The Problem with Christian YA Books
I've held back from posting this one because someone always gets offended when I criticize anything Christian, but you know what?
That's ridiculous.
It's not sacrilegious to criticize something with the label "Christian", I am not going to not criticize the problems and stereotypes that happen in these books just because it's supposedly "Christian", I have a brain for a reason, I like to think things over before blindly agreeing and following.
So here we go.
And for the record, I'm not saying that all Christian books are bad, I've read some really good ones, but I've noticed a lot of problems in a lot of Christians books as well, and the fact that they claim to be Christian should not lower the standards for them.
First off, in the wise words of Jordan Taylor:
I am very very tired of reading books and halfway through it's like, oh, btw the characters are Christians. Ummm, well, I have very bad news for your characters: they're the definition of lukewarm Christians (Revelation 3:15-16). I've read lots of books that do this, and it is so frustrating. One time I was reading this book and I already didn't like the main girl character and then halfway through the book, she thinks something along the lines of, "That wouldn't be very Christian of me." *crickets* I'M SORRY, BUT IF YOU'RE THE MAIN CHARACTER, YOUR BELIEFS SHOULD PROBABLY NOT BE A PLOT TWIST. 
On the flip side of this, we have the really preachy books.
The really really preachy books.
The kind of books that make me want to ask: Are you writing a story or a sermon?
Look, sharing the message through your stories is amazing and so is having Christian characters, but even themes of Christianity can be (dare I say it?) overused in fiction. God is powerful, his word is powerful, to be perfectly blunt, you cannot capture his power in a bunch of paper and ink.
Stop trying to.
Even the Bible itself points out how impossible it is to write the greatness of God down: Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.-John 21:25
Just, K.I.S.S.
Keep it simple, stupid.
Sometimes a little subtlety is the best. We don't need a 400-paged sermon shoved down our throats disguised as a YA novel, just give us something real. Show us the joy and hope that the Lord can bring throughout your story.
Don't have unrealistic characters that quote bible verses and say prayers every other sentence while being pretty much perfect, have broken people who actually have to seek God constantly.
Also, don't just focus on a moral or religious plotline without adding character arcs or a plot at all!! I repeat, you are writing a story, not a sermon!!!*
**although if you are, that's totally cool, just don't pretend it's anything more or less than a sermon or a Lamplighter book, either way.
In the end, I don't care if the book has a blue cross sticker slapped across the front of it, it can still be empty trash like so many of the other books in YA.
The other day I was talking to one of the elders at my church and we were talking about books and Tolkien came up and we started talking about how Tolkien approached religion in his books.
He believed in being subtle, even going so far as to criticize his friend, C.S. Lewis's works for being too obvious with the religious symbols and having too strong and in-your-face Christian themes. It was also said that he thought that any good story wouldn't need strong themes to point to God and that if the story was any good it would automatically point to God without having to be directly religious.
And as of now, I'm inclined to agree.
Other posts in this series:
Welp, I tried to do that without offending anyone, did it work?
What are your thoughts?
Also, I know I have a pretty 50/50 split on Christian and non-Christian readers on this blog, so I'm sorry to my non-Christian readers if this post bored you a bit, I tried to keep it brief because I can talk/write about this stuff and just Christianity in general forever because it fascinates me and is something I'm passionate about. But I do try normally try to keep this blog neutral since it's mainly a writing and book blog. So, if you did read this post, thanks for sticking with me! Feel free to leave any of your thoughts in the comments.❤️😉
Happy Writing,
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