Ellen Roberts Young Artfully Connects the Birth of Jesus with Easter

Lee Van Ham’s new book, The Liberating Birth of Jesus came out in late fall. The timing and the title might lead one to expect that it’s a story of Christmas. It’s not, though there’s mention of how our culture crowds out the full meaning of Jesus’ birth.

It’s an Easter story. Specifically, it’s about two Easter people, whom we know as Matthew and Luke, who wrote for Easter people, to help preserve for future generations the mind-blowing experience of encountering Jesus.

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Rick Herrick, PhD, New Testament Professor (ret), Gives an Insightful Review of My Book on the Birth Story of Jesus

The Liberating Birth of Jesus by Lee Van Ham is a groundbreaking book for me. My passion for the last fifty years has been the study of the New Testament. According to Van Ham, I have gone about this study in the wrong way. This revelation both hurts; and yet, in a more important sense, is immensely helpful.Van Ham anchors his study in an analysis of the birth stories in Matthew (1:1-2:23) and Luke (1:5-2:40). I have both written and spoken about those stories. Here is what I have said.

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Grasping How the Birth of Jesus Changes the Climate on Earth's Perils

The Liberating Birth of Jesus: A Birth Story Able to Reverse Our Planet’s Perils is not a holiday story, but draws important connections between dreams, angel lessons, acts of goodness, and the real meaning of Jesus’ creation story. As such, Mary, Jesus, the cosmological and psychic impact of Jesus’ arrival on Earth, and underlying messages pre- and post-Jesus are connected to both human affairs and planetary health and systems as a whole. Lee Van Ham crafts a blend of new age and religious inspection that old school Christian readers may at first find puzzling or challenging. The difference lies not in the Jesus story itself, which is more than familiar, but in perceptions of its translation and impact.

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A Great Holiday Season Read! New Release as of Nov.1

What? The birth of Jesus as told in the gospels is not the same story as the “Christmas story” in holiday celebrations? No, and this book explains why. They exist in two different worldviews. The gospels thrive in the creation worldview, but the Christmas story was born in empire’s worldview. Understanding the distinction is more important than ever given that we have only until 2030 to make major changes in how we live on our planet. That’s the year which scientists tell us is our deadline to keep earth’s temperature from heating up more than 1.5° Centigrade. Anything greater will bring havoc far beyond what we’re already experiencing and end life for many people and species.

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The Birth of Jesus Story Can Bolster Our Climate Actions—Learn How

Let’s not enter into the holiday season ahead without letting the climate emergency we’re in shape our celebrations. But how? My new book shows how the birth of Jesus is less focused on saving people than on saving the planet’s life-giving ways. It’s title is “The Liberating Birth of Jesus.” Sounds right for the season ahead, doesn’t it? But the connection with the climate disruption comes in the all important subtitle: “A Birth Story Able to Reverse Our Planet’s Perils.” Not many have read the birth story of Jesus as a story of a new creation—the very thing necessary for the climate emergency we are in. That’s how we must learn to read it now.

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Young Americans for Climate Justice: Hope for the Future

Viewing the court proceedings on the park’s large screenIn June, 2015, the non-profit organization Our Children’s Trust, on behalf of 21 children and teenagers, filed a constitutional climate-related lawsuit against the government. The suit maintains that the U.S. government, despite knowing that the burning of fossil fuel contributes to climate change, continues to promote and subsidize its extraction and use. These actions, the plaintiffs claim, violate their “…fundamental constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property.”

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Offsetting the CO2 We Release in Our Lives: An Action for Earth Day … and Beyond

Here’s an Earth Day action OneEarth Jubilee recommends we all take to offset the CO2 we put into the air.

Some of us may be able to arrange life so that we use less energy produced by fossil fuels. Certainly, whatever way we can use less of that energy source is the way to go. But all of us have to travel some, heat or cool our homes, etc. Whatever amount we use, we can off-set the CO2 that fossil fuel puts into the atmosphere by planting trees to take CO2 out of the atmosphere. It’s not a perfect equation by any means. Trees take time to grow, and when they die they release CO2. But every day that trees grow they photosynthesize and remove CO2 from the air.

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