Thursday, April 19, 2012

So you are interested in dating my daughter...

Absolute brilliance from Jared Wilson:
1. You must love Jesus. I don't care if you're a "good Christian boy." I was one of those too. So I know the tricks. I'm going to ask you specific, heart-testing questions about your spiritual affections, your daily devotional life, your idols, your disciplines, and the like. I'll cut you a little bit of slack because you're young and hormonal and your pre-frontal lobe isn't fully developed yet, but I'll be watching you like a hawk. I know you. I was you. You will think you can fool me, and you likely have fooled many other dads who didn't pay much attention to their daughters' suitors, but I will be on you like Bourne on that guy whose neck he broke. Which guy was that? Every guy. So love Jesus more than my daughter or go home.

2. You will install X3Watch or Covenant Eyes on your computer and mobile devices and have your regular reports sent to me.

3. I will talk to your dad and tell him I will hold him responsible if you don't treat my daughter like a lady. If he thinks I'm a crazy person, you fail the test and won't get to date her. If he understands what I'm saying, that bodes well for you.

4. You will pay for everything. Oh, sure, every now and then my daughter can buy you a Coke or something and a gift on your birthday and at Christmas. But you pay for meals, movies, outings, whatever else. Don't have a job? I'm sorry, why I am talking to you again?

5. You will accept my Facebook friend request.

6. If it looks like you need a belt to hold your pants up, I will assume you don't have a job. See #4.

7. Young people dating are putting their best face forward, so if you appear impatient, ill-tempered, or ill-mannered, I know you will gradually become more so over time. I will have no jerks dating my daughters.

8. If I am not your pastor, I will talk to the man who is. If your pastor is a woman, why I am talking to you, again?

9. You don't love my daughter. You have no idea what love is. You like her and you might love her someday. That's an okay start with me, so put the seatbelt on the mushy gushy stuff. Don't profess your undying love, quote stupid love song lyrics to her, tell her you'd die for her, or feed her any other boneheaded lines that are way out of your depth as a horny little idiot. A lady's heart is a fragile thing. If you play with hers, I will show you yours.

10. If you ever find yourself alone with my daughter, don't panic. Just correct the situation immediately. If I ever catch you trying to get alone with my daughter, that would be the time to panic.

11. It may sound like I'm joking in threatening you harm, and while I might not physically hurt you if you offend my daughter or violate her honor, when I am addressing the issue with you, you will not be laughing.

12. You may think all this sounds very legalistic. That's fine. You can be one of the many antinomians not dating my daughter.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

1. You must be crazy insecure about your beliefs if this step is necessary.
2. You must be crazy insecure about your judgement when it comes to character if you really think this is necessary.
3. Agreed.
4. Agree with the premise, especially when it's a younger man.
5. Agree with the premise. Younger people especially need to start learning accountability when it comes to their online activities.
6. Somewhat agree.
7. Completely agree.
8. Literally one of the most offensive things I think I've ever seen. I really think you should be ashamed of yourself for perpetuating this belief.
9. Agreed, but good luck with that one.
10. Agreed.
11. Reasonable.
12. Unnecessarily ad hominem, but a fair point.

- Bobby Crosby's two cents.

Todd Pruitt said...

Bobby,
1. You must be pretty young and unexperienced.
2. You must not have a daughter.
3. If #8 is "literally one of the most offensive things I think I've ever seen," then you clearly are a child of your very comfortable times.

Todd Pruitt said...

It's early.
Number one should read, "inexperienced."

Anonymous said...

Fair point, Todd. I got a little hyperbolic because was I was reading was so unbelievable. Do you really tell your daughter that she is incapable of formally teaching the word of your God as a pastor because of her gender? That's interesting.