Dating period (couldn't think of a better title lol)

Hey guys, i couldn't think of a proper forum to place this in, so why not this forum since this is just a random topic

i was wondering, if you're like in a sitution where you're dating someone whom you hope to marry one day (if God wills it) how long should the dating period take? a year? two years? should it really exceed 5 years? yeah, it depends where your life is at the moment, but it is necessary to take a looong time dating this particualar person? how long do you guys thing it should take?

I say a year, at minimum. It varies for different people and couples though. There is no one flat answer.
But you're usually better off going too slow than too fast.

But that's only for people old enough to marry to begin with /cough

well id say you should KNOW them and have open dialog about personal things for at least a year or probably double that as a minimum

but i agree with ugly

this can definitely vary between people

as for dating thats not really as important as knowing them

you might know them for a few years then date for a few months before you get engaged


(my personal opinion not based on scripture in any way)

The answer could have a lot to do with your age. I don't know, my last marriage failed, we courted for 2 years, dated a year.

At your age.... probably date for a decade or more. When you get old, maybe a week of dating before you get married.

thank you all for the answers! they were very interesting... sorry fro being so naive but what do you think is the difference between courting and dating?

hahaha you're kidding right? a DECADE???

get it now!

According to my experience, courting was were I went and ate dinner with her parents and we only went out once a month, and had to take her sister. She also had another guy after her. He finally flaked out when her dad said he didn't like him. When we were dating, we spent time alone together.
I don't know if this is a true and accurate definition, but it's how her family operated.

I don't dare telling y'all how fast I got married...coupla months...best catch in town, shotgun wedding...best thing that ever happened to me...

Courting is pre-dating dating.

Depends . A friend of mine had a cousin who got married 15 days after meeting the guy. They've been happily married for over 12 years. NOT what I would recommend, but apparently it works for some lol. Other couples have known each other (or even dated) for double-digit years before finally tying the knot. Also not for me. But again, it depends!

For me, I would say get to know them slow, but don't take it slow after you've started any physical relationship. A friend of mine got to know a girl and her family for a year or so, then was in a long-distance relationship with her for another 3 years, and didn't start the huggin' hand holdin' part until they were engaged...5 months before they got married. I think that was ideal in a lot of ways, and wouldn't be afraid to use it as a pattern. I know you'll hear those who say it is detrimental to marital intimacy not to get into the physical side of a relationship...but they have kids now so it couldn't have been too detrimental .

I think courting is where both people are seeing each other and serious about marriage. Dating is casually getting to know each other hoping to get serious.

That's how I've heard it described as well. Often, it has the chaperone/don't touch/father's veto power connotations attached to it, but at the core it is just dating with a purpose of marriage in mind.

Three months for us. Best catch on CC. No shotgun.

We'd married anyways, the shotgun wedding thing was just for fun...I remember my dad holding the shotgun so that the wedding picture should be the best...lol...and the groom pretended to be so scared...that he'd marry me Glory days...now they're both gone...

It's always hard to lose those that you love.

Yes...it sure is...

It might be for marriage minded folk, but in my experience, and others that went to church, it isn't an exclusive relationship. There is a bit of competition between males for the female. At the time, I read some about the subject, as I had never been in anything like it. It seems women would have several men courtung them at a time. I think Joshua Harris' nonsense books, kinda messed with peoples ideas of what courtship and dating is in the Christian circles.