(Interview) March Vargas of Cherish Christ

This new year, I’ll start with March. Yes, March. March Vargas that is. This Christian content creator has videos on YouTube and Facebook that teaches biblical topics. But it’s done (sometimes) in a funny and entertaining way. If you want to know more about her, check this interview out.

Hi March. Please kindly tell us something about yourself and how you got saved?

Hi! Thanks for having me. 🙂 I was raised in a Roman Catholic family. When one of my sisters became a Christian, she shared the gospel with me and started bringing me to her local church. I was in 1st year high school back then. As I was learning more about the Bible, I was realizing more and more how I have fallen short from the standards of God. But although I was eager to start following Christ, the desires of my flesh prevailed. I loved my sins more and I couldn’t get myself to surrender my life to Him.

8 Favorite Quotes From the Book “The Sacred Art of Joking” by James Cary

It’s been a busy weekend because my father in law was admitted in the hospital due to kidney failure. Please pray for him for recovery and financial support.

Anyways, here are 8 favorite quotes from James Cary’s book The Sacred Art of Joking, published by Inter Varsity Press.  If you like these quotes, please get yourself a copy of this book by ordering at Amazon or at the author’s website.

“clichés have a grain of truth in them. Jokes rely on clichés and stereotypes, and this can easily be the cause of offence”

“the impression is given that any laughter in church will only ever come from the preacher and never from the Bible itself. This will perpetuate the stereotype that the Bible is always sombre and stern when that is not the case. The result will be that comedy will continue to be seen as a deviation from scripture, and something transgressive.”

“The Church needs an antidote for the barbed and pointed jokes made at her expense, some of which are undoubtedly justified. For a shift in culture to be sustainable, this revivial must spring from the foundational.”

“If the preacher repeatedly uses his or her own comic gifts and gets the congregation to laugh, what does that say about the comic potency of the scriptures?”

“Having been exposed to the extraordinary miracles of Jesus from a young age, many Christians have essentially been inoculated against seeing the humour in the gospel accounts.”

“Modern-day Christians who only want to focus on the lovely and the pure run the risk of trying to be holier than Jesus.” “

“There are other reasons for my concerns on starting with a joke, but here is the one most relevant to the matter in hand: it undermines the idea that comedy can be found in scripture itself. “

“Comedy has the power to awaken feelings of outrage or laughter. Either way, the response is immediate and vocal.”

Book Review: The Real Martin Luther by Josh Hamon and Brynn James

We all want to read a book that has something to do the occasion to make us more appreciative on the event. Come Reformation Day 2018 and a book came to me that is quite not the book I’m expecting read. Its bio book about a certain Reformer that has a concoction of history, humor and cartoons in it.

The Real Martin Luther is a bio book for the rest of us. The reasons are from being too lengthy or too boring to read.   Josh took Luther from the stained glass and introduces him as a human flaws and all. I think every biography book strives to present the person as ordinary as possible so we can easily relate on whom he was and what he has done.  The Real Martin Luther goes beyond that by injecting humor to the narrative. It’s getting the low down on Martin Luther without hitting below the belt. Luther wasnt drag to the mud here.  This book reminds me of Plato and a Platypus Walks into a Bar… adding comedy to a boring subject.

The artwork is awesome and also hilarious. Brynn James sets the tone on how we should visualize the book with just the right artwork style. She then puts some millennial and hipster references here and there to poke fun to Luther. Sometimes it complements the text and sometimes it’s a standalone humor. My only hopes for future volumes are that they go all out in artwork as in turn it into a comicbook.

This book is the first volume of the Holy Misfits series so we should expect there is more of this stuff. You’ll finish The Real Martin Luther not really laughing so hard to forget it all together, but with a fresh outlook on this reformation hero. A bit bold and a bit uncomfortable for readers who usually digest the usual biography book. But then again this is a totally different bio book. It’s history that is entertaining. This book is definitely a must read (re-read) for everyone.

My verdict:

5 out of 5

(The review copy of this book is provided by the author)