Book Review: How to be a Perfect Christian by The Babylon Bee

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Perfectly satires modern Christian culture

Cons: Only if you follow it

The Bottom Line:

Guide to “perfection”

Perfectly funny satire

Laugh every page

Perfection is Within Your Reach

While I was aware of them before, I didn’t really start reading The Babylon Bee until earlier this year.  I immediately fell in love with this website, which writes satire from a conservation Christian perspective, mocking American Christian culture as well as national and world events.  So when I saw they were releasing How to be a Perfect Christian: Your Comprehensive Guide to Flawless Spiritual Living, I knew I had to get it.

This book does just what the title says.  In ten chapters, it tells you exactly how to live like a perfect Christian.  Oh, we aren’t worried about the fruit of the spirit or holiness or anything hard like that.  We are talking about finding the perfect church (one that is focused on you), “doing life together,” serving without ever lifting a finger, looking spiritual online (I’m sure they left out reviewing this book in that chapter), and quarantining your home from non-Christian culture.

One reason I love the site is because it is an equal opportunity satirist.  Nobody is safe, and their satire almost always lands perfectly.  Parts of this book are from their website; I know because I recognized a few passages.  However, they are stitched them together perfectly, and this book reads like everything was written originally to be included here.

Obviously, the guide is complete and total satire.  Nothing in the book is to be taken seriously.  I’m sure my neighbors were wondering what was making me laugh so hard as I read because it is pretty spot on.  The book focuses on the appearance of holiness that many Christians have adopted over the actual becoming holy that God truly wants.  Basically, they are describing modern day American Pharisees. 

Of course, good satire is supposed to make you think as well, and this book does that, too.  In fact, there was one chapter that was pretty convicting to me even as I laughed my way through it.  That might have had something to do with the fact that I have said some of those same things myself in the last couple of years.  Ouch!

But mostly, the satire here makes you laugh.  And it is unrelenting.  They never once truly break character, which has got to be quite hard.  I am very sarcastic myself, but I can’t pull it off for this long.  It works here, however, as I completely enjoyed the book.

If you want to take a laugh filled look at Christian culture in twenty first century America, How to be a Perfect Christian is the way to do it.  You’ll be laughing so hard, you might not even notice when the conviction hits until it is too late.