Dating & Courtship, Stephen Picklesimer [e textbook reader TXT] 📗

are irreversibly destroyed—except that God will soon intervene in the affairs of mankind and cut short the downward spiral before such extinction is permitted to happen!
Failed Marriages—So Unnecessary
Vast numbers of marriages have needlessly failed. This has been because couples were not taught in advance how to carefully select someone who could be a real companion—and a truly compatible partner—for life. Divorce resulted simply because there never should have been a marriage in the first place. Of course, many other marriages fail because couples who could have otherwise succeeded simply did not know HOW to make their marriage work—a very different problem, and one largely outside the parameters of this book. But no marriage can reach its full and wonderful potential, and could possibly even fail altogether, if singles either do not know WHAT to look for in a prospective mate, or even that they should be thoroughly examining those whom they are dating seriously.
When most people carefully look at the effects we have discussed, they will admit that they are real—and that something is terribly wrong! Tragically, these same people often remain unwilling to believe that all these bad effects could have resulted from wrong causes! Will YOU examine these causes? Will YOU come to understand and accept the principles of proper dating, courtship and engagement?
Before these things can be discussed—and we will do this in great detail in later chapters—we must carefully lay the all-important FOUNDATION, so crucial to truly comprehend all that you will only then be prepared to learn.

Chapter Two – A FATAL MIXTURE
Today’s dating practices are almost entirely wrong. However, before we can understand how they are wrong, we must ask why this confused state of affairs. Why are so many people unable to correctly date, court, and reap the benefits of a happy marriage and family life? To fully grasp the reason the masses do not follow sound principles of dating and courtship, we must learn the underpinnings of society as a whole. The BIG PICTURE must be examined.
To do this, we must go back to the beginning.
From the Beginning
Almost 6,000 years ago, the first man and woman were created. These two—Adam and Eve—were history’s very first husband and wife, and lived in the Garden of Eden. As Chief Designer of marriage, God also explained this relationship to them, and the laws that govern it. He called it “very good.”
Touching on the high points, a summary of this account is found in the earliest chapters of Genesis. What is clear is that God taught this first couple His Way—the way that would bring peace, supreme happiness, abundance, prosperity and all the good things of life.
Yet, because of His infinite Purpose, God created these first human beings as free moral agents. Adam and Eve had the power to choose. God did not force His way of life on them, but rather taught them the right way, leaving the choice to them as to what they would do.
Genesis 3 records what happened in the garden with Satan tempting Eve. This account demonstrates the devil’s cunning subtlety as he tried to discredit God and appeal to Adam and Eve’s vanity.
There were TWO special trees in the garden. First was the “Tree of Life,” representing God’s Way. Adam and Eve were instructed to eat as much from this tree as they wished. There was also the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” This first married couple was expressly forbidden to eat of the fruit of that tree. God told them that in the day they ate that fruit, they would “surely die.”
Understand. God—and God alone—decides what sin is. Man was not given the authority to decide what sin is but rather only whether he would sin.
Adam and Eve had a CLEAR CHOICE! Through Satan’s subtlety and their rebellion, they rejected God and took of the forbidden fruit. They rejected God’s perfect Law and rule—His GOVERNMENT over all creation—and were taken captive by Satan and his way of sin. Because of sin, they no longer had access to God’s blessings, guidance, protection or the free gift of His Holy Spirit, which they could have acquired by eating of the Tree of Life.
From that day forward, mankind has been cut off from God, having rejected God and His ways (Isa. 59:1-2). THIS is why mankind does not—CANNOT—know the truth about the purpose behind right dating and the purpose behind right courtship. He has chosen his own path—a mixture of good and evil—and the fruit of his choice is literally a “mix,” with some marriages working somewhat, others constantly riding the rollercoaster of extremes, and many not working at all. Therefore, all but a select few couples lack the supreme happiness and joy that God intended for EVERY MARRIAGE!
Any mixture of good and evil is always fatal! If one mixes even a small amount of arsenic or cyanide into a cake, it will still just as surely kill those who eat it. However, a truer analogy here is that humanity is ingesting a veritable “ricin” (a poison 6,000 times more deadly than cyanide) of wrong thinking!
The Real Author of Modern Dating
Most assume that this world belongs to and is guided by God—that civilization as a whole is being supervised by Him. Is this true? We must ask who is the real ruler over this world. Once this has been established, we will have identified the true author behind today’s dating practices. In other words, to coin a phrase from a well-known song of several decades ago, we should ask, “Who wrote the book of love” so popularly followed by this world’s masses?
It is critical to understand Satan’s role! The serpent deceived Eve, starting mankind down the path away from God and His Law. By choosing the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve handed themselves and their descendants to the serpent’s thinking.
Open your Bible and read these plain verses. The devil is the “god of this world” and he has “blinded the minds” of everyone in it (II Cor. 4:4). Satan is also called the “prince of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11) and “prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2). The apostle John added that Satan “deceives the whole world” (Rev. 12:9). Astonishing, but true—and most will never accept this statement, or that it could apply to themselves, much less that it could have any bearing on their dating practices.
Isaiah 14:12-15 tells a remarkable story containing many clues about where Lucifer (who later became Satan) once resided, what he did, and what happened to him: “How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How are you cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations! For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds: I will be like the Most High. Yet you shall be brought down to hell [the “grave” – verses 9 and 11], to the sides of the pit.”
Ezekiel 28:12-17 parallels and reinforces Isaiah 14 and is equally important to understand. This account describes one whom some scholars claim was a human “king of Tyrus.” However, careful reading shows this is impossible—and even ridiculous.
This passage speaks of one who “seals up the sum, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty,” who had also “been in Eden the garden of God.” No human has ever been perfect, and the devil was the serpent who beguiled Eve in the Garden. Verse 13 states, “you were created.” Satan is a created being. Verse 14 calls him “the cherub that covers.” (Exodus 25:17-20 describes the two remaining faithful “cherubs that cover[ed]” God’s throne in the Old Testament tabernacle. Their wings covered the “mercy seat.”) No earthly king could ever fit this description.
The latter part of Ezekiel 28:14 states that this “king” was “in the mountain of God” and “walked…in the midst of the stones of fire.” This describes the area around God’s throne. Verse 15 says, “Iniquity [lawlessness] was found in you” and verse 16 refers to it as “sin.”
Verse 16 also describes this cherub as having been “cast…out of” heaven. God also said He would “destroy” (Hebrew: expel) Lucifer from heaven. Verse 17 reveals that his “heart was lifted up because of [his] beauty” and that his wisdom was “corrupted…by reason of [his] brightness.” The verse ends with God “casting him down to the ground,” where the kings of the earth would “behold him.”
Lucifer was a brilliant being, an “angel of light”—as are “his ministers” today (II Cor. 11:13-15). The word Lucifer actually means “the light bringer.” This brilliant, wise, perfect being once brought light to all who were around him. But he rebelled and sinned—thus becoming the “prince of darkness.” His rebellion turned him into a twisted, perverted, fallen angel. While of great intelligence, he has literally become insane—a being who no longer knows right from wrong!
Yet he is still the one in charge of—in CONTROL of—this world!
A lengthy passage in the New Testament offers more insight to the devil’s authority and influence over the nations of earth. Matthew 4 contains the well-known account of Christ’s confrontation with the devil after fasting forty days. The devil repeatedly tempted Christ by twisting scripture (one of his favorite devices). At one point, “the devil took Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and said unto Him, All these things will I give You, if You will fall down and worship me” (vs. 8-9). In a moment, we will see that this stunning event reveals more than meets the eye! Notice that Christ rebuked Satan (vs. 10) and quoted Deuteronomy 6:13: “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.” At this point, the temptation ended and the devil departed.
Also notice! At no point did Christ say, “These kingdoms are NOT yours to give” or “Who do you think you are, trying to offer Me what is already Mine (God’s)?” Christ said no such thing. Why? Because He knew that the kingdoms (governments) of this world are the devil’s kingdoms. Christ clearly knew that they were Satan’s to give. Therefore, He rejected the terms for receiving them from the one—Satan—who had the authority to offer them.
Stop and consider the implications here. This world’s nations and governments, with “all the glory of them,” are still under the control of the “god of this world”—the “prince of this world.” This is the PLAIN TRUTH from your Bible! This world, with its ways and systems, is under the control of the devil! And this has a direct influence on—an overarching connection to—why the world cannot, of itself, ever come to the RIGHT KNOWLEDGE about dating, courtship and marriage—and why this world’s religions and educational institutions have failed so abysmally in teaching these things.
Complete Deception
As mentioned, Satan “deceives the whole world” (Rev. 12:9). That’s right—“the WHOLE world.” This is a staggering statement—but there it is in your Bible.
How can the devil deceive over six and a half billion people? Verse 9 concludes, “He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Notice that it says, “his angels.” These beings are referred to as demons. They assist Satan in his work of mass deception.
And if Satan has deceived the entire world, then it is not God’s world. It has to be one or the other! Since the whole world is deceived—and since “the WHOLE WORLD lies in wickedness” (I John 5:19)—it becomes clear why it is cut off from God. Deceived people practice lives filled with sin. (Recall Isaiah 59:1-2.) For our purposes here,