4. Group activities are encouraged. Nowadays, one-on-one date nights are basic protocol for people in relationships. While the same applies to many courting couples, traditional courtship encourages group dates before private time. The goal is to help the couple get to know each other on a friendship level before becoming romantic. The presence of others also helps limit the opportunities for sexual activity, which bring us to the next point…

Apply this: Starting a relationship with someone doesn’t have to mean you automatically spend long hours gazing at and whispering sweet nothings to each other. In the early phase of dating someone, lighten up! Get to know each other better first as friends before going deeper. There’s a reason adages like “slow and steady wins the race” abound.

5. Commitment precedes intimacy. Courting couples wait until the wedding night to have sex. Although non-religious dating culture upholds the importance of discovering sexual compatibility prior to marriage, couples who court believe that true commitment means learning to be sexually compatible after marriage, even if it doesn’t happen right away.

Apply this: Without going so far as to stave off sex until the wedding night, many new relationships could benefit from prolonging the first roll in the hay. While you’re busy figuring out if you can tolerate his differing political views and whether or not he’ll change his mind about wanting kids, sometimes it’s easier to remove the sexual distraction from the equation until you know the relationship’s a keeper.

To those comfortable with dating, courtship may sound like an antiquated, even foreign practice incompatible with contemporary norms of sex and relationships. To courting fans, however, the practice is less about rules and regulations, and more about emphasizing selflessness, friendship and commitment, and diminishing the use of romantic partners for sexual and emotional indulgence.

What’s your opinion on courting vs. dating?

Curated by Erbe
Original Article