Hope this new year is already off to a great start! We want nothing more than for you to rock your dating life in 2016 (or whenever it’s time for your dating season to begin).
No better way to kick things off than making sure you don’t miss last year’s MOST READ posts.
#10: Great Questions for Great Dates (Interests and Identity)
This was one of 21 posts in the Purpose-Driven Dating series I shared on our DNA blog last year.
In it we offer direction in asking the right questions to help you grow in intimacy, one date at a time. In particular, we want to empower you to learn about your date’s values and, more importantly, their convictions.
Understanding someone’s values and convictions can tell you a lot about them, but most don’t bother, because at best it’s simply not sexy. At worse it can turn a date into a job interview. But I think you will find, with the right approach, it can make your date more engaging and memorable.
Furthermore, most people like to talk about themselves, and everyone enjoys being with someone who shows a sincere and selfless interest in them. Plus, the most popular motive for dating is “getting to know someone better,” so let’s get started, shall we?
#9: Welcome to Purpose-Driven Dating
What if your dating life could reflect the reality that you were born to make friends more than to make out? What if dating became, once again, a step into maturity? And what if it could be that, and still be fun?
Even better, what if dating could be a truly meaningful, life-enriching experience, instead of some sort of minefield you had to tip-toe through hoping to reach the other side alive. With a mate. One you actually wound up still liking on your 50th anniversary?”
Is it possible? We think so! And that’s why, after sharing this message on the road, I endeavored to turn it into this blog series. If you want to start at the beginning here’s the first post.
#8: Why Porn and I are Never Ever Ever Getting Back Together
Porn has become quite a thing, hasn’t it?
Thank you so much, internet! You shouldn’t have!
No. Really. You shouldn’t!
I, however, didn’t even need the internet. All I needed was a weather-beaten magazine I found mysteriously hidden under a log in the woods. I didn’t know it at the time, but from that moment I was hooked.
How did I get unhooked? The epiphany I share in this post was a huge help. Hope it is for you as well! And if porn is something you’d really like to defeat this year, you can check out all of our posts on porn at this link.
Losing your virginity is so easy, anyone can do it, but growing close meaningful relationships that keep you from defining yourself by your sexual status is another matter. This post was designed to inspire you to pursue the latter.
This was one of 24 posts in a series called Relation^ology. In the series we clarify the deepest need of your soul and then identify seven different impostors we seek out or settle for instead. If you want to read the whole series start here.
#6: Watch What You Watch (Sex Part 5)
This one was an anomaly in our TOP10 this year as it was written back in 2013 and was, in fact, the #3 MOST READ post of 2013. It was also part five of a ten-part series we now affectionately refer to as “The Sexual Intercourse,” but more on that when we hit last year’s TOP5.
How can you grow closer to someone without getting too close? How can you begin to explore the depths of someone‘s soul without falling into the temptation to explore their body as well? Is it possible in today’s culture? Was it ever?
I attempt to address these questions by presenting a practical, instead of legalistic appeal to heed the scripture that reveals that your eye is the lamp of your body. Whether I succeed in this or not, the practical (not legalistic) reality is that most believers ignore this essential truth and then wonder why they fall so easily to sexual sin. Check it out and let us know your thoughts.
Up Next: the TOP5
Was there another Date Night Advice post that spoke to you last year? Please share which one in the comment section! And then come back next week for the TOP5!
DNA: It’s What’s For Dating
Dug this weekend’s DNA? Tell your friends by liking or commenting on our FMU Facebook page or on your own Facebook page by clicking the button below.
The LoveEd study guide series, Beyond Sex & Salvation, will empower you to prepare for relational success when it counts: BEFORE YOU FALL IN LOVE! It’s NOT for couples, but for any wise individual who thinks they might want to get married sometime before they die. Check out the first two 8-lesson study guides in our store. You can walk through it on your own, but it’s more fun with friends, so consider putting together an FMU LoveEd small group study. Even better? And ask a married couple you respect to lead it!
