When the relationship shared between a male and female goes far beyond the friendship, then the most common term the world use to describe the relationship is “dating.” When a man and woman think to take their relationship to another level than of friendship, it is interpreted as dating. Well, the word dating, of course, sounds familiar to most of the people, but then there is one more word that describe the relationship between a man and woman seeing each other and the word is courting. The word is more familiar to the ones practicing Christianity.

Many may think that courting is an outdated synonym for dating, but this is not the case and there is a huge difference between these two words. Courting may sound an archaic word, but is still exists and describe a pure and serious relationship shared between a man and woman.

To make the statement more valid, here we are sharing 10 differences between courting and dating.

1. Parent’s approval
When you date a girl, in the terms of dating, you don’t actually have to bother yourself to seek the parent’s approval and you take the girl out on your will only. But, when you are involved in a courtship, the first thing a guy does is to seek the parent’s approval to take their daughter out. The entire seeing each other thing gets into the parent’s consideration and you can take the girl out only when the parents agree.

2. Marital Determination
When was the last time you dated a girl with the intention of marrying her? Well, to think of the answer will likely cause a trouble as no one dates to get married, but in courtship, the entire meaning of seeing each other changes. Couples see each other in the terms of courtship when they intend to get married to each other.

3. Seeking the God’s will
Did you ever take God’s consent before dating a girl? And the answer perhaps will be No. But, couples involved in the courtship constantly strive to discover if it’s a God’s will that they marry each other. Courtship is not a relationship shared in between a man and woman, but it is a relationship shared between three, the man, the woman, and the God where the God’s will acts as an important factor.

4. Family Compatibility
While you are dating, you rarely are concerned with each other’s family, but courtship differs a lot in this. While you are in courtship, you have to spend much quality time which each other’s family as well. In courtship, developing a good companionship with each other families is important. Courtship not only concentrates on the bond of a man and woman, but focuses on developing a strong bond with each other families as well.

5. Hanging out more in Groups
When you date, you emphasize more on spending time with each other in privacy. In courtship, you obviously spend time with each other and not alone, but in groups. Spending time in privacy may lead the couples to develop a sort of temptation, but courtship aims to develop a strong emotional attachment shared with each other and hanging out in groups helps couple avoid all these temptations.

6. Holding on the Temptations
In dating, holding hands, kissing each other and getting involved into physical intimacy is common, but people involved in a courtship hold their temptations and don’t even hold their hands or kiss each other. They consider doing all these activities to be done after the marriage. Courtship encourages couple to focus on a more pure relationship rather than getting indulged into activities driven with temptations.

7. Developing a Healthy Attachment
In today’s world, relationship shared between a man and woman takes a shape of physical intimacy soon as they are dating, but courtship encourages couple to build a health friendship level at the first place. Couple involved in courtship first try to understand each other’s point of views, liking, disliking and then try to establish a strong base of friendship before taking it to another level.

8. Seeking the Blessings
So, when did you hear that couples dating each other seek the blessing of others? Well, dating just focus on the relationship shared between a man and woman and others never become a part of it. In courtship, seeking the blessing of elders, other, and the God is of paramount importance. They, of course, concentrates on each other, but the family and other’s consent matters equally.

9. Understanding Each Other Deeply
Dating is that term of seeing each other that never asks the couples to discover their way of life and thinking. Dating, most of the time, is done for pleasure and fun, but courtship is all about being serious for each other. Courtship encourages couples to know and deeply understand each other which put a strong base of any relationship.

10. Long Lasting Relationship
Dating most of the time refers to a short term relationship that rarely reaches any conclusion, but courting goes extremely adverse to the thought. Courtship mainly refers to the period before the couples are tied in the knot for the lifetime. Courtship is done with the intention of getting married to each other and knows whether they are made for each other. It ends with couple getting married unlike dating where couples part their ways after a month or two.

Courtship and dating are in no way two different faces of the same coin. Both have their own ideologies and way too different from each other. Dating never gets to any conclusion apart from couples parting their ways. Courtship, on another hand, refers to the strong relationship that is based on many factors like trust, companionship, elders’ blessings, parent’s approval, and the God’s will.

Courtship offers and makes the base of a strong relationship which most of the time ends up with the long lasting years of marriage. People involved in courtship know the meaning of a beautiful and pure relationship which seeks all that is pure and clean.

Author's Bio: 

Still want more dating ideas? Visit our E Dating Tips Page for additional ways to strengthen and sustain a healthy, happy relationship.