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Summary: Not what you think
Review: When I first read the title of this book, I was pretty skeptical of discovering any advice I would agree with. I was pleasantly surprised. If you are afraid to read this book because the title strikes you the wrong way, don't be. Harris is simply saying to kiss the conventional style of dating goodbye. By striving to do this, we come closer to living our lives as God intends. An important point in this book is that we must develop the best relationship possible with God before we are able to develop a meaningful relationship with another person. When we are able to have complete faith in God, then we are able to anything because we know He will take care of us. I am sure not everyone will like this book. But, if you are reading this review, I urge you to at least take a look at it and decide for yourself instead of taking a complete stranger's word on this subject.
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Summary: What a Load of (...)
Review: I don't need 1000 words to tell people to stay away from this book. It is religious fundamentalism at its worst. If you think drinking a beer will send you to hell, read this book - you'll love it.
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Summary: A BETTER AND STRONGER APPROACH TO RELATIONSHIPS
Review: I know that it is hard for many people to agree with the radical approach that Joshua states for building relationships. My question would be why play with fire. He is right. It is better to be extreme in the way one approaches a relationship and know that they are in NO DOUBT being righteous before God. Not with I think that I am right so therefor I am right but looking in the Bible they find that they are wrong (Proverbs 14:12). I suggest reading the book all the way through and not just stopping because one don't agree with something. I plan to use what Joshua suggests along with many more radical things I learned through the Bible. Good luck I know that in the end one will have a better relationship. I have seen it happen many times with the methods used that Joshua explains. Many happy marriages :-)
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Summary: A Challenge to Raise the Bar
Review: In our world today, it is so easy to lower our standards and loose sight of the purity to which God has called us to. This book is a wonderful reminder of the holiness that we should be striving to attain as Christians. It gives a biblical based alternative to the system of dating today, and is an encouragement to those who are sick of the dating game. I think it is a great book, and although it has been looked down upon by some groups, I think that God will most definately bless purity. I would rather be too much on the safe side than make a hasty mistake which I will later regret.
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Summary: Encouraging and Inspirational!!
Review: It is evident from just reading the title that this book is not for everyone. After reading this, however, I strongly believe that it can be a tremendous source of encouragement for those of us who have found nothing but disappointment in dating relationships.Shortly before I saw this book for the first time, I had thought about putting my dating relationships on hold for a while. I decided that I was focusing more and more on relationships outside of my most important relationship with Christ. This book has inspired me to make the most of my singleness. Not only does Harris make good sense of what he is saying, but he includes Biblical references to back up his God-given opinions. I do not believe this book is persuading anyone to do anything more than to examine their relationships under the light of Christ. As Harris points out, if our personal relationship with God and His love is not honest and pure, we have no business trying to put ourselves into a dating relationship. Before reading the book, it's important to know that Harris is not going to convice you that dating is an evil thing. Simply, he wants to reinforce the importance of letting Christ lead you through making the best decisions for your life. Harris is definitely FOR having a beautiful relationship to take into marriage. The last 50 pages of the book are dedicated guiding you towards a Biblical and realistic marriage. His book "Boy Meets Girl" takes this idea even further. Sometimes those of us who spend so much time trying to fill that "empty" place in our heart need to read a book like this that will remind us that we are trying to stuff the wrong things into that void. Harris does an excellent job at showing us the benefits of patiently surrenduring to God's awesome plan for each one of our lives...Jeremiah 29:11-13. Last semester, a speaker touched on these same ideas. She said ultimately this: "RUN as HARD as you can, as FAST as you can, for as LONG as you can towards the love of Christ. After you've been running for a while, look to your right and to your left. See who's running with you. That is who God has chosen for you to marry."
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Summary: Idealistic rarely equals realistic.This book is no exception
Review: This book is pretty comprehensive in explaining Harris's idealistic views of how one should find thier lifelong mate. Unfortunately, people's ideas of how things should be almost never coincide with the way that things really are, and this book is no exception to the rule. No research outside of the bible was done and antecdotal evidence is the only evidence used to support Mr. Harris's ideas. Key factors that play an important part in how people choose thier mate, for example the biology of the human brain and the role it plays, is completely ignored. Ignoring biology in relationships is about as smart as cooking and ignoring what ingredients will poisen you. And so the end result is unrealistic and unuseful, and can be quite harmful. What's sad is alot of guys will follow the information provided in the book and miss out on some good possible relationships as a result. If you are a guy looking to find Mrs. Right, this book will offers no useful information. Alot of the things mentioned in this book will only work against you. And what doesn't work against will not work for you. A much better book to read is "How to succeed with women." If you are girl looking for Mr. Right, you aren't likely to marry any guy that follows this book too closely simply because you will not find him to be attractive. For the women, "The Rules" is what you need. I will say that Mr. Harris's heart is in the right place, but his head could not be in a more wrong place. I gave it one star because I cannot give it zero stars.
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Summary: Improve your perspective, Improve you life
Review: I was a little skeptical when I first heard of this book. Why would anyone say dating was wrong? But Joshua Harris doesn't say anyhting of the sort. He makes some points that make a lot of sense to me as a young Christian. He offers verse, personal stories, and stories contributed by others; things that helped me to improve my views on why dating should be considered carefully. I've changed my views a lot because of Mr. Harris. And I thank the Lord that his book was published.
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Summary: Easy Read...With Good Info
Review: This book is a good book to read in companion with 'Boundries in Dating' as it tends to focus more on how to find the right relationship, when this book tells you how to recognize the wrong one. It was an easy book to read, and written fairly well. There are parts that made me think about my relationship. In fact, it was my girlfriend's idea to read this book. The only real downside to this book is that there are a lot of situations that are used, sometimes the situation is the only explination of a point he is trying to make. He also refers to short term relationships very often throughout the book, but he never defines what a short term relationship is. While there were many points in the book I didn't agree with, it was a good book for me (and probably others too) to analyze my relationship and myself. I would recomend it to others! But make sure you read 'Boundries in Dating' afterwards!
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Summary: Fanaticism to the Extreme
Review: So many people loved this book because they believed it offered them a pain-free solution to the classic dating & mating ritual in our society today. Thanks to Joshua Harris, there is a whole "idea movement" in Christian circles today in which many believe that dating is "bad" because it can cause pain. These people are looking for the easy road, and they have fell into a mini-cult in my opinion. This book made me sick with all of its subtle lies and ideas that were interwoven with obvious truth - the best way to convince people of a radical new idea - like "kissing dating goodbye."
Rating:
Summary: Great Book...Sequel Even Better
Review: I have to admit that before I even read this book I had a somewhat negative opinion formed. But after reading it, and also it's sequel Boy Meets Girl, I am really impressed with it's author, Josh Harris. I am in my young 20's and have been through the whole dating/courting scene, and "which is better debate" in college. But what I love about these two books, is that he stresses the point that a relationship is formed to glorify God! Are there certain points in this book that I don't think would apply to everyone? Absolutely! But overall, the idea of maturity and respect for each other that Josh tries to share, and keeping yourself as alligned to the scripture as much as you can, can't be taught or said often enough. I've heard so many singles complain that they think this book is too extreme, but we serve an extreme God who calls us to be "extreme" for Him! I have led numerous Lady in Waiting Bible studies and would now recommend this book for any of my girls to read, no matter what their age. But I would love to see this book in more guys hands because it stresses the role of men in a relationship and how to be the spiritual leader in aspects of that relationship. Even if you don't agree with the whole book, I think every single Christian should at least read it!!
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