More on Christian Fiction

I want to talk about the problem of sin. No, not the the usual straw-man argument that atheists think disproves the existence of God. This is the problem that Christian writers have in portraying sin in their fiction.

This problem first came to my attention a few years ago when a novel, that was written a member of our church, was mentioned from the pulpit. Another member protested because he thought the novel was too graphic in the way it depicted sin and shouldn't be implicitly endorsed. This got me thinking about this dilemma and how difficult it can be to reach the right balance between good writing and causing offense.

One of the first principles that writers get drummed into their skulls is "show, don't tell." The goal is to make the reader feel like he is actually seeing the scene not just reading about it. You may choose to solve this problem by minimizing or ignoring sin in their story. Or you can make your description so vague that it is left to the reader's imagination, then if your reader is offended it's his own fault.

Of course these solutions are not only bad writing, they are dishonest. I believe that we, as Christian writers, have to work harder to find ways to show sin so that it can be recognized for the insidious problem that it is. I believe we can do this without being lascivious or generating any emotion other than revulsion.

What do you think?