Smart dating
A review of I kissed dating goodbye
by Joshua Harris
Published by Multnomah; 228 pages
ISBN: 1-57673-036-0
Even the title is provocative, isn’t it? The book is even better. In fact, I highly recommend this book to anyone who is affected by the dating game. Joshua Harris wrote it as a young, unmarried, single man. In many ways, that’s where this book packs its punch – the author has ‘been there, done that’, but he decided he didn’t want the T-shirt.
Typically, so Joshua Harris thinks, people view dating as about themselves – what they will get out of a relationship with the opposite sex. His first chapter ‘Smart love’ has the subtitle ‘Beyond what feels good back to what is good’. As a summary of his book, this would do quite nicely.
In a humorous and honest way he covers the habits of defective dating; learning the true definition of love; how to keep impatience from robbing you of singleness; and how Jesus can redeem your past. And that’s before we get to the bit about building a new lifestyle and what character and qualities to look for in a life partner!
He is careful to look at what the Bible has to say about our romantic lives and asks his readers to examine their own motivations and attitudes in the light of how God instructs us to treat each other.
Although written for
You may not agree with all of Joshua’s final conclusions, but the wisdom in these pages is worth at least discussing, if not urging on those who are in pursuit of a rewarding and godly personal love story.
Rhona Black
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