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Welcome to Courting.org

A working approach to relationships.

Courtship is simple, right? You're attracted to someone and they return the affection. You want to establish a closer relationship, something a little more serious than just dating. You're goal is commitment. Mature love. Marriage.

We believe that courting is "a working approach to relationships". It takes a lot of work and it really works!

What Is Courtship?
Good question! So good that I went ahead and looked it up in the dictionary.

court.shipn. 1. The act or period of wooing a woman. (American Heritage Dictionary, 1981)
There are four ingredients to courtship:

Action. Time Frame. Pursuance. Response of a Woman.

In Contrast... date/dat.ing n/v. 4.Informal. To make or have a social engagement
with (a person of the opposite sex) (American Heritage Dictionary, 1981)
There are four ingredients to dating:

Creation. Action. Social Activity. Either Gender can Pursue.

Did you know that there is a battle over the words "dating" and "courting"? There is a book by Joshua Harris called I Kissed Dating Goodbye followed by his second book Boy Meets Girl; Say Hello to Courtship. Shortly after I Kissed Dating Goodbye became a best seller, I Gave Dating a Chance by Jeramy Clark came out. And then there's a book called Boundaries in Dating that devotes a paragraph or two as to why the author disagrees with I Kissed Dating Goodbye. Joshua Harris even took things a step further in Boy Meets Girl by devoting his entire Chapter Two to the debate of Dating vs. Courtship*. Now, I am not an expert, nor can I say that I have read all of these books. I also know that there are so many more books that cover issues such as relationships, dating, and courting. I've seen pro-dating and pro-courtship literature coming from both the Christian perspective as well as the secular viewpoint. I know that each and every author is sincerely trying to nail down a system to get your from "who are you" to "will you" to "I do" in the most mature and respectful way possible. Now that I have taken the time to really look at the original definitions I find that dating vs. courting isn't really an equal comparison. My analyzing isn't perfect, but I don't think dating can stand on its own like courtship can. Dating is more of a series of social events where as courtship is a plan set toward a goal. Dating, as practiced in a purely dictionary form, functions within and supports a courtship. An effort to compare the two is futile. That's like comparing the cinnamon apple wedges with its own apple pie. Which one is the right way to a great dessert? Cinnamon apple wedges or a warm baked apple pie? I think we all agree that we want that perfect pie!

*By the way, J. Harris' Chapter Two is titled: "Why Dating Versus Courtship Isn't the Point: Getting past a Debate over Terms and Back to What Really Matters"

A Note From the Author

Please ask the author before using any of this material. :)

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