Warning! It's a dangerous world out there. The world is full of scoundrels.)
Dating is a lousy way to seek a lasting a relationship.
It encourages a revolving door approach that hardens people
to an endless series of break-ups. It prepares people to be
more inclined to ultimately divorce. When a "dating" partner
begins to wear a little thin, you just slip out the back, Jack.
Then the same thing happens later in marriage.
Consider how dating works. A guy is attracted to a gal, asks
her out on a date, if the date turns out to be unsatisfactory,
they just have a bad experience and move on to the next experiment.
Or, if they happen to "hit it off" initially, then they may
continue dating, until inevitable temptation leads them to
engage in uncommitted sex. Usually at this point, one of them
may be interested in staying together, but the other has a
change of heart and wants out of the involvement; inevitably
causing some serious emotional damage.
Prior to the advent of dating, interaction between young men and
women, typically involved much more input if not control by parents.
The notion of "trial relationships" was virtually unheard of.
Dating emphasizes passion, essentially to the exclusion of logic:
Choices based on feelings and emotions rather than on common sense.
Married partners should grow in love toward one another.
Recreational dating has become toocommonplace.
The Bible emphasizes forming of loving relationships and stable
families. After marriage, intimacy is sacred. So is living together,
expressing affection, and raising children. Our minds, spirits, and
bodies must be dedicated to one single mate for life. Contrast this
to dating in which many today presume to take privileges from one
another without any commitment of marriage.
It shouild always be "out of bounds" for a married man or woman
to have an emotional attachment to any man or woman other than their
own mate. Yet it seems to have become accepted that singles may
have a series of different emotional attachments before they ever
settle down to just one. Even if sex is saved for marriage,
rampant emotional promiscuity can be almost as damaging.
If anyone gives away pieces of their heart, what will be left for
that one special, life-long partner? Dating bypasses the protection
of sexual purity, and instead foolishly allows carelessness that
almost invariably cause serious damage.
Dating almost assumes a certain amount of physical involvement.
The only question is how much? Any amount of foreplay without
"going all the way" should never be allowed or tolerated.
Why tempt disaster? Preserve honor and virginity for marriage.
Dating promotes lust, sexual activity, and opens the door to fornication.
Dating develops a self-centered, feeling-oriented concept of love.
Dating creates an endorphin-bond between people who are not committed.
Dating teaches people to break off difficult relationships, conditioning them for divorce.
Dating promotes an appetite for variety and change, creating dissatisfaction within marriage.
Dating forfeits the protections that should be in proper courtship.
Dating does not prepare children to face life's realities.
Dating devalues sex and marriage.
Dating leads to intimacy without commitment.
Dating tends to skip the friendship stage of a relationship.
Dating mistakes any physical relationship for love.
Dating often isolates people from other vital relationships.
Dating usually distracts young adults from the responsibility to prepare for the future.
Dating creates an artificial notion of evaluating someone's character.