I just finished Courting Morrow Little–Laura Frantz’s second novel. I loved it almost as much as The Frontiersman’s Daughter, which I wrote about here. While I liked Lael Click’s character and story a smidgen more than I did Morrow Little’s, the second book did outpace the first in one area. Romance. Hot, married, Christian romance. And by romance I mean S-E-X.
How about this from page 314 of Courting Morrow Little?
“He took his time, his mouth moving along the damp wisps of her hairline to her ear. Breathless, she freed his hair of its leather tie till it spilled like a black waterfall onto the thin fabric of her nightshift. Oh, but she’d forgotten how sweet he could be . . . how unerringly gentle, even gallant. She felt like a bride again and shut her eyes, remembering how he’d held her that very first time, beside all that rushing water. Only now, with time against them, it was sweeter still.”
This is a passionate scene between two people who are deeply in love, who long for one another, who are . . . married. I won’t tell you which two–you’ll have to read the book. And frankly, the fact that they’re married makes this scene even sexier in my opinion.
All Frantz gives us is kissing and unbound hair and a thin nightshift. There’s nothing scandalous, nothing titillating. Nothing like the romance novels I used to sneak when I was in high school (I know, Mom, you’re shocked). And I vastly prefer Frantz’s love scenes to those much more explicit ones.
Is there sex in Christian fiction? Absolutely. Just like there’s sex in Christian marriages. Hot, lusty, fabulous sex between two people who have pledged their lives to one another before God. It’s not crude, it’s not lewd–it’s just lovely.
I highly recommend Courting Morrow Little. And I highly recommend sex as God intended it–between husbands and wives.
James 1:17 – Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Meet Sarah
Oh, Sarah! You picked one of my favorite scenes! Love your insights. Married love IS beautiful as God intended and you’re so wise to point this out. John Wayne even said to an author in the CBA years ago, “Sex isn’t a spectator sport.” Amen! “A bold and blessed intoxication” is another quote I love from a noted theologian. And then we always have the Song of Solomon…
Bless you for sharing your thoughts – which dovetail beautifully with what I try to do in my books.
Laura
Yes, that was hands-down the best scene to use for this post. Love both your quotes, too.
So take it farther. Go all the way. Be bold about it. I’m here to tell you that some Christian women do want to read sex scenes between two loving people. It’s what happens in real life, so writers shouldn’t be afraid to include it. Otherwise books don’t ring true. Readers need to be educated that including sex scenes in Christian novels is not wrong. Instead they are made to feel guilty about wanting to read them. That is bondage.
I know this post is several years old but I totally agree with you. I’m an author of Christian fiction that includes sex for the purpose of showing beautiful freeing love between married couples as well as why God calls us to wait for marriage. I’m so very frustrated with the way I am attacked for this. *Sigh* Sex is not bad. Sex is beautiful and society needs to be re-educated on what sex is really meant to be. I don’t know how to do that re-education without getting into the grit. I’m going to continue doing what I’m doing, my publisher supports me 100%, and I know it’s God’s will for my talent. I’m really tired of the horrible, personal attacks from all those “loving” Christians though.
I know what you mean! Sex is a wonderful, God-created gift that we’ve mucked up with worldliness. Keep preaching it!
Love this post, Sarah! There is magic in Laura’s writing! I don’t know how she does it, but with a few beautiful words, she’s able to paint a picture so clearly. I FEEL the love between her characters–it’s incredible! She offered a deleted scene once from Love’s Reckoning between Silas and Eden, that would have taken place just after their happily-ever-after scene, and it was HOT! I couldn’t believe the tension she created. Wow.
I know–kind of makes me want to write romance!
Hi Sarah, what are your thoughts on a single Christian, writing fictional stories about a married couple who have sex, do you see this as something healthy for a single person to do?
Now that’s an interesting question! I’m assuming you’re asking if it’s appropriate for a person who is presumably abstinent to write about sex. I can see how it might actually be difficult to write if that person were a virgin with no experience. In that instance, it probably wouldn’t be a great idea. It might work better to just close the couple behind the bedroom door and leave it at that. For someone who was married and now is no longer . . . well, I can’t see how it wouldn’t be healthy unless that person were somehow struggling with sexual issues. Thanks for asking an intriguing question!
I know this is really late to be replying to this post. I was looking around on sites because I was curious to know how much romance is okay for a romance novel. I’ve been wanting to write my own novels on romance and I prefer more “scandalizing Christian” authors such as Julie Lessman and Francine Rivers. But this site helped me a ton!
THANK YOU!!!
Interestingly–this continues to be one of my MOST popular posts ever! Glad you found it.
I don’t like steamy sex in Christian fiction, or Christian historical fiction. It just isn’t necessary, IMO, and it can cause readers to sin. Think about that. Jesus says 1 Corinthians 6:18 – Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
and: Matthew 5:28 – But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Ephesians 5:5 – For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Adultery and fornication begin in the mind, in the heart. When steamy sex scenes are found in Christian books, it can cause others to stumble spiritually! See what JESUS SAYS:
1 Corinthians 8:9 – But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak.
Luke 17:1-4 – Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe [unto him], through whom they come!
Romans 14:13 – Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in [his] brother’s way.
1 Corinthians 8:13 – Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.
Matthew 18:6-9 – But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and [that] he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
JESUS says sexual thoughts can produce sin, or at the least, temptation.
Why use your gifts as an author that GOD gave you, in such a manner?
I think more Christian authors should have the realism of sexuality and sex. They should even have failures of boundaries and convictions. Or couples that might have different standards than the author might personally. I don’t think a work should get pornographic in description, but sexual scenes can be presented in a way that drive a story.
Everything from a boyfriend and girlfriend passionately kissing to them cuddling in swimwear to a man fumbling at undoing his girlfriend’s bra or her slipping her hands down into the back of his underwear. The actions of a married couple can be permissible, even the body parts they touch. A well-written story can craft the mood to be celebratory, uncertain, or tragic. And I think that’s the important part. A scene should exist for the story, not be gratuitous.
Exactly! Real life but leave the grittiest bits behind closed doors.
Yes, that’s a good way to describe it.
I just want to say as someone who is married and who believes in Christ, sex is a creation of God, given to us, and therefore, is a good thing and not of evil. there is absolutely nothing wrong in my opinion with depicting the beautiful blessing of sexual love between a husband and a wife. I believe that when shown in the context of a loving, Godly marriage, even steamy, erotic sex scenes between two people give glory and thanks to God for the wonder of what He created and for the joy of their love. The idea that because we’re Christians, we shouldn’t talk about, read about, or for that matter, enjoy sex, strikes me as beyond absurd and, quite frankly, ignorant. I also think that a mentality like that leaves Christians with the misguided belief that sex is wrong, or somehow bad, even within the context of a marriage. My wife has struggled with that to some degree. She grew up in the purity culture, and even though we’re married, she still finds it difficult to express her desire to make love. Churches spend so much time preaching about the need to wait for marriage, that premarital sex is a sin, and that’s perfectly fine. But they hardly, if ever, talk about the pleasure, the beauty, and the joy of sex that God intended for us once married. I think that’s a mistake, and it does a disservice to us all. So as far as I am concerned, even if an author is writing erotica-level sex scenes on par with 50 Shades of Grey, , if they’re written in the context of a loving, Godly marriage, I have no issue.
I’m not sure how I feel about the ethics of full-on erotica fiction. I think that crosses the line into gratuitous or deliberately titillating. The work should be celebratory and wondrous. I think the line is fine, though. It can be challenging to distinguish between celebrating sex and consuming sex.
Perhaps controversially, because of the concern about promoting premarital sex, I do think that Christians shouldn’t be afraid of having unmarried characters unapologetically get passionate short of sex. As I mentioned in an above comment. Kissing and making out, definitely, but I think sometimes an author could take characters further. Even to the point of things like, for example, her dress and then her bra coming off, or her loosening his swim trunks so she can get her hands down the back of them. I think celebrating those passionate feelings and actions, looking forward to marriage, is to be encouraged, too.
Thanks for the tip, Sarah! I’m ordering now.
Can’t wait to sample with the wife…