Ang Kape Ni LaTtEX

My wife recently blogged about Bo Sanchez’s “How To Find Your One True Love”, which she bought, read up in one sitting and then gave away as a gift the very next day. We’ll probably buy another copy to keep at home, despite the fact that we’ve already found each other. Insert Hallmark card moment here. LOL.

Seriously now, while I echo her raves about this book, I’d like to point out another reason why I do like it: it doesn’t sound prohibitive and condemning like Joshua Harris’s “I Kissed Dating Goodbye”. After just the first few chapters of IKDG, it already made me smirk; I mean, when I was reading it the thought that was running through my mind was that “this guy just doesn’t want to face rejection that’s why he’s shielding himself with his complicated God.”

I labeled the book as the “bible of the hopeless romantic” to the chagrin of many of my born-again Christian friends.

Reading HTFYOTL, on the other hand, made me realize why I hated IKDG: it wasn’t apt for our culture. The condemnation/guilt-tripping feeling I felt while reading IKDG was there because Joshua Harris was addressing a far more liberated culture — a culture wherein sex was a disposable good and dating was no more than a romantic dice game. It was addressed to a culture where the rule is you either have sex on the third date or you get the “let’s be friends” speech. While some might argue that the Filipino dating scene is no different, I’ll beg to disagree.

Nevertheless, I’d really like to recommend How To Find Your One True Love for people single and committed alike. I particularly loved Bo’s discussion “over-spiritualism“, which he applies to both romantic and non-romantic aspects of Christianity alike — and an accidentally beautiful insight on Filipino culture. Do click that last link… it’s a PDF sample of the book itself.