New Identity Magazine

In Defense of Leviticus

Jeffery Porter — Tue, 03 Aug 2021 21:32:13 +0000

I wonder how many people have tried to read through the Bible cover to cover, from Genesis to Revelation, only to be thwarted by Leviticus. It happened to me. When I was in high school my senior pastor mentioned that he read three chapters of the Bible every day, which meant that he made it chronologically through the Bible every year. It sounded easy enough. So I gave it a try.

Source

Trading Bad Habits for Zakah

Jeffery Porter — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 17:29:52 +0000

How do I get my life together when it seems like a mess?” That is how I translate Psalm 119:9. Most English language Bibles use something similar to the NIV’s translation of “How can young people keep their way pure?” However, I am no longer a young man, and the word “pure” does not seem to apply to all of the ways that I feel like I stumble. For me, the word “pure” sounds like it has more to do…

Source

In Someone Else’s Shoes

Jeffery Porter — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 18:40:37 +0000

When encountering people from other ethnic, national, or religious cultures it is easy to see how their culture influences their values and ways of thinking about the world. Yet, in Marilynne Robinson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Gilead, the fictional narrator Reverend John Ames reminds me that I am no different. As Ames tries to make sense of an illustration from French reformer John Calvin’s…

Source

LIFE IS NOT ABOUT THE JOURNEY

Jeffery Porter — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 19:54:11 +0000

I was recently surprised when a student confided that they were impatiently waiting for what God had planned for their future vocation. What surprised me was not that they were wondering what God has planned for their life, nor that they were feeling impatient. What did surprised me was that another student offered advice in the form of a popular saying, “Life isn’t about the destination.

Source

FROM THE CHURCH OF THE PAINFULLY IMPERFECT

Jeffery Porter — Thu, 31 May 2018 21:18:28 +0000

The word community was never disputed. When the church I was a part of was undergoing the process of changing their name, nearly every potential word or phrase was scrutinized and debated. There was even disagreement over whether the word church should be included in the new title. Yet, nobody ever questioned the inclusion of the word community. No one had to make an argument for its inclusion…

Source

The Lost Virtue of Being Thankful

Jeffery Porter — Thu, 03 May 2018 16:04:19 +0000

While I was in seminary, I lived with a very nice family in a very nice house rent free. Not only will I always be thankful for their kindness, generosity, and hospitality, I also learned a profound lesson about gratitude through my experience. On the face of it, the idea of gratitude seems a simple one. Everyone is familiar with the feeling of being thankful. Yet, gratitude is actually an ancient…

Source

HIKING WITH THOMAS OF AQUINAS

Jeffery Porter — Tue, 20 Mar 2018 15:57:30 +0000

On the 26th of April 1336, Italian poet Francesco Petrarca decided to climb Mont Ventoux simply because he wanted to see the view. It might come as a surprise, but this is widely considered the first time anyone ever climbed a mountain for the sake of simply enjoying nature. Prior to this point in history, activities like hiking were strictly seen as practical endeavors. That is not to say people…

Source

HOW A ROMAN BISHOP CHANGED THE WAY I READ THE BIBLE

Jeffery Porter — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 18:13:27 +0000

When I became a Christian as a sophomore in high school, it was clear that, as a Christian, reading the Bible was going to be a big part of my life. Every week my Sunday School teacher would ask us how many times we had read the Bible in the previous seven days. At youth group, my pastor encouraged me to memorize Scripture to counteract the worldly information I consumed through movie quotes and…

Source