No Dancing?

[tamtam92]

I think Isobel Kuhn put it very well. I really recommend her biography -- very inspiring -- "By searching".

 

[Armistead]

All good answers^, and I don't have much to add. I grew up in a church that had these anti-dancing, drinking, smoking, playing cards, etc. rules. Our family used to sneak some of these things when no one from church was around. The whole premise behind the no dancing rule is that dancing is worldly. Most people dance in places that Christians "aren't supposed to go", bars, rock concerts, not to mention prom night when so many young people lose their innocence.

I've heard various explanations about David's dancing among fundamentalists: He did it in private before the Lord and so shoud WE do it only in private, the word "dancing" is another word for tapping your foot, or he was conducting like a choir director would wave his arms. None of which I agree with, just sharing some of the stuff I have heard.

(2 Sam 6:1-19 NRSV) David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. {2} David and all the people with him set out and went from Baale-judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the LORD of hosts who is enthroned on the cherubim. {3} They carried the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart {4} with the ark of God; and Ahio went in front of the ark. {5} David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the LORD with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.

 

[JacquelineDeane]

I think one of the major issues that (we) Baptist have is that we have tried to overcompensate for everything out of opposition to certain behavior in other denominations.
When the Catholics started becoming a force, proclaiming that it was good works that get you to Heaven, many Baptist stood against this by saying, "Hey, the Catholics are wrong, do whatever you want, you will still go to Heaven." While, this is true, it has given people the idea that God does not care what we do with our lives, so long as we are saved.
When the Charismatics came along with the touchy-feely emotion based beliefs, the Baptist stood against it by saying "Emotions are the Devil! Disregard every emotion that you have because it is evil and carnal." I have even heard Baptists say that certain music was bad because it appealed to your emotions. The problem is that God created us with emotions for a reason. He wants us to get mad and happy and feel good when we do right.
The problem is that Fundamentalist preachers get up and preach that a good Baptist man has short hair, doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, doesn't gamble and doesn't dance. The problem is that we are defining ourselves by what we DON'T do, instead of what we do.
If we Baptists are really going to be able to say that we are the ones following the Bible, we need to start defining ourselves by what the Bible says we are supposed to do.

Well, I got a little off track. Back to the OP. Many Fundamental Baptists don't dance because they consider it, as I have heard it said many times "A vertical representation of a horizontal action". There is a lot of sexual connotation to much of the dancing that goes on today. Personally, I do not think that there is anything wrong with certain kinds of dancing, but when the gyrations and moves start to emphasize a persons body, they are not glorifying the Lord, they are showing off their bodies.

I guess my church is the Fundamentalist kind of Baptist (we are uncommon, are we not? I find that our numbers are shrinking) because we still put down dancing -- even from the pulpit. I don't dance. I grew up thinking it was directly connected with obscene sex and that it encouraged sex and made guys think inappropriate thoughts towards girls when girls shook their hips around (I admit that the very thought of it grosses me out and makes me feel queasy). I was told to stay away from late-night parties because the kind of dancing that went on there was seen as the work of the Devil. My mom and dad are both Fundamentalist and they raised me and my sisters that way.

The only kind of dancing that I am aware of that is ok is if the dancing is in the context of worshipping the LORD. This does not mean that ALL dances are ok! Not necessarily dancing unto ourselves or using dancing as an excuse to make ourselves feel good. Or to look glamorous or highly fashionable in costume (the Bible says for females to dress modestly). Note that the Bible does not say what kind of dancing David performed, it may have been something totally different from our modern dances. He lived in ancient times, it may have been an an outdated form of dancing for all we know and perhaps totally safe. But I guess we will never know.

I am going to have to dis-agree with something a poster said on here. I do not believe that purity is achieved through direct application but through abstince or the letting go of. You are right -- Baptists (especially we Fundmentalist kind) are notorious for spreading a sense of no-ness. My church still does it.

Well I don't know about the "vertical representation of horizontal action" thing -- quite frankly, I never heard that. My Fundamentalist church is against dancing because "it encourages sex and other inappropriate behaviors that if kept to themselves they will be encouraged and would lead directly to sex or perhaps something along the lines of that." In other words, leave the minors alone and they will do whatever they want. And my church looks down on that. Minors cannot be trusted is what we say. You should never trust that your children have the ability or the intelligence to govern themselves outside of adults.

Proverbs 22:15 -- Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

Proverbs 7:7-24 -- And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey: He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. e goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.

Matthew 5:28 -- But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Romans 13:14 -- But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Galatians 5:16 -- This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

Galatians 5:17 -- For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Galatains 5:24 -- And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

1 Peter 2:11 -- Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

1 Peter 4:2 -- That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

1 John 2:16 -- For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

1611 King James Version

I guess the Bible agrees with me when it says children are basically foolish.

 

[maelstrom]

wow I wish I could find a church like that