Shannon Costello

The joyful couple wraps their arms around each other, knowing that they have at last realized the love they were meant to attain, and the story draws to a close. With great effort I drag my mind back into my own world and commence the hunt for the next book. My thoughts are fluttering around like birds disturbed from their perch, waiting to settle on another romantic story. I find that I am not interested in any other type of book, let alone any activity other than reading.

Christian romance novels are written to be interesting and exciting. The result is a potentially high cost to readers who desperately need to think critically and logically about matters of the heart if they are to follow God in that area. Authors of Christian romance novels should write with this need in mind.

Christian romance novels are often interesting and exciting, but they have major problems that present stumbling blocks to clear thinking. To begin with, they involve plots that develop as a result of the major mistakes and sins of the protagonist. It is not unusual for such a novel to open with a protagonist who is engaged, or nearly so. As the story advances, we find that the girl does not actually love her fiancée, at least not enough to commit to matrimony. In one such novel the main character, lauded throughout the book as a strong Christian, meets another man whom she dislikes intensely. She later realizes that her apparent dislike was her way of coping with what was actually love at first sight. This is the man she was intended to marry. The two-year relationship with the first gentleman was a mistake. In other novels the engaged girl has never even considered herself to be in love with her intended, but she has allowed herself to be pressured into an engagement. These girls end up breaking off their engagements once they locate their true loves. The jilted man is either written off as a creep disguised as a gentleman or painfully recognizes that they are not for each other and sadly lets her walk away. Little attention is given to the pain he goes through in being led on and then dumped. Still less attention is given to the fact that he was led on for long periods of time by the protagonist. Rarely is any blame at all placed on the girl in these situations. This is wrong.

Christians are called to love. Long term prayer as an integral part of a close relationship with God, that shows in care and concern for the well-being of others, both long and short term, is essential for success in this area. A girl who is not certain that a particular man is the man God intends for her to wed ought not to be planning marriage with that man. People who do not seek to honor God with their lives and relationships may thoughtlessly dump one boyfriend for another when they get bored or angry, but I believe God intends for us to do better. Many Christian romance novels do not seem to consider this.

Some go even farther. Another common type of plot deals with a relationship that starts out on a very bad footing and grows into love throughout the entire book. Again, sins are committed against the other person resulting in intense emotional pain. Intense emotional pain is not a pleasant experience, nor do I believe that God desires us to inflict such pain on each other. Still another major error is when the girl falls in love with an unsaved person. Once she allows this, she sets herself up in an intensely painful situation. Some of these girls start along this path by dating the man (whether they call it a date or not). This notion that it is acceptable to spend time alone with a non-Christian member of the opposite sex is pervasive and potentially deadly to one’s spiritual walk. Even so-called “churched” kids today often do not see a problem with this. One should never date or marry a non-Christian. This includes persons who claim to be Christians but do not live like it. One should not pursue such persons. One should not leave the door to consideration of such persons even slightly ajar. Slam it shut. Better yet, don’t even have a door.

We read these books and are captivated by them. And we want the same for ourselves. We think we want what we are observing without considering the potential for deep emotional wounds resulting from sins against others. How much better to go through pain because we are running away from the temptation to do these things and to start a relationship cautiously, watching it grow into God’s plan for you…His plan to prosper you and not to harm you.

Interesting and exciting plots focus on exotic locations. Often those locations are exotic to the protagonist as well. Maybe her job takes her on a cruise ship, or to Paris. Perhaps she is spending a sabbatical on an island, or she is on a plane heading to New York City because she has been selected to get a makeover. Major events are common in these stories. Storms hit, leaving the handsome male stranger bleeding senseless on the ground near where the tree branch struck him. A minor character, enamored with fun, is killed in a car accident, shocking the main characters to their senses. Life-threatening situations are as common as abandoned pennies. And, to top it off, the male in the story is overwhelmingly handsome, standing out in any crowd. Love at first sight is the norm.

I suspect that, if one reads about this enough, one will start to look for these sorts of things in one’s own life. One who looks hard enough for something may start to think they see it.

Another typical example of unrealistic situations is the one where the girl is dumped by the guy, who later comes chasing after her, especially when she has already found something else. Authors like to have a character who is so perfect that she has multiple guys running after her. We want to be the wife of one husband—why then is it desirable to us to have many men chasing after us?

Such plots trap us into thinking one way without acknowledging the implausibility of the plot and the sins that led one to this situation. We completely accept the thoughts of the protagonist without criticizing them. We are led to think a certain way without considering alternatives. By the time the crisis arrives, we feel the character can only act one way—without remembering how she got herself into this situation.

A further problem is that these books often present a distorted sense of time. The character always gets what she wants in about an hour and a half. The books begin, perhaps, after the character has waited a long time. Or the time that she does wait in the book is glossed over in a few sentences. Thus we find the herione at the end, perfectly happy and with every wish fulfilled, while we are left with deep longings stirred up, but possibly months or years more of waiting uncertainly and hoping desperately that we will get it at all.

With these weighty flaws to consider, it is hardly worth mentioning that these books are often poorly written. Jane Austen cautiously worked on her “little bit of ivory”, but the typical Christian romance novel bears little resemblance to anything so fine as ivory. Typographical errors are common, the dialogue is stilted, and the vocabulary is limited. Adults are reading books written on perhaps a 6th grade level.

What then is the makeup of the good Christian romance novel? Christian romance novels, besides being well written, should have a theme that speaks about God, some protagonist who lives in a manner or pleasing to God, and achieve a certain degree of plausibility.

The theme is the major message of the book. What does the author really want to point out to the reader? Many Christian novelists seem to desire to point out something about God, but don’t often seem to get past the point of sticking a sermon about salvation in their books. The message should clearly point to God and teach something about Him—not just in a sermon somewhere, but in the way the character lives and in the working out of the plot throughout the book. Authors come to their writing with an agenda that is not always clearly stated. The agenda of the Christian romance novelist should involve some attempt to express what they know of God and His works.

Every good Christian novel should present a major character that desires deeply, or comes to desire deeply, to seek God with their whole hearts, devoting every aspect of their lives to Him. Their approach to life is a reflection of this. They want to honor God with their relationships and love others. They don’t want even an appearance of evil. They are controlled by their devotion to God, not their emotions. As a result of such lives and desires, main characters are stable, not blown and tossed about by every wave, or even every good-looking guy. They do not casually approach relationships, including casual dating and casual sexual touching. This business of accidental kissing has got to stop. At the very least, the Christian romance novelist should try to give readers a glimpse of what it could be like when one gives one’s plans for romance completely over to God. I do not believe it is enough for the protagonist to make a statement against dating non-Christians. She should also live it. This includes being extremely cautious when dealing with non-Christian members of the opposite sex. The main character should know a person before they indulge in dreaming about him. The main character should be swept off their feet by who he is and Whom he serves, not just his looks.

The good Christian romance novel should give some attention to plausibility of plot. There is no need for frequent catastrophic events, or even the sudden placement of the character in an unsought, semi-forced marriage. Attention should be given to the passage of time. This is part of plausibility. The anxious woman reader should not be taught that the desires of our hearts are granted instantly.

And so, to Christian novelists: exercise caution in writing for an emotional audience. Any writer is responsible before God for his or her output. It is difficult for females to think logically in matters of the heart. It is even more difficult to act logically. With that in mind, females, particularly young ones, should carefully observe and critique what influences they allow themselves to fall under, including music, movies, and books.