RULES FOR DATING

I just got around to listening to my pastor’s message from August that had these 5 rules for dating, I thought they were good:

1. It’s natural to be attracted to the opposite sex
2. Only date someone who respects you, your standards, and your morals (this goes for girls especially)
3. Only date someone that you would marry
4. Only date real believers
5. Set boundaries at the beginning of the relationship and stay in environments that support those boundaries.

There has been a debate raging on Courtship vs. Christian Dating at some forums for a while now, and the same arguments keep going around and around about what courtship is and isn’t and what is appropriate and what is not appropriate in a relationship. It basically resolved around what defined courtship and what defined dating, and it really came down to an issue of semantics. People had different set of rules for dating than they did for courtship with those of courtship being more stringent. Every relationship is different, so if you are at a lost of where to start, you could start with the 5 rules above, or the 4 rules that I started with here:

1. The girl’s father (or father figure) has a physical and spiritual authority over her life until she is married
2. You need relationship mentors
3. You both need to set boundaries
4. Until you both say “I do”, she/he does not belong to you