books may actually be adultery, depending on the author’s view of divorce
Christian Romance Novels: and remarriage. If you read them, do so with your head as well as your heart,
Are They Our Harmless Little Secret? and don’t let them shape your understanding of God.
Susan Verstraete Does it teach idolatry? I know that sounds harsh, but hear me out. If the
She was an intimate friend, and I was in her confidence from the beginning. heroine in your novels is always saved by a lover, that’s a false redemption.
She was feisty and quite pretty, but not in a fussy way. Life dealt her some Christ is our Redeemer, and God is our ever-present help in time of trouble.
hard blows, but she was self-sufficient and didn’t Our hope is in Christ, not in Prince Charming. No mere man can fix all our
need a man to take care of her—or at least, so she problems. Accepting this idolatrous view of romantic relationships will
thought. I could have told her the right man would cause you to place pressures on your husband that will end in deep
be the answer to all her problems, but she never disappointment, if not disaster. Only Jesus can be your Savior.
seemed to listen. I suffered with her through tragedy Is it changing your expectations? This is a subtle problem and nearly
and trembled when her life was in peril. And I felt a impossible to self-diagnose. Do you think that God will always wrap up all
vicarious delight when he came on the scene—the the loose ends in your life in a timely manner? Do you expect your life to
strong, handsome, masculine hero that would rescue always be exciting, or your work always fulfilling? Should you always be
her from her lonely, cold existence and teach her all the center of attention? Do you fantasize about being rescued by a man from
about real love. Oh, and I almost forgot—they went a situation in which you feel helpless? If so, you may have been influenced
to church sometimes. by reading Christian romances.
That’s the plot, more or less, of every Christian romance novel I’ve ever Is it a form of emotional adultery? God has designed our relationship with
read. In the past, I read a lot of them. If you are like most believing women I Him, the marriage relationship and our relationships in the church to meet
know, at some point you’ve read one, too. Obviously someone is reading our deep need for emotional intimacy. We may unintentionally circumvent
them. One major Christian bookseller has over 2,000 current titles listed in this plan by vicariously identifying with heroine after heroine in these
this category. There are several clubs that send members a new Christian novels, selfishly meeting our own emotional needs instead of letting those
romance novel every week. While you are waiting for the mailman to deliver needs drive us into real, sometimes messy, relationships.
the next selection, you can surf to an author fan site or one of dozens of sites
that review and suggest books in this genre. Is it a steady diet? Finishing a Christian romance novel is a little like taking
the last bite of a hot fudge sundae. We usually feel a little sad that it’s over.
So, is this a harmless area of Christian liberty? I’ll let you decide. But it The fantasy has ended and we return to our comparatively boring,
wouldn’t hurt to look more carefully at what we are reading and how it unglamorous, meat-and-potatoes lives. The temptation is, of course, to
might—just might—be a problem for some of us. immediately pick up a new book and immerse ourselves in a new fantasy.
Have you turned off your intellect? When researchers asked women why In the same way that we should not allow a steady diet of hot fudge sundaes,
they read Christian romance, an overwhelming majority said they valued the we should not allow ourselves a steady diet of popular fiction. If we do so,
books because they inspired an emotional response. That’s not necessarily we miss the chance to read books that will teach us good theology, help us
wrong, but we need to be discerning even when reading fiction. For grow as believers, and develop realistic expectations about relationships and
example, whole series of novels are written that are “Christian” in name spirituality.
only. The characters are practical atheists who may attend church, but their
faith does not impact their decisions. We don’t want to passively accept this Instead, I urge you to try reading biographies of Christian women like Ann
as normative Christian behavior. Judson, Amy Carmichael or Sarah Edwards. Many women have found the
books Stepping Heavenward and Pilgrim’s Progress to be helpful works of
We also have to remember that in these books, God behaves in the way the fiction. Ask your pastor or a trusted older woman in your church to
author causes Him to behave. The theology illustrated in the book is always recommend more titles. Challenge yourself to read books of substance.
fallible because the author is fallible. It’s easy to get discouraged when we
read over and over about God speaking audibly to the characters in a novel, Copyright © 2009 Susan Verstraete. Permission granted for reproduction in exact form. All other
or when we see that their loved ones always get saved before the last uses require written permission. Find more free articles at www.BulletinInserts.org, a ministry of
Christian Communicators Worldwide: www.CCWtoday.org
chapter. It’s also worth mentioning that some romantic situations in these
