Rating: 
Summary: Refreshing prespective!
Review: This book makes a strong case for those in their youth to refrain from the constant dating of lots of people to a more focused attention on finding the right person and spending quality time with them. Great book with lots of good suggestions.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: This book is very good, I am still in my first and so far only dating relationship, which has lasted 3 1/2 years. I remember listening to Joshua on the radio one day and became interested in what he had to say. I didn't even know he had books. I ordered both of the books, but am currently finishing up the first one I Kissed Dating Goodbye. I decided to read it to my b/f so he would understand where I am coming from . . . at first he was skeptical and was ready to fight, but all he could do was agree with what he said. Now even my sister (younger sister, 16) is interested in it and was also prepared to disagree with it. I think Josh's idea was good and I really enjoy reading his books.
Rating:
Summary: zoinks.
Review: This book is awesome! I really recommend it to teenagers and college age people. The book is basically saying Don't worry about finding a husband. God will find one for you, and to just stay focused on him, and stay in his will. That's about all I can say!
Rating:
Summary: Good advice for teens
Review: As a 17 year old, I'm going through the typical dating scene. Or I was. Since I read that book, I have dated less and each date has been more special. Most people forget God while on a date, but this book shows you how to honor Him while dating, how to stay in His boundaries, how to avoid temptation and those awkward moments.
Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: Ok, I just want to say that I just really love this book. A lot of the ideas presented in it totally grabbed my attention and made perfect sense to me. I never would have given this book a 2nd glance if it hadnt been for the end of a 5 year relationship i was in. God stepped in and saved me from that and led me to realize that it needed to be ended...God was never the center of the relationship and He had mercy on me and kept me from getting even more involved with this guy. It left me feeling awful and alone to break up with him, especially since we were going to get married, but now, I see that God was just taking care of me and preparing me for the right person who will come along one day. And now, instead of searching frantically for someone to fill my life with, I trust God to bring him along in His time :) YAY!
Rating: 
Summary: One Book You Need to Study
Review: I would not rate the "Study Guide" as highly as I would either the original book ("I Kissed Dating Goodbye") or its sequel ("Boy Meets Girl"). The "Study Guide" is designed as a review and lesson guide for IKDG, and frequently refers back to the main book. Both IKDG and BMG can be studied on their own. However, the team of authors, Joshua and Shannon Harris along with Nicole Mahaney, illustrates some of the points Harris wants to teach us, his audience. Even Shannon Harris' name is a beautiful picture of one key point: Forsaking dating before a suitable prospect for marriage appears is not the end of the road for one's social life. Joshua and Shannon were married by the time BMG hit the presses. Perhaps Mahaney illustrates another point, that it is best to have a team of trusted friends to give a peer review to our social habits, and to help us on major projects such as the "Study Guide." A successful Chistian marriage should not start with a secret elopement to get away from parents and other authorities. Instead, it is a collaboration with those authorities and concerned relatives. Maybe kissing "dating" goodbye requires an overly precise definition of "dating." "Dating" is acting in a way not normal for us, in order to impress one person at a chosen point in time. It is the antithesis to the sort of love that Christ has for us, one that is built upon sacrifice, one that will stick it out through thick and thin, two people accepting each other for who they can be in Christ and how they can minister to others together. The Christian social life also means developing a network of friends who can help you, and friends that you can help. In my case, I had given up on my social life until I had read these books. I was content simply to have friends in a non-intimate way. Now, in addition to my network of other friends, I have clear markers to point out the path I should take until I find a "help meet" for me. This series of publications points out a straight and sure road through the social life. They are a "must read" for all singles whether or not they have been married before. But I would suggest that those who buy this book order the two longer books (IKDG and BMG) at the same time, if they do not own copies already. I would also like to thank Sheila Stevenson of Herndon, Virginia, for her prompt service in sending me a copy of IKDG through the Marketplace.
Rating: 
Summary: Weird....
Review: I've read reviews that reflect the "now I can never get hurt again" nature to the "this is the only way to date without being a dirty sinner" approach. I think it's all overrated. Sure, I've been hurt. However, if I guard my heart from everyone, I may miss the person God wants me to be with. I don't think of myself as God's string puppet. God teaches me, and I make choices. If I sit around like a jelly fish for the rest of my life, I don't believe that God will simply throw all the right things into my lap. That's not a Christian walk. That's a vegetative state. In short, since the ratings only went from 1-5... I regret the fact that I was unable to rate this book a ZERO.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Guide to Christian Dating
Review: Joshua Harris has written an excellent guide to how Christians should view dating. The book explains the heart behind this approach and compares it with the way the world thinks. The emphasis is on building awesome pure relationships with woman, while waiting to take the relationship deeper when both are ready. The focus is on letting God use us (singles) to move his kingdom and build our relationships.
Rating:
Summary: Good principles, bad conlusion
Review: What Mr. Harris has done is try to speak something as diverse as dating into his own convinent little box. While his basic message of purity is right on the mark, he has drawn the conclusion that dating someone without the possiblilty of marriage inevitably leads to impurities. Mr. Harris writes with the assumption that everyone dates for impure and selfish reasons. While the faults of this book are diffucult to put into words, they will become plainly evident once you read it.
Rating:
Summary: It's not fighting the good fight
Review: It was with great sadness that I read this book. Such potential, so thwarted. When Christ comes to bring freedom to us, Josh Harris writes of walls and barriers. He writes from a style that seems to indicate a lack of experience in this area. And experience is exactly what is needed to be proficient in this kind of work. The experience of failure, the angst of gender inter-relationship- this is missing in Harris' work and understanding. It is only through risk that we can experience growth, and throughout Harris' work one gets the idea that he is attempting to remove all possibility of risk, and so therefore all possibility of failure. It seems to be written from a perspective of fear. Harris also uses poor exegesis in order to understand scriptural dynamics. He applies the situations of the cultural context of the many Biblical cultures straight to the modern western culture, with no attempt to contextualize in between. He jumps from observations of the text to application, without the all important step of interpreting the author's intent. Perhaps as a result he ends up with a very legalistic approach to gender relationships, in which dating is simply "off=limits". Were this true, life would certianly be more simple, easier, safer. But that is not what life is about. It requires complex responses. It is certianly commendable to advocate freindship with the opposite gender. This needs to go on much more than it does now. And indeed, part of Christ's call of the gospel was the reconciliation of the genders, as evidenced in the Samaritan Woman. But Harris' removal of dating as an option in fact further divides the genders. He would restrict most interactions to group contexts, not allowing for the development of a close relationship, even be it platonic. We must remember that Christ's interaction with the Samaritan Woman was indidual, not with a group, and his disciples were suprised not that he was talking with a Samaritan, but rather that he was talking with a woman. Certainly Christ was not attempting to date the woman, but it was perceived as such by those within that culture, because it was an intimate, private moment. Such moments, the bedrock of relationships, would be denied in Harris' worldview. But even the lack of opportunity for development of a romantic relationship through dating flies in the face of God's best. In Josh's canon, one gets the impression there would be no Song of Songs, or major parts of Ruth. (Feet were often a euphamism in Hebrew literature for another body part.) Harris seems to take one cut and apply it to all Christians. Such can not be done. It might be necessary for some- whom am I to judge another man? This book could even be very beneficial to younger folks in their pre-20's, who feel pressured too much. There *is* way too much focus on the physical in Western relationships. Would that Harris had attempted to apply it only to those types. For a book that does approach the dating relationship from a more general perspective, I would recommend Lewis Smedes' Sex For Christians, which, despite the title, has much to offer for the unmarried and not sexually active as well. Smedes writes from a perspective of the freedom that Christ has to offer us, while we maintain moral boundaries, but boundaries that apply in different ways to different people, as Christ works with all our differences.
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