Dating: Game or actually Productive?

Dating: Why is it so important?

We talked in class this week about the importance of dating. It struck me how important actual factual dating can be. I know the prophets and people in the church are all about the young people dating besides hanging out, but even in the world, dating is a key ingredient in pre-marriage living. We are counciled to date before being married but why is hanging out such a bad thing? We talked about how hanging out leads to idleness because why try something like dating when hanging out is so much easier? The easier way is usually the idle way. Dating is referred to the 3 P's (Planned ahead, Paid for, and Paired off) and if one of these is not met, its not a date. As I was thinking about the "dates" I had been on and a good point was made. Hanging out isnt bad, its when hanging out takes the place of dating when it becomes a bad thing. Hanging out is a good starting point to "fill your canteen" with the people you want to associate with. I met my wife through hanging out at a pool party just months before my mission. When I got home we would hang out but it came to a point where we were actually paired off and we were a couple. Then the dating was on in full force. We hang out with friends but we were always paired off and the date was always planned and paid for. Does dating lead to deeper relationships? Of course. It is in dating that we as couples find out about eachother. We are able to see what works and what doesnt. It is this reason why dating is so crucial to marriage. It is essentially a building block on the foundation of marriage.