This is an interesting topic. It is worth considering if you want to follow God's will for it is written.“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God.” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5).
I came across this interesting material which is available here and noted the following guidelines:
1. Realize you don’t have to date.
Much sexual temptation today is created by our social practice of coupling and isolating young people instead of doing what the Hebrew culture and many others have done—requiring that single people spend time together only in a context supervised by parents and other adults.
This structure of direct parental involvement and carefully overseen courtship has been the normal social structure; it is ours that is abnormal. In our culture, the unprecedented combination of young people‘s leisure time, money, transportation and being permitted to be alone for long hours and late at night—and the large gap between the average age of puberty and marriage—have proven overwhelming temptations to many, Christians included. (This is especially true in a culture that distorts teen sex, making it look romantic and healthy, when in fact it is usually unfulfilling, often emotionally devastating, and always morally wrong.)
Many people think that to be normal you have to date. But just because lots of other people do doesn‘t mean you have to. It‘s an option, not a need. With the upside comes the downside of definite risks and temptations. You can enjoy fun positive friendships with people of the opposite sex and be involved in all sorts of activities without coupling up with one person.
If you‘re interested in the case for courtship rather than dating, see the best-selling I Kissed Dating Goodbye, A New Attitude Toward Romance and Relationships by Joshua Harris (Multnomah, 1997).
If you do choose to date, the following guidelines can help you maintain a walk with God and guard your purity.
