I got a message from a reader that said this:
"I hate Cory. I hate Blaine. I hate Joni. I hate Holden. I hated all of them. Hate them and you have lost a reader."
I found this funny for a two reason:
First of all, there are four stories and seven main characters. All of the stories are about the reality of sexual sin. Sin is ugly so, yeah... if you clearly know the line between right and wrong... you weren't SUPPOSED to LIKE what they were doing. Most of the characters were behaving really badly but I wrote it for a purpose... to show the ramifications, not to glorify it. So to that comment I say, "Bravo... you have a decent moral compass. Congrats!"
Secondly and MOST IMPORTANTLY, the main moral of the story, the one I really wanted the reader to catch was this: As Christians it is our job to HATE the sin yet LOVE the sinner. Yep, it's hard... but that is what we are called to do as Christians. Choosing to HATE a particular sin to the point that you HATE the sinner is not bringing glory to God, at all. Christians (who are ALL sinners) who do this make other people (who are ALL sinners) not want to embrace Christ. Think about it!
This reader obviously missed the point entirely since she felt so much hatred for fictional character (not even real people) that she HAD to message me to let me know how displeased she was.
*SIGH*
I tried.
