Dating and Mating

 Dating and Mating 

By Jake Kohl

     In today’s world of secular views on dating and mating versus how the Lord directs us to date and mate is very different of being in the will of God. In today’s culture of secular dating and mating we can look out and see the fall of our worldview. Many secular people look at dating another based on appearance and attractiveness. All too often you see the selection of matting based solely on the principle of these two attributes. Many will look at another, either of the same sex or the opposite sex and if the person is attracted to them, then they make the steps to interact with them for the purpose of dating or just mating. The “one night stand” is an example of this behavior. Another example is premarital sex. Teens having sex with their “boyfriend” or “girlfriend”, is usually driven by the changes in hormones and the view of one’s attractiveness to the other.

    Parents today view their children having sex as a natural life experience, and I believe that this is a fall of our generations. Adults will date and will have sex with the same mentality and think there is nothing wrong with it. They pass this twisted belief down to their children and often encourage this behavior. According to a “survey of 289,452 entering U.S. college students, 58 percent of men but only 34 percent of women agreed that “if two people really like each other, it’s all right for them to have sex even if they’ve known each other for a short time” (Pryor et al., 2005) With this thought in a person’s mind, it makes it easy to call bad good and then encourage it throughout the generations.

    Whereas our God directs us to date of one mind, a unity; sharing a common interest in the love of our Lord. In doing so, Christ will supersede our own fleshly desires, and one can encourage the other in the growth of the relationship based on the biblical understanding of the love we

share first to God. The Bible states in 2 Corinthians 6:14 (New King James Version) “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” I believe that one can apply this to the dating process of Christians as well. If we are dating and being equally yoked together as believers in Christ then we share a likeness together that is pleasing to God. However, when we are unequally set apart by the grace and belief in God; it is easy for us as human carnal minds to fall in or back to our sinful nature and rebel against God with our fleshly desires, such as mating before marriage.

    I believe that God directs us to the one He has chosen for us. I also believe that this area is one that needs constant prayer and direction. I also do not believe that as Christians, we are to date just anyone. I see so many people involved in relationships not directed by God that end in disaster. As a Christian, we must live by the word of God, and if you can put your relationship with man or women above God, then it is not a Godly direction of dating. After you date and seek the will of God, and if and only when He directs you to join in a union as one, should sex ever be done. Marriage is meant to be enjoyed between two people who love God with all their hearts and put Him above all of their own thoughts. This is the union and the will of God in dating and mating, as well as my own views on this topic. 

References

Holy Bible: 2 Corinthians 6:14  (New King James Version)

Pryor, J.H., Hurtado, S., Saenz, V.B., Lindholm, J.A., Korn, W.S., & Mahoney, K.M. (2005) The American Freshman: National norms for fall 2005. Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA (p. 146)