Wise Dating


The Bible can be used as a guideline £or dating, because wisdom comes
£rom God. God included wisdom in the Bible and we are to live by every
word o£ God. (Eph. 5:15-17)
The £ollowing dating guideline is a paraphrase o£ something I heard
over a decade ago and is the best approach to dating in every situation
for everyone involved.
There are four levels of a wise dating relationship:
LEVEL ONE Platonic friends: Dating and making a point of having various
CHRISTIAN £riends of the opposite sex. Guarding your a££ections (giving
equal time to each friend, and not being totally alone with your date)
have RECIPROCAL friendships. It is very important to, regardless o£ how
much you like someone, be honest with yoursel£ and remain platonic
friends £or a minimum of (I believe) six months. 1 Cor. 6:14-18. Amos
3:3, Song 8:4, Prov. 4:23, 18:13. 2 Tim. 3:5-7, Matt. 7:20-21
LEVEL TWO PIatonic special £riends ("boyfriend and girlfriend", or best
friends): A£ter £inding someone reasonably similar, exclusively dating
them, talking about marriage, counseling with a minister, or if possible
taking a marriage compatibility test. (Prov. 11:14, 15:22)
LEVEL THREE Platonic engagement: Making plans and setting up the marital
arrangements. The engagement period should be short.
LEVEL FOUR Christian marriage: Till death do you part, with the only
exception for divorce being adultery (Matt. 5:31-32).
Your goal and desire in marriage shouldn't be to find the person of YOUR dreams (which doesn't exist), but to find the one God can bless you with.  Also it's unwise to claim you’re in love at first sight or have a "world wind relationship". There is no wise or legitimate reason to speed up the time it takes to develop a relationship, even if you were stranded on a
deserted island with the person of your dreams; realistically if you were
stranded on a island, you wouldn't know for sure how long you would be
stranded. By dating this way a man and woman could marry anywhere from
seven months to fifty plus years o£ meeting; Or remain platonic as
friends or best £riends (1st or 2nd level) £or the rest of their lives.
So here you are a wise dating strategy that's totally fool and game
proo£.
Let me know what you think.
P.S.
Wisdom is ...
W> orkable  (practical)
I> nsightful  (grasping inner things)
S> ound  (logical)  
D> iscerning (distinguishing truth from error)
O> bserving  (quick & keen perception)
M> oral  (principled in right & wrong)
Proverbs 8 says that wisdom dwells together with prudence, and walks in the way of righteousness along the paths of justice.



Maurice, 1998


Comments

  1. Walking TogetherApril 15, 2015 at 3:53 PM

    These were the exact guidelines that the Lord gave Maurice and what we used while growing together. We highly recommend them to others who are trying to figure out how to go about establishing a God-honoring relationship that leads to marriage. -a.

    ReplyDelete

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