Yesterday I read a wonderful little book, Her Hand in Marriage by Douglas Wilson. Although the book is only 90 pages long, it resonated with me. I can see how some of the things he mentioned are applicable to life, as opposed to how I might go about dating. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

"Now if such authority rests with the father or the husband concerning a vow made to the Lord, how much more dies apply to other issues? And how much more will it apply to such things as a commitment a daughter might make to an interested suitor?

With recreational dating, some degree of sexual activity is expected so long as they don't "go all the way," and those responsible for holding the line are the couple themselves-which usually means that the woman is the one who bears the brunt of the responsibility [oh how often I have heard of this]. She is expected to say no if she wants the erotic proceedings to stop, while he is commonly expected to get whatever he can. With biblical courtship, the courting activity is publicly connected to the life of the family, most likely the family of the young daughter With recreational dating, the privacy of the couple is paramount.

How many times have we been told, ad nauseam, in songs on the radio, in movies, in books, that a person's heart can only be given by that person? "Well, she loves him." Or, "He loves her." And of course, true love will always overcome all obstacles-and the central obstacle in modern love stories is the blind opposition of parents. The course of true love must overcome all obstacles, chief among which is "father as chowderhead." Again and again, we see the propaganda for this culture of youth worship, wherein it is assumed that what is innocent and immature has wisdom and that what is old and mature in biblical terms has no wisdom at all.

But romance has the same function as the curtains of a house-it cannot serve as the concrete poured for the foundation. What establishes the foundation for any godly marriage is covenantal faithfulness to the God who gives marriage."