I've seen a few mention reading them. Are they any better than the regular romance novels? From what I've been able to gather, it seems the equivalent of "Christian Porn".
porn? nah. I've heard some people say that, but I wouldn't put Christian books in the same slot as the secular stuff. Oh yeah, the secular books that I used to read (before I was a Christian of course *cough*) was very descriptive, and I could totally see where that would be considered a type of porn. I'm sure it's gotten alot more descriptive nowadays - similar to movies. Gotta go more and more downhill to have an audience.
All us women dream of romance; I don't see why a Christian novel would be considered bad. Romance will happen one day, even to the picky Christian women! You know - the Bible says Jesus was tempted in every way we are. That means boy/girl relationships too; and I don't mean sex, but maybe tempted to have a relationship with someone, to have a spouse. I can see why God would leave that story out, but I'd be very interested in hearing that story in heaven. I want the book version -read what he was thinking!
Some of the Christian romance novels are more graphic than others, but most are really "squeaky clean" content-wise.
Francine Rivers tends to write a bit differently, and her books are not quite as clean, but nearly always the characters in question are not Christians, and they completely change their ways when they come to Christ. Her point is to show the transformation that God works in them. Some of her stuff is also historical. For example, the "Mark of the Lion" series is about a Christian Jewess who is a slave in Rome a couple decades after Christ's death and resurrection. These books get pretty detailed with regards to the immoral Roman culture, but she is still very careful to avoid graphic descriptions of certain things that might cause a Christian reader to stumble.
Brock and Bodie Thoene are some other authors who remain historically accurate and don't necessarily avoid sexual content, but they definitely do avoid graphic descriptions.
If they are pornographic, I would not consider them Christian, even if they fall under the disguise as Christian. This definitely a trap to watch out for. I think one of the best things to do is do a research on any author before you read them.
A couple of authors who are very clean are Grace Livingston Hill and Gilbert Morris. Anything I have ever read of the two are very clean. You may have a harder time finding Grace Livingston Hill books, since she is no longer alive, but they are still available. Also, two secular authors who are very clean are also Georgette Heyer and Emilie Loring, of the same time period as Grace Livingston Hill.
The very few that I've read have been fine. I don't typically read them, but my mother is very much into them and is always passing them onto me because she's sure that I'll like it. I like novels to have some romance in them, but there has to be some other plot going on there for me usually. If the entire book is just this little love bubble, it doesn't usually hold my interest.
I think if we look at the etymology of the word pornography, it can give us a helpful guideline as to what's okay and what's not:
"1857, 'description of prostitutes,' from Fr. pornographie, from Gk. pornographos '(one) writing of prostitutes,' from porne 'prostitute,' originally 'bought, purchased' (with an original notion, probably of 'female slave sold for prostitution;' related to pernanai 'to sell,' from PIE root per- 'to traffic in, to sell,' cf. L. pretium "price") + graphein 'to write' (see -graphy). Originally used of classical art and writing; application to modern examples began 1880s. Main modern meaning 'salacious writing or pictures' represents a slight shift from the etymology, though classical depictions of prostitution usually had this quality."
"Pornographer is earliest form of the word, attested from 1850. Pornocracy (1860) is "the dominating influence of harlots," used specifically of the government of Rome during the first half of the 10th century by Theodora and her daughters."
The only Christian romance novel I ever read was recommended to me by a woman who thought it was a legitimate book and not a romance novel, otherwise I never would have read it. But I was very offended by the premise, where a pastor gets robbed by a drug-addicted, but pretty, woman and makes a deal with her that he will marry her and support her if she stops doing drugs. She never became a Christian throughout the book.
Outside of that, my mom used to read Christian romance novels, and they definitely didn�t look any different than secular romance novels. There was the same lustful look in their faces. Yes, his shirt was closed and her bosom was covered, but the sexual desire was still right there in their faces.
As for pixy�s checklist of questions, I still think that Christians have little to no business taking pleasure from reading about other people�s intimate relationships, even if they are between married people. Pornography is still pornography if the people involved are married, and the piously married characters of the book you are reading are still vehicles through which you are fantasizing and maybe even lusting.
I would say romance novels are best avoided altogether.
they really aren't any worse than many PG rom-coms or girly movies out. Or even Disney movies nowadays. Can't wait to see Tangled btw. Course, movies are a whole nother conversation, but really, what's the difference between this and that? It's a fictional story about two people's journey in falling in love with each other. At least the Christian novels keep it clean and have a salvation message usually.
I'm with Alycorn and Pixy on this one. I don't think reading about other lives is wrong in itself; if so, reading Judges is bad; I also don't think that reading about other people's romances is bad in itself; if it were, no-one should ever read Song of Solomon!
I am kinda disturbed by what seems to be an undercurrent in modern Christianity (say from about 2002-now) of despising or devaluing fiction as an inferior form of art, or a godless one. That's what at the bottom of a lot of this, and I'm convinced it comes from the same spirit that drove music out of churches in some places during the Reformation. It's an overreaction to an abuse by the godless.
Romance is not any worse or any better than any other genre; you could argue that war stories, detective novels, SF, and fantasy are equally as rotten in different ways.
And if all you see is the abuse, the dark side of the coin, then naturally you would end up condemning all fiction and a good chunk of nonfiction as well. But to be fair, you shouldn't stop there; you need to throw out music, painting, architecture, sculpture, and photography as well.
That would make us dour, joyless souls, who have rejected a thing because some people misuse it. Instead, let us be discerning and reject specific examples instead of tossing out the baby with the bathwater.
