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I personally see nothing wrong with dating. It's a great way to get to know what you're looking for/need in a life partner plus you make some really great friends on the way. Waiting is perfectly fine though. I don't quite know what would qualify as "rules" for my dating life. Only rule I have, per se, would be the guy has to be Christian. I think that rule sums up everything that can or can't happen in my relationship so I try to keep that as number one and let other things fall into place. As for how far is too far? Well, in a good book I read the woman was talking about talking to the girls in her church's youth group about sex and this question came up a lot. So what she said to the girls was something kinda graphic..."You may go as far as you would go if your father was watching." Yea, EWWWWW! I wouldn't want my dad seeing a guy groping me, let alone having sex with me which is why I find this a good piece of advice for girls everywhere who think being loose is "natural." I mean...would YOU want your parents watching you kiss a guy/girl while lying on top of him/her? NO! So to me I'd probably go only as far as kissing...and I mean LOVING kissing not "in the moment" kissing. By loving you can interpret that for yourself since different people look at that in different ways. And by father I think of my Heavenly Father since my "real" father encourages me to be loose...yea...
Believe in a significant other? YES YES YES!!! redface 4laugh

Hmm. I personally have never dated, but honestly, it's not really something within my realm of control. Would I date, if any member of the male species (that isn't scary beyond all reason) would look at me twice? Probably. But no one has ever asked me to date him, and I have been turned down by the guys I have presented the idea to.

As I have never dated, I have no set rules and whatnot. I'm probably inclined to agree with t0paz and ScarredImage.

Do I think I'll ever find a significant other? Hm. I'm 19 and never been kissed... never dated... it's hard to believe in such things.

I have a dating theory. Now, this theory doesn't go for everybody. Everybody believes something different from everyone else. My theory is that dating is like a puzzle piece. When you are putting a puzzle together, you have to be selective about which pieces you put where. Some pieces you can look at immediately and say "That doesn't fit there." (i.e. if the other person is not a Christian) After scoping out the piece, all that is left to do is try it. That's where the actual act of dating comes in. Trying them in your life to see if they fit. If they don't, you let them go. If they do fit, you get one more piece of the puzzle. I have a girlfriend, and we've been dating for five months. She's great. She encourages me and strengthens me. We have come so much closer to God because of our relationship. Every weekend, we take turns doing bible study. We pray before we leave each other, and we always kiss hello and goodbye. It's great, but we still have a couple more years to go before we can consider marriage.

you ask what i think of dating. well i think that dating is good. i think we should cause i acually read somwhere that it is good for us to date.
this is one of those that sez we should in a way. these are quotes from an email my uncle sent me.
" Maybe God wants us to meet a few wrong people before meeting the right one, so that when we finally meet the person, we will know how to be grateful."
this is one to remember when u break up with someone too.
"Don't cry because it is over, smile because it happened."
"There are always going to be people that hurt you so what you have to
do is keep on trusting and just be more careful about whom you trust next
time around."
"WHATEVER HAPPENS, HAPPENS FOR A REASON."
these are true from what i have learned from lifes journy so far. thr are actually more quotes to these but im not going to post them all only the ones that go with this topic.

My youth director said something like "If you are younger then 15 you shouldn't date" But then my Pastor to the church said "If your not 18ish, dont worry about relationships and have fun" He was talking about this during the PDA discussion.
I really think people should have fun as a teen before worry about relationships. 17 is a good age for dating.

Well, its hard to say, dating is good, but I think its important to wait until you're sure you have good values of dating and that you know you can follow them. Otherwise you might go too far.

you know sometimes i forget how younger some gaian users are considering im almost 20 myself. i personally see nothing wrong with dating in certain respects- just as the others who have posted here do. But i think of dating as a trial stage to see who you might marry one day- you know, find your mate sort of thing.

the other thing about dating/ love in general is that if it is meant to happen- it's going to happen within His time not your own. I'm in full faith that God has set aside a particular someone he thinks would be a good addition to your life as well as He will send that person at the right time for you.

i think i just repeated myself xp anyway point being- dating is ok, except when people do it for sexual purposes. I even think kissing is ok but you have to remember that one day you might actually have to deal with the sexual temtations aspect of it.

i say a good age is 15-16 to start. But i recommend that people start with group dates before going one on one.