Teens and "dating"???

[MissBrattified]

Originally Posted by Truthseeker

Good points. I have explained what purpose of dating really is.

What are your thoughts on other person not in church or the truth?

We haven't allowed our girls to date anyone who isn't the same religion we are. Denomination is irrelevant, but doctrine and practices are important to us. What they do after they're grown and out of our house will be up to them, obviously, but while we have some input, we use it.

There was one young man who wanted to date Sarah a little over a year ago, and he goes to a different church (Baptist, I think?). Sarah told him that if he wanted to date her, he'd have to talk to her Daddy first. (Good girl! LOL!! ) He took her up on the offer, came over, helped Jeff put up some Christmas lights, had a conversation, and then went home. Jeff apparently told him that we don't allow dating outside our religion, and if he was interested in dating Sarah, he would have to attend our church and consider converting.

That was the end of that, and more importantly, Sarah saw that she wasn't important enough to the guy to warrant any changes (or extra effort) on his part so she was no longer interested anyway.

It all boils down to values. If you want to share a life with someone, you need to have the same values. If one person values family and the other doesn't, that will be a problem. If one person values church and the other doesn't, that will be a problem. If one person values hard work and the other one is lazy, that will be a problem. Dating people who are the same religion is a good way (but not foolproof way) to sort of have some of those things already behind you. At least the type of church, religious beliefs and certain inherent core values about morality and family are taken care of. You can move on to figuring out things like "What's their work ethic?", "How compassionate is this person?", "Do they respect their elders?, "Are they kind to animals and little kids?" "What are they passionate about?" Etc.

Plus, you have the biblical instruction to not be unequally yoked. I think that's a pretty important point to make. Dating is about finding the person you plan to be "yoked" with. Ergo, it makes sense to only date people who truly have that potential.