Synopsis
"Possibly one of the most valuable gifts that you can give to a teen." Written by a school counselor who partially messed up his life by making bad dating choices, Straight Talk About Teen Dating communicates important information about a God-centered approach to dating that is an alternative to the devastating selfish approach to dating taught to us by the media and our popular culture. In a down-to-earth way, the author explains how to prepare for dating by becoming the type of person that God wants you to date (a keeper), when and who to date, how to attract a keeper, how to do dating right, how to decide whether or not to continue in a dating relationship, the difference between the feeling of being "in love" and true love, how to one day decide whether or not to get married, and much more. Wegert shares in each of the twenty-five chapters something about dating or something related to dating that he wishes he'd known before dating and during dating - with the hope of helping teens to avoid a broken heart or worse and to one day have a lifelong loving Christian marriage. The themes of how much God loves us, how He wants only the best for us, and His willingness to forgive us regardless of what we've done flow throughout the book. From the Author: We've been taught by the media and our popular culture to believe that there is only one approach to dating. The message that we receive relentlessly every day is that when a person wants to start dating all they need to do is begin searching for a person with looks, personality, and possibly money who they like, who they feel attracted to - so that they can "fall in love" with them. Since we watch people start romantic relationships over and over again on TV and in the movies and see our friends starting romantic relationships using this approach and it seems to work - we really believe the fairy tale that all we have to do is search for a person who has everything we want and be ready to "fall in love and live happily ever after." I made this painful mistake in my life. Unfortunately, this approach has several major problems. The first problem is that it's based upon selfishness. Can you see it? A person using this approach is just trying to get what they want for themselves. The second problem is that the result of using this approach is usually heartbreak or worse. In fact, in history the number of broken hearts from using this approach is in the billions - and sadly even after having their heart broken, most people use the same approach over and over again because they don't know what else to do. The third problem with this approach is that it promotes that being lazy is OK - it basically says that a person doesn't have to do much of anything to prepare themselves for dating - just be searching and be ready because you never know when you are going to "fall in love." Doesn't this approach sound a lot like gambling? - part of it's allure is that it's kind of mysterious and exciting. But just like gambling, the odds of winning (by having a lifelong loving marriage) are stacked against you. But the biggest problem with this approach is that it doesn't include God. Isn't it unbelievably sad that most people use an approach to dating that's based upon a fairy tale, selfishness, and laziness, that's a lot like gambling, that rarely works, and that doesn't include God? Straight Talk About Teen Dating was written to communicate to teens about a better approach to dating - an approach that includes God during the preparation for dating, while dating, and when making the decision of whether or not to get married - an approach that will help them to maximize the possibility that they will have a lifelong loving Christian marriage. Your purchase of this book helps the True Love Lasts organization to achieve its mission which is "To strengthen the family by helping to increase the number of lifelong loving marriages through education."
About the Author
James Wegert has earned three college degrees, but he has learned the most from the School of Hard Knocks (making mistakes). He has over fifteen years of experience working with teens at the Boys' Club, a children's home, the "Y", and in school as a school counselor. He also has extensive experience as a volunteer Sunday School teacher and church youth group leader. Based upon this experience, his opinion is that many teens do not have enough good information about dating from a Christian perspective before dating and during dating. He strongly feels that teens can maximize the possibility that they will have a lifelong loving Christian marriage if they put in the effort required to complete the journey of preparing themselves for dating.
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