to get re-elected.
Dave,
I like the idea of this, but I know myself too well and I will have trouble doing the same – so, I will watch your progress and live vicariously through you.
As far as christianity, that’s a sticky wicket indeed. As a former elder in the church of christ, I know first hand the situation you have run into with church and religion.
Religion is a very personal thing and I am a strong believer that Jesus basically taught LOVE. Not sex love, or the love you have for your wife, but love of mankind. Loving your neighbor (not next door neighbors, but anyone you run across…) and that the ten commandments are still great ideas to follow and certainly do not make you a bad person for following them, but the bit about the “sabbath” is a difficult one to overcome, unless you take it to mean a day of worship and focus on your relationship with god.
Anyway – I look forward to reading about your plan and resolutions.
Thanks for sharing!
Saying that Jesus taught love only tells a portion of the story. “I come not to bring peace, but to bring a sword” (Matthew 10:34). Jesus through his life, death, and resurrection, highlighted the condemnation of man because of man’s sin but also brought with him man’s only hope for redemption.
Read through Revelation, and you will get a very different picture of Christ. When He returns, He returns to judge. It will not be a particularly pleasant day. Even those whom He’s saved will be well aware that it was not through any works they did, but through God’s grace alone.
One aspect of God that usually makes people run for the door is His sense of justice. If you accept the Biblical notion of mankind’s utter and complete depravity, then there is a due penalty for that unrighteousness. The bill must be paid, and through His grace He sent His son to pay the penalty for those whom He’s saved.
And you’re right, following the Ten Commandments doesn’t make you a bad person. It would make you a good person if you were capable of following them. No one is, thus the need for the Savior.
Jesus summed up the Decalogue perfectly as recorded in Mark Chapter 12: “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength…and you shall love your neighbor as yourself”. Can you truly say that you follow that perfectly? I can’t.
Thanks for the kind words, Dave!