Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "new-sins"

You know there are so many sins and issues that many of us struggle with in our lives that are sins based on scripture. However, some times I wake up and think, "There just aren't sins out there for me to worry about."

The good news is that many people are happy to come up with new ways and new sins for us to beware of or feel guilty about. Such is the case with Mike Duran who writes that Christian reviewers may be sinning by overrating the books they read:

I started researching and writing in the Christian fiction industry in 2005. Frankly, other than “externals” — mainly things like content guidelines — it is difficult to tell the two industries apart. Especially if you look at their fan bases. The pattern is usually the same. A Christian novel is released. Within a week the five star reviews predictably start rolling in. There’s lots of over-the-top praise. This is quickly followed by the review itself being rated – “20 of 20 people find the following review helpful.” So not only are we able to stuff the ballot box, we are able to publicly high-five those who do....

The only reason I’m posing this uncomfortable question is because of this assumption: Christian reviewers are “Not of this world,” we are “Going against the flow.” Christian reviewers should approach reviewing differently, right? I mean, it shouldn’t be surprising if non-Christian reviewers distort or misrepresent a book or author. They often have a complete different set of values motivating them. This is not to suggest that all non-Christian reviewers are liars or something. Frankly, sometimes I feel like I can get a more objective review of a Christian novel from a non-Christian reviewer than I can a Christian reviewer. But my point is, We should be able to trust Christian reviewers to not inflate their opinion of a novel.

Certainly, we should trust Christian reviewers not to give five star reviews to a book that they don't think is five stars, but there are several things to consider. As Duran points out albeit dismissively, people can argue "“It’s all subjective. If I see it as a five, it’s a five.”

That's...actually correct. And I would argue that some Christian book reviewers may be "not of this world" in their approach to reviewing books by giving extra points for books with stronger values and messages within them. Some reviewers may uplift those books that contain things that are lovely, honest, and of good report. (Phil. 4:8) even if they won't win a Pulitzer. Certainly, there are Christian reviewers that you probably can't rely on for finding an amazingly fun book but that's why you can see how people rate books on Amazon and if you don't trust people or their standards, don't listen to their ratings. It's just that simple.

No reason to introduce "sin" into the discussion.

And any over-positive reviews Christian books received are more than balanced out by negative reviews from Atheists falsely accusing your book of teaching things like "if you don't spend all your free time in church or praying, then you must be evil."