Is dating OK?

(This answer is brought to us by Christine Janssen. Christine is a mother, wife, and a member of our WHBC Student Ministry Staff)

Is Dating OK?
I believe that there are many views on dating. First, you should ask yourself these questions?
Why is it important for you to "date" someone?
What is the reason you want to date?
Are you being pressured to date?
What do you want to get out of the dating experience?

Today's society bases people's identity on who they are dating or why they are alone. Dating tends to be a status thing in school. Yes, I dated in high school. I should NOT have done that. I wasn't grounded spiritually to start with and I believe that would have helped. My rule is that it's okay to have friends of the opposite sex but why ruin a friendship with all the hassles of dating. You can go out with groups of friends without having a "date". You get into trouble when group dating starts. Couples end up where they shouldn't even though they're in a group setting. Don't be out there pleasing your friends or doing as some of them often do. Make a stance and make your own choices!

Colossians 3:5
"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry."

2 Timothy 3: 1-5
"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disodedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them."

Galatians 5:19-21
"The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkeness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God."

What do you think about dating?
I view dating as something that happens when you are courting someone for marriage. You want to learn about that person so your relationship can develop. You want to share common interests and goals in your lives. You will want to be equally yoked with that individual to start with, not to attain as a goal later in your relationship. At my house, we will encourage courting. If a guy/ girl wants to be with my daughter/son, then they get to be with mom and dad as well at all times. You can tell a lot about a person's intentions by how they react to this. I don't want to put my children into any compromising situation with someone else. Yes, I'll teach them how to handle themselves, but why put them in the middle of something they don't need to be in the first place. Of course, your own parent's have their own rules so follow them.

2 Corinthians 6:14-17
"Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." "Therefore, come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."

Some resource books on the subject of dating:
I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris
Boy Meets Girl: Say Hello to Courtship by Joshua Harris
Every Young Man's Battle by Stephen Arterburn & Fred Stoeker
Every Young Woman's Battle by Shannon Ethridge & Stephen Arterburn