How to Be a Perfect Christian

Starred review from March 12, 2018
The editors of Christian satirical website The Babylon Bee provide a hilarious handbook to becoming a perfect Christian in the eyes of society. Here, a perfect Christian conforms every moment to the “man-made standards of the Christian faith” and should join a nondenominational megachurch that has a “superslick website” but not a statement of faith—something that would force the perfect Christian to take a definite stance on core Christian doctrine. With their tongues firmly in cheek, the authors fill the book with wry yet astute observations: perfect Christians need to find a worship service that features a band and includes sermons preached on popular movies and hit TV shows; a perfect Christian believes that smoking, dancing, being a Democrat, and playing Dungeons & Dragons are serious sins; when it comes to ethics, perfect Christians believe that “Christianity should only be valued insofar as it helps us win political battles and shape the social landscape.... A gospel that can’t be twisted for our own advancement in the world is no gospel at all.” This entertaining take on contemporary Christian life will be enthusiastically welcomed by Christians who can laugh at themselves.