Does the author of Hebrews consider the new covenant to be a covenant renewal or something completely new? Dr. Mark Strauss Hebrews 8 talks about the establishment of the new covenant, and this is not a brand new covenant. This covenant was promised in the Old Testament. In fact, he quotes from Jeremiah 31, the promise of a new covenant. God made a covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai, but he promises that one day — Israel had broken that covenant — and one day God would reestablish a new covenant, and that new covenant wouldn't have the law written on tablets of stone. It would have the law written on our hearts. It would not provide just temporal temporary forgiveness of sins, it would provide eternal forgiveness of sins. You wouldn't need a mediator to go through the priest. You would know God. All God's people would know God through the Messiah, through Jesus Christ. So, the promise of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31 has come to fulfillment, and that's what the author is arguing. And with that promise of fulfillment, God's salvation is now not just for Israel, but is going forth to all nations everywhere. So, all along, the author says, this is what God had intended, this the fulfillment of the promises. He tells the audience, "Don't go back. Don't go back to your old way. Don't go back to the shadow. Don't go back to the promise, because the fulfillment has arrived. We are under the new covenant, not the old Mosaic covenant." Learn more at http://thirdmill.org.

In this video, we explore the importance of the ancient laws in the Old Testament. Why are they in the Bible, and what do they say to followers of Jesus? We explore how they fulfilled a strategic purpose in one key phase of the biblical story, leading up to Jesus who fulfilled the law and summarized it in the call to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. #Law #BibleProject #BibleVideo

Don Carson discusses the way in which believers ought to understand the Old Testament law in light of the New Testament and the new covenant in Christ.

Sister Annabel Chan Duc’s thought-provoking memoir True Virtue: The Journey of an English Buddhist Nun is now available everywhere books are sold. https://www.parallax.org/product/true-virtue/ ~~~~ Before the Buddha passed into mahaparanirvana he taught about how to take refuge in the island within oneself, which means taking refuge in your inner teacher. Taking refuge in the Buddha is to touch your awakened nature within, even if you come from a different faith, because everyone has the seed of awakening in themselves. One way of taking refuge in oneself is to return to the awareness of body in order to heal. We can notice symptoms of unwellness and allow our body to heal itself. Every body has the capacity to heal (seed condition), but do we trust in our body’s healing ability? Unwellness of body is also unwellness of the mind because body and mind are one, like two sides of a piece of paper. Healing needs to take place in body and mind together because they can help each other. Coming to the sangha is the best way to learn how to take care of yourself. Walking meditation helps us to get in contact with our Mother, the Earth to receive the energy of healing from her. Another condition for healing is uninterrupteness – to come back to our breath regularly, consistently, continuously. We can practice touching the Earth to connect with our ancestors who had good health, and to recognize that we have inherited their good genes is to let go of the idea of a separate self, and know that we are not alone. Taking refuge in the Dharma (the law of nature) means that we can liberated by teachings of the way things are – conditioned genesis, which means this is because that is, interbeing. Things arise due conditions, and cease because of conditions. Suffering and the end of suffering is the same. Suffering is noble when we can face it and sit with it, not to run away from it with consumption or distraction. Instead we can go home to the island within and heal. If we see suffering in the world and suffer even more, then we need to build up more solidity with the support of a Sangha, and together with a Sangha we can do something to help the situation. In the meanwhile we can recognize the positive things that are there in the present moment, even if small. The 19th and 20th century are infused with individualism, and in the 21st century it is still there in competitions, in schools, in businesses…etc., but we are moving into an era of collectivism – your happiness is my happiness. Taking refuge in the Sangha is to take refuge in a community that lives in harmony and awareness. The energy of the Sangha is more than the sum of the individuals in it because everyone has something to contribute in different ways. We can practice to be an island to yourself while in the Sangha. Thầy has said that the future Buddha maybe a sangha and not an individual. Thầy has given birth to a sangha, and even now as he cannot teach like he used to, but the Sangha will be the future Thầy. You can support us by: - donating: https://plumvillage.org/support - helping to caption & translate: https://amara.org/en/profiles/videos/plumvillage/ or http://www.youtube.com/timedtext_cs_panel?tab=2&c=UCcv7KJIAsiddB2YRegvrF7g Help us caption & translate this video! https://amara.org/v/ikmh/

Find out what it means to take refuge in the Three Jewels and the essential practices of refuge. Learn about the advantage of taking lay vows and their role in enhancing our spiritual growth. Learn more about Discovering Buddhism at http://fpmt.org/education/programs/discovering-buddhism/. Study Discovering Buddhism courses on the Online Learning Center at at http://onlinelearning.fpmt.org

China: The Mandate of Heaven Many breakthroughs on which the modern world is based were discovered in China long ago...iron-casting, gunpowder, even printing. When introduced to Europe, these things changed Western civilization. This episode presents the synthesis of East and West.

A good documentary around Taoism from Life Arts Media. Credit: http://www.lifeartsmedia.com/opening-dao-taoism-martial-arts-documentary