The fact that Michael is repeatedly drawn to Angel because of her physical beauty “creates this idea that God loved Israel or loved us because of how we appear or because of how beautiful we are,” said Masonheimer. “Some women have come away from the book with the super idealistic idea of a physical man who will rescue and love them the way Michael Hosea does. Instead of translating the idea just to God, it’s instead translated to a human man and hoping for a man to rescue them from their trauma history.”
In the film, Michael says to Angel at one point, “You’re beautiful, but that’s not why I married you.” The implication is that the real reason is God told him to marry her. Nevertheless, this message could be ambiguous to some given the fact Michael hears God saying this to him after being overwhelmed by how gorgeous Angel is.
Another concern of Masonheimer’s is that “Redeeming Love” falls into a trap that all romance novels, Christian or otherwise, fall into: promoting a prosperity gospel. She said, “The prosperity gospel message in these romantic novels is, if I do this work, if I am pretty enough, or in desperate need enough, if I’m discontent enough, if I’m content enough, if I’m busy enough, then God will bless me.”
Masonheimer also pointed out that while “Redeeming Love” takes a concept from the book of Hosea, it does not follow the events of the biblical book. There are a lot of changes because Rivers is writing a novel, and while these changes are understandable, they are also significant because they impact how God is portrayed. Readers, particularly women, who rely on “Redeeming Love” instead of actually reading Hosea might come away with a warped view of how God sees them.
Masonheimer repeatedly stressed that she recognizes Rivers’ book has had a positive impact in the lives of many people. Yet the fact remains that many women have been harmed by some of the ideas in “Redeeming Love.” Masonheimer closed her podcast by reading messages women have sent her sharing how the book contributed to their addiction to pornography and masturbation and even caused them to relive sexual trauma. Many voiced shock that mature Christian women had recommended the book to them.
“I think there are a lot of Christian women who have recommended ‘Redeeming Love,’ thinking it was a loving thing to do and going to bless people,” said Masonheimer. “And instead, it placed a major stumbling block in the path of these young women, because those who are recommending it did not recognize the weight of the sexual content that they had overlooked. It’s a very serious thing.”
ChurchLeaders has reached out to Francine Rivers for comment and will update this article in the event of a reply.
