You don't have to be married to someone to cheat on them. Anytime you're in an exclusive relationship with a person, and you step out on them, you've cheated. The whole idea of courting someone is to prepare for marriage. If you can't be faithful to someone in the courting phase, you won't be faithful to them while married. Each stage of life prepares you for the next, and so on. When I hear people say "Even if you're with your (wo)man, as long as you're not married to them, you're not cheating.", that's hogwash to me, and is another excuse people like to make for their cheating ways. Just admit it, you don't have the courage to be faithful to your mate, so (s)he would be better served with someone who can stay faithful to one person. If you choose someone as your (wo)man, you're making that person yours. All the temptation out in the world doesn't compare to what you have with your (wo)man. Cheating is cheating. Just because one is not married, does not make their relationship with another person invalid. One has to date/court before one gets to marriage. So should both parties of said dating relationship/courtship be in it with each other only? To me, if someone steps outside of it, it would be called cheating. I think marriage is the intended goal for us, but it is up to us to use the "word" as a guideline how to get there. No matter how anyone tries to word it, betrayal transcends everything.
