From my observations, Christians don’t want to read about sex in a Christian novel because it makes most Christians uncomfortable. It’s barely addressed in church sermons because of the stigma that comes along with it especially when non-Christians hear about the problem Christians have with porn and marital adultery and pre-marital promiscuity.

I’ve been struggling with how to write my sexual struggle stories because I don’t want to write sex stories, but at least one of them has a sex scene in it but it’s for a purpose. I do believe that showing the realness of sex with a purpose is perfectly fine. Showing sex just because the author can or to shock the readers is wrong, but writing a story that shows the affects of wrong choice or a sexually traumatic experience is necessary to address issues that are not brought up. I see my stories as giving a voice to those who struggle and are afraid to talk about their problem or experience because of what others in the church will say or think of them. I’ve heard stories of some churches judging and condemning people for struggling with porn or other sexual sins. I, at least, want to be their voice.

Read this and question why Christians are more likely to write about violence than sex. A simple reason would be that we write what we know about. Creative Writing 101. Few of us, though, are really personally familiar with the kind of violence that is so creatively invented. We are vicarious imbibers.

But sex, now. Sex is a moral thing, isn’t it? Most of us have experienced it, but the exectations for what sex is supposed to be are jacked up so high that we tend to come away a little…dissappointed, and who wants to write about that? And more to the point, how does one write, in a Christian way, about something that is still hidden behind layers of stigma? Several years ago one of the girls in a college group I was working with said she never wanted to have sex. She had seen a porn movie, and how sex was presented turned her off to it. But isn’t that the way Satan works? Take what is created by God, warp and twist it and turn it into something else that either turns us off or turns us away.

Of course, just what is it that makes Christian fiction, well, Christian? Is the writer Christian? Are the characters Christian? Is the moral of the story Christian? It’s like defiining a Christian Nation. If it’s Christian, aren’t there some things that just aren’t done? Is sex one of them? Why should it be? But the writer must be careful to present what God desires, and not the warped image of what God created. That is a challenge indeed. After 13 years of marriage I am beginning, just beginning, to get an idea of the incredible levels of intimacy that sex allows for. Like C.S. Lewis’ onion analogy, each layer is bigger and more detailed than the last. But always over my shoulder is the “shadow of sex” that the world presents: inviting, tempting…shallow, hollow, and empty. Write about that…I challenge you.