Is it always wrong to date more than one person at a time?

[JimG]

When I was in high school it was customary not to date one person exclusively. In fact we were warned about the dangers of exclusivity. “Going steady” with only one person was considered to be a moral danger and a temptation. One date didn’t imply ownership of the other. Exclusivity was to be reserved for when you were old enough to be thinking seriously about marriage. It was the first step of courtship and engagement.

 

[rayne89]

No particular incident in mind, but we were joking around the other day about the fact that my housemate who’s a Christian worker has all kinds of rules against which people he can date etc., but doesn’t have a rule that he can only go out with one person at a time.

I was wondering if it is always immoral (it’s clearly always a bad idea, if only because you can only marry one person) to go out with two people at the same time, if you’re honest and tell both people and neither has a problem with it

There is nothing immoral nor a bad idea to casually date more than one person as long as all people involved are aware that there is no exculsivity expected and are comfortable with that. Some people are and some aren’t.

I personally never liked dating anyone for the sake of having a date. I did have a couple dates I was kind of pushed into by friends, but it was never a positive experience for me. We did go places with people of both genders but that was never considered a date. Then I met one guy in highschool which began as a friendship, something clicked from day one. We dated exclusively through highschool breaking a few times then I married him 8 months after graduation. We’ve been married 17 years -very happily I might add and I have no regrets. Everyone is different.

Ofcourse any sexual relationship outside of marriage whether it’s one or more than one is completely wrong and immoral.

 

[holdencaulfield]

No particular incident in mind, but we were joking around the other day about the fact that my housemate who’s a Christian worker has all kinds of rules against which people he can date etc., but doesn’t have a rule that he can only go out with one person at a time.

I was wondering if it is always immoral (it’s clearly always a bad idea, if only because you can only marry one person) to go out with two people at the same time, if you’re honest and tell both people and neither has a problem with it

Yes, I think it is, because dating is like a practice relationship, it would be a sin to date multiple people.