I have been waiting to write about this topic because I think it’s essential as someone who is always reading and publicly recommending Christian fiction authors and novels. I’m going to be very up-front about all of this because people really have to address it honestly for there to be positive change. No industry is perfect, including man-made “Christian” fiction, and I will recognize that, too. Many of my favorite books have the potential to be very toxic if you don’t approach them carefully, but they are still my favorites because they can provide some outstanding value, too.

Let’s get right into this. First, a little background: I have been an avid reader since I learned to read, essentially. I’ll never forget the time my dad tormented me by banning me from buying any new books when I was young because I had a book pile like 30 books high and I wasn’t allowed to get any more until I read all of those. I have pretty much extensively read fiction my whole life, and a huge chunk of that has been secular because the Christian fiction industry is, from my viewpoint, anyway, pretty small. I’ve been really digging into it recently, but usually I only read Karen Kingsbury and maybe some other authors that specialized in Christian fiction for younger tweens and teens, like Jenny B. Jones and Stephanie Morrill.

Mostly, though, I’ve stuck with Karen. I like mature characters because I’ve always been pretty mature, so I like the depth of her books, even when it was way over my head as an 11-year-old and I cried to my mom confessing some of the things I’d read. 😂 That isn’t to say her books are dirty. They just have subject content that was very eye-opening to an 11-year-old. It certainly wasn’t like the time my cousin recommended a teen romance series to me when I was nine, promising they weren’t that bad, and by the end of the book I’ve seen the F word, a beach scene where clothes are coming completely off, strong violence, and crying just as hard because I felt so guilty. She was only 11, herself, though, so it probably went over her head, too. But I still haven’t forgotten that!

In all seriousness, though, why even feel guilty about what we read? That’s the big question here. Why do we even have to be careful? It’s because of something I realized VERY early on in my days as a reader and what has actually driven my desire to become an author myself: stories impact us, even if they’re not real.

I am still finding this true, even as a junior in college, sometimes to an embarrassing degree. I have to actually remind myself at times, STILL, that I literally can’t compare myself to book characters because they don’t exist. Of course things aren’t going to happen for me the way I’ve read because THEY’RE MADE UP. And that’s at times what is the appeal in fiction. It’s not a real story so the consequences don’t seem as critical, but at least for me, I’ve found that I still compare, I still base real life off of what I read and see, and the messages and themes of what I’m consuming, whether it be subtle or overt, good or bad, still stay with me. Your mind ends up believing what it’s consistently fed, even if it’s obviously made up.

So this can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the type of stories. Obviously, this isn’t all fiction’s fault, either. If you’re already comparing yourself and dissatisfied with your life, fiction won’t cure that; it will exacerbate that. There’s always that level of personal responsibility and maturity—you know what you can handle and what you can’t, or you’ll learn with time. But, even if you are trying to have a healthy mindset, sometimes the toxic underlying messages in fiction can still creep in and threaten that, and we are to take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5).

The big problem is especially with romantic fiction because it’s often compared to porn as the female equivalent. You’re not watching people doing sexual things, but you’re imagining and fantasizing—potentially about real people—doing sexual things. Usually this isn’t as much of a problem in Christian fiction so much as it is the general market, but I’ve heard several Christian writers of blogs discourage reading of Christian fiction because they believe it is “bordering on” porn or they call it “soft porn” because Christian romantic fiction definitely includes sexual elements, and how much depends on who you’re reading.

I also should include that I, personally, am not against sexuality being included in Christian fiction. I certainly think there needs to be boundaries, but a lot of times when you read Goodreads reviews or posts by these bloggers, you get the feeling that perhaps they’d be happy if sex or anything around the subject of sex wasn’t mentioned in Christian fiction, ever. And I do have a huge problem with that because sex is not a dirty subject for Christians; it was created by God, so it actually belongs to us, not the world. But just like everything else, there should be a noticeable difference in how we treat and uphold sex versus how the world does, and this includes the way we talk and write about it.

But let’s examine something else: what is the big deal about sex being included in Christian fiction? Why is that frowned upon? Well, going back to the porn thing, you don’t want single girls, or guys, or married people, to be fantasizing in a way that is sinful or unhealthy for them. I don’t appreciate when Christians act like single people can’t ever think about sex, EVER, before marriage, because that is unrealistic and not even beneficial. I’ll talk more about that in later posts. The bottom line is, of course you’re going to wonder about sex, but the problem becomes when you’re trying to save that for marriage, as is best for you and God commands (Hebrews 13:4; 1 Corinthians 7:2), but then you’re reading all this sexual content that you don’t have an outlet to process. I still argue that fiction is different from porn because you’re not actually watching real people doing things, but there is definitely the potential for fiction to produce the same sort of mindsets and habits that porn does, without a doubt.

Plus, now a lot of Christian romance films are being made, and that makes this even more complicated because now you are involving and watching real people doing things. But we’ll get into that more when I cover Redeeming Love, which is getting its own post.

I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with Christian fiction. I do appreciate the biblical themes and faith stories, but it wasn’t until I was searching for the right words in this post on being real that I saw a post afterwards that nailed it with two things:

1. Christian fiction can VERY HEAVILY promote the “prosperity Gospel” without even meaning to.
2. It can play off of trauma, which you have to be very, very careful doing.

I have been very disillusioned by stories that portray God as, in many ways, a genie, even though I know the authors don’t believe that. Still, everything gets tied up in a bow; when you pray hard enough with enough faith, you see something extraordinary, Prince Charming comes right when you’re at the end of your rope…and God is always doing miracles. This is not an accurate picture and it’s not a picture people should be subscribing to over and over again because they will end up believing it, and for a “baby Christian,” this could really damage someone’s faith, “it’s just fiction” aside. Fiction still makes you think a certain way, so you have to carry your stories with responsibility. The last thing you want to be doing is promoting an unrealistic view of interacting with God.

Because what are you doing when you do that? Encouraging people to cope through fantasies. Oh, we know the real world isn’t like this, but we want to imagine it is—that isn’t healthy!!! How can that NOT affect your mental health when in the real world? I don’t want to lie to myself or have to buy into a sugar-coated version of life to get through life, so while yes, I acknowledge that fiction is fiction and we read to get a break/escape/be immersed in something else—YES, myself included—I still don’t want to be lied to or taught something that isn’t true. You can still write a good, entertaining story that doesn’t foster disillusionment.

This is why I am so picky about the Christian movies I watch; I LOVE many of them, but they’ll never be my go-to’s because they have too many miracles in them, and if I’m having a bad day, I don’t want to see that. I don’t want to see someone’s every prayer getting answered in a month when I’ve got stuff that still hurts that I’ve been praying for over the years. That doesn’t help my relationship with God; it can hurt it (not so much anymore, but it has in the past). You might argue, well, you’re not very strong if a movie can take away your faith or upset you, or you aren’t secure enough in your faith if you can’t distinguish between what you know and what’s part of a story, and those are fair points. But again, we have to GUARD OUR HEARTS. Why would I put that in my heart if I know real life isn’t like that—and that’s okay?! Because it doesn’t mean God isn’t good or that faith is worthless, but when you consume stories that only portray Him through this fantasy lens, that is the message you inadvertently consume, and you begin wondering what’s wrong with Him or your faith when that isn’t the norm for you.

The other point about trauma is related to this; it actually goes right in with it. A lot of times, fiction takes really deep, common problems and areas of trauma, but the “solution” in the story is a variation of the prosperity Gospel, and that’s a very dangerous thing to be doing for people who actually identify with the traumatic situations in the stories and then are presented a faith like that. I know that all these authors, I think, really do love God and are motivated to do good, but it’s these things that if you’re not careful with, you can really can send the wrong messages without meaning to. This is what happened to me the first time I read Redeeming Love and, as I mentioned earlier, just stay tuned a little bit longer because I am going to do a whole post on my experience with that story.

Here’s also what I think it comes down to and that, if all Christian authors focused on this first and foremost, it would eliminate most of these problems: you can take liberties with fiction, yes, and that’s the whole point. But when you take those liberties, they shouldn’t be with God and faith. Authors need to stick to the Bible and what it says about Him as closely as possible if they’re going to associate their books with Him because they are going to be judged all the more for what their stories imply (James 3:1)—that’s also why this conversation and thoughtfulness are so critical. Words move people; they matter. You can’t just throw them out there in the name of “fiction” or anything else when they can have serious consequences regardless. So when you exaggerate the truth about God’s miracles or try to portray Him in a showy, more “glamorized” way than how people might typically experience Him, I don’t think that’s wise, loving, or responsible in any way, even if the authors don’t mean it. All of these authors tend to quote the Bible in their stories, and they do a good job telling the messages they want in their stories, but then sometimes, in the actions throughout the story, it shows otherwise.

Okay, so before I get in to what to do with all this and what I personally recommend, let’s circle back to the sex issue since that’s what turns a lot of people off (HA…or on…maybe I shouldn’t have used those words 😉 ). When I read blog posts from other Christians saying that a lot of Christian fiction borders on porn, I’d genuinely be curious to find out which authors they think are like that. Of course they don’t say, but it would be nice to pinpoint what sorts of content, exactly, they think is crossing a line. Here’s what I’ve noticed from personal experience: I think any sort of content alluding to sex can be pornographic if you want it to be in the sense that it can spark fantasies and the like, but that’s also a big product of where your mind is, too; my mom or grandma, for instance, read books with allusions to sex a lot differently than I do. But if you’re reading a Harlequin, well, that puts everything on the page and is definitely going to get you in that frame of mind, even if you’re determined not to let it.

I’ve not *yet* read a Christian book that comes close to a Harlequin, but just recently, actually, I was a little put out with a series that I think is trying to be the “soft” version of a Harlequin series but with Christian themes in it. I liked this series, I really did; the Christian themes were biblical and interesting, and the stories themselves were nice, BUT, there were a lot of instances throughout the story where it was clearly going off of sexual tension and purposefully creating it. And yes, that’s a part of life and I think it should be addressed, but I think this series and this author were not addressing it from that moral, critical-thinking lens but rather just a romantic, passionate element to fuel the stories. Then I found an interview with her, where she basically admitted that she relies on those fantasy elements, like making the characters look like actors or in having there be multiple love interests.

Again, I don’t have a problem with fiction and its exploratory nature, even when it comes to fantasy, but when the goal is to teach themes but then add a bunch of fantasy things that are contradictory, it just rubs me the wrong way. It’s hard to be deep and fluffy at the same time; it’s going to end up leaning towards the latter. In other words, it’s hard to take some moral insight from someone seriously when they’re also peddling in content to make your romantic fantasies go off the charts, which isn’t biblical or helpful.

What to Do with This

This paints a rather critical and depressing picture of Christian fiction, but as you are well aware of, I still read and love this genre, even if I love to critique it. And that’s important, because rarely in life are there things that are strictly black and white, good or bad. There can be value in something despite its toxic elements, and sometimes the toxicity outweighs any potential goodness, but if you have a discerning spirit, you can appreciate the good while learning from the bad. Ultimately, what sorts of Christian fiction books and authors you like is going to come down to what you like and what you can and can’t handle. I’ll share some of my favorites—as well as some of their weaknesses or points of concern you should at least be aware of going into their books. My mom pretty much strictly reads nonfiction, but that’s what she enjoys; if I read solely nonfiction all the time, I’d lose my mind. She is getting more into fiction because we agree we need those elements of imagination, exploration, and adventure through stories. So I’ll keep reading and exploring and let you know what I come up with.

It goes without saying, but the authors who write the best fiction are going to be the ones most secure in their faith. I know a lot of people aren’t a fan of her, but I do think Karen Kingsbury does the best job with Christian fiction. She has put me off in the past because she relies very heavily on extraordinary miracles, but then there are instances in her stories where I know she’s not for the prosperity Gospel and she makes that clear. Some of her books are more realistic than others, too, so I can make recommendations based on that. If people are referring to Karen’s books as “soft porn,” well, I don’t know what to tell them because all the fiction by other authors I’ve read gets more risqué, not less. Honestly, Karen’s books do not include that much sexual content. There’s romance, yes, but she is quick to portray purity in that (it’s almost annoying…like any time the characters kiss, they’re like we have to stop…haha); all the passion, whether exercised healthily or not, is very much off the pages, but she still addresses it in a way that feels natural and realistic and biblical.

Here are my favorites of hers depending on level of realism:

• The first, original Baxter Family series: this is a huge series she continues to add to, and Coming Home was the first book of hers I ever read. But the originals, Redemption through Reunion, are the best in terms of realism, and even then, there’s a level of fantasy—such as one of the main characters having dated an NFL player and the son they gave up for adoption becoming a Hollywood A-list actor. Yeah, imagine having both of those in the same family. But the actual themes in these books are incredibly well-done, and I think her writing is some of the best in these. The series does get a little cheesier as it goes, but I read the series with little Hollywood boy when I was 11 and it’s ruined me ever since. Now I only want something that extraordinary, so help me God. His name was Dayne, which was also the name of a guy I had a massive crush on at the time, and now I really want to name one of my sons that. So unless I marry a guy named Dayne, he’s probably not going to appreciate that, but it’s the least he could do for me if I have his children.
• Angels Walking was really good and insightful, allowing you to see more of the extraordinary in the everyday.
• Fifteen Minutes is probably a better, more realistic story about fame and the actual dangers and burdens of it. This story didn’t get the cliche happy ending either, which I appreciated. I mean, it’s not heartbreaking, if you’re afraid of that; it’s just realistic.
• I also really enjoyed The Chance. It’s very sweet and moving. You just have to get over the love interest being an NBA player, although she did grow up with this boy, so that helps even it a little bit.

I do also really enjoy Francine Rivers. She is not afraid to get into the heavy stuff of life and, in my opinion, goes a bit deeper than Karen. She does, however, include more sexual content (briefly, it’s heaviest in Redeeming Love, but that was because sexuality was one of the big themes in that) and still can include some of that miraculousness. But the themes are second to none, and her storytelling abilities are amazing. I’d recommend any of hers except—if you are wanting to stay away from more of the lighthearted, cliche fluffiness—her newest, The Lady’s Mine. I still have that book and love it, even though it’s not my favorite of hers. There are still great themes; it’s not like it completely abandons her nature, but she even said she wrote it during the pandemic and wanted it to be more lighthearted. And it is. It follows more of the vibes of a romance novel than it does fiction, and because of that, I found it annoyingly slow and meaningless at some points, BUT overall, it did still have some godly themes and love. It’s just not her most meaningful, in my opinion, but I don’t think that was her goal.

Charles Martin is another good one; his books barely include sexual content but have a mixture of romance, adventure, action, and depth. I’ve been appreciative of Mary Connealy, too, although her books slowly creep into more of that Christian romance market that can play off of romantic fantasies, but hers, I don’t feel, are as bad as some others. In fact, her Montana Marriages series was very insightful and special, I thought. I also recommend Jill Eileen Smith’s biblical-based fiction. She does a great job making those stories come to life with the perfect balance of sexuality.

And, oh my gosh, before I forget: one of the best Christian fiction books I’ve ever read—just recently—was Set the Stars Alight. THAT is the sort of book I want to write some day: beautiful, suspenseful, meaningful, deep, and poignant. You could tell that book was written around themes, not romance—even though it included that. It was one of the best-written books I’ve ever read in my life.

I’m very much open to anyone else’s suggestions, too, or if they do have some reasons why the authors I listed aren’t as beneficial because it’s important to talk about all this. I’m still exploring this genre furhter, as I’ve read a lot of general fiction and young adult in the past. I’ll keep you posted as I find more.

Lastly, if you have any inclination to write, WRITE the Christian fiction you want to see!!! That’s what I want to get back to doing. 🙂