What is Flirting and Should Christians Do It?
We’ve all seen it: A single man and woman talk and laugh a little too much at a party. They’re a little too friendly with one another. Playful, smiley, and affectionate describe their behavior. They’re tapping each other gently on the shoulder and sitting closely as they banter. We know what’s going on – they […]
Book: How Should a Christian Date?
Pitch the rulebook out the window. There’s a better way! God didn’t invent dating, we did. God also gives us a big yard to dating within. There are boundaries–God’s laws–that we shouldn’t violet. At the same time, there is no one right way to date a Christian, just many wrong ones. With the guidance I […]
Can Dating Be Platonic?
Have you seen the early 2000’s movie, Just Friends? The premise is that a young man, Chris Brander (played by actor Ryan Reynolds), has a crush on a woman named Jamie in high school. Chris is a nerd, overweight, and deathly afraid to reveal to Jamie how he feels. In one scene, outside a house […]
Physical Intimacy While Dating: How Far is Too Far Before Marriage?
Sex outside of marriage was as hot of a topic in biblical times as in Christianity today. “Fleeing immorality,” which includes pre-marital sex, is a theme in 1 Corinthians and the rest of Scripture (6:18). So why don’t more Christians take waiting for sex seriously? According to Pew Research in 2020, 50% of Christians say, […]
Why Women Asking Out Men Doesn’t Work (but One Reason to Go For It)
Single Christians are waiting longer than ever to get married. According to one survey of 15,000 couples by The Knot, the average age in 2021 for married couples was 32 [1]. Many women desire marriage before age 32. Unfortunately, in the church, women are at a statistical disadvantage. According to Pew Research, Christian women “are […]
Unsure of Dating Someone? Here’s What to Do
Let’s face it, sometimes you’re unsure whether you want to go out with someone or not. Ambivalence in dating—especially at the outset—is normal and expected. Dating is about spending time with someone for the possibility of marriage, but the keyword is a possibility. If you go out with someone, there should be at least an […]
4 Pernicious Myths of Christian Dating
I’ve circled the Christian and non-Christian dating block more times than I’d like to admit. I was twenty-one before I became a follower of Christ and attended church regularly. Though Christian dating was new to me, I began noticing several pernicious myths that needed to be dispelled. Below I list four of them and what […]
Why the Church Needs to Talk About Dating
A friend and I began planning an event for our church where unmarried men and women could mingle and get to know each other. The church’s leadership wanted to create a subtle night of games where singles could interact naturally. In the process, maybe they’d get a phone number or two. But I wanted to […]
What is So Christian About “Christian Dating?”
When we talk about “Christian dating,” what exactly makes it Christian? Before I answer that all-important question, I must begin with a significant caveat. “Christian dating,” or “Biblical dating,” is an oxymoron. Nowhere in the Scripture’s sixty-six books is dating mentioned. Unmarried men and women simply didn’t go on dates, try each other out, and […]
Now That Joshua Harris has Bolted, How Should We Date?
I was a new follower of Christ when the book I Kissed Dating Goodbye was released in 1997. Fortunately, I never drank its purple Kool-Aid, and I was thankful that youth pastors didn’t have a chance to shove its tenets down my impressionable throat. I was a member of the Roman Catholic Church, and my college […]