Why do Baptists object to dancing?

Bking, dancing is a gift from God. Like many gifts, it can be perverted or misused. But there is nothing wrong with it.

 

I used to belong to a church where the very liberal youth pastor tried to introduce "interpretive dance". He honestly saw nothing wrong with and and even tried to defend it. He tried to use Jesus' parable about the prodigal son as justification to let a developed girl move her body around in front of the youth group. Just because Jesus mentioned something, doesn't mean he condoned it. Um... is this where the youth group meets or is this where young boys meet to be aroused? Come on.

My wife and I do not object to dancing in the privacy of my own home. I am allowed that freedom as it is not lust when it is my wife. However, to take that public would be to bring temptation to another man. That is sin. I haven't seen a single biblical justification of public dancing.

 

Come visit my house sometime.
Me and the girls can't help but dance sometimes in joy when we sing praises to God or are listening to spiritual songs.
Of course there's solemn worship, but there's also joyful praise.
You said there's something wrong if it gets to your feet before your heart. What if your heart gets to your feet?
da Gina

 

If any of you ever saw me try to dance, you'd strongly object to it!

- Clint

 

The old testament talks of dancing in honor of God, but we only look at the New Testament for dancing. After all, what is old is old. We must following only the NEW testament...oh except for tithes, that is one Old Testament thing we shall cling to forever more.

Dancing is a sin, or at least needs to be done in private? Do you not realize there is more then one kind of dance? Not all dances require partners, not all dances are sensual, and not all dancing must be done in private. Some people are missing the beauty of the dance, that is truly sad.

~Lorelei

 

Barnabas said:

The word, danced, appear about 4 times in the New Testament.

It seems to me that we should be consulting the whole counsel of God, not merely those parts which we see as supporting our presuppositions. What about the Old Testament?

Nonetheless, let's look at your examples:

It is never referring to an activity which was done by Christian believers. In Matthew 11:17, and Luke 7:32 Jesus likens the generation He lived in to children in the marketplace,

These examples are not about dancing per se. Jesus was talking about his and John the Baptist's treatment at the hands of the Pharisees: because John lived an ascetic lifestyle, they claimed he had a demon; because Jesus did the exact opposite, they claimed he was a glutton and a drunk. So he draws the analogy of petulant children who play a happy song and gripe when people don't dance, then play a slow song and complain when they don't mourn.

In other words, you can't win for losing with these guys. But it's not about dancing.

In Matthew 14:6 and Mark 6:22 we see the nature of dance again, as the daughter of Herodias danced during the Birthday celebration of Herod. We know the outcome of that one: John the Baptist was beheaded.

Again, the passage is not about dancing per se, but about Herod's wickedness. Herodias' daughter's dancing didn't cause the death of John the Baptist; Herodias' hatred of John and Herod's unwillingness to go back on his promise did.

And finally, in the parable of the lost son . . . a positive light.

Agreed, in this instance dancing is shown as part of a celebration.

Nevertheless you have to consider that the parable of Jesus was given before His walk to the cross, and we did not ever hear of any encouragements from the great Apostles of the faith to keep dancing for the glory of God after the cross.

I fail to see the relevance of this. Jesus' treatment of dancing here is again matter-of-fact; it was an everyday part of life that he incorporated into a story. He wasn't giving any positive command to dance or a negative command not to.

So we see that at worst, the New Testament is actually neutral on the subject of dancing.

 

Ransom, even though you tried to analyze each paragraph I have posted, you missed the point of the entire writ. Although I even highlighted the word(s), for clarification, you addressed the apples while I was trying to present the oranges. Once again here is the essence of my post:

Ransom, I hope we agree that in the Bible dancing was never a part of any worship. In Biblical times dancing was more of a cultural expression of exuberance and joy (as Miriam and her women friends accompanied the victory song of Moses over the Egyptians in a tribal setting). Even David's joyful leaping upon bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem did not qualify for a temple ritual, or a solemn worship procedure. And again, I'd like to emphasize that although dancing must have remained as an expression of joy for the Jewish folks, yet among Christian believers this was never pointed out even by accident, nor do we read in any of the Apostles writings about the importance of it in a spiritual setting. If I did not express myself clear enough in the first post, this is what I was aiming at.

BTW, my reaction to your first post was not a criticism over what you have written but rather your spontaneous reaction to the post before you. I found it extremely funny, and I can see that you have a great sense of humor and wit - of which I appreciate greatly. After all, we Baptists were not supposed to be baptized in pickle juice!

[ March 19, 2002, 08:22 PM: Message edited by: Barnabas ]

 

I could only imagine
What it will be like
When I walk by Your side
I could only imagine
What my eyes will see
when your face is before me.
I could only imagine.

Surrounded by your glory
What will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you, Jesus,
Or in awe of you be still
or to stand in your presence, or to my knees will fall
Will I sing Alleluia or be able to be speak at all
I could only imagine. I could only imagine.

I HOPE TO DO THEM ALL.

 

Barnabas said:

Ransom, I hope we agree that in the Bible dancing was never a part of any worship.

We do and we don't. I believe we're agreed that dance was not a prescribed part of the ritual worship of the Temple. However, there are, as you cited, examples of dance being used alongside "informal" praise to God:

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• Miriam and the women danced, played tambourines, and sang praises to God (Exod. 15:20-21).</font>
• David "danced before the Lord with all his might" (2 Sam. 6:14).
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And I could add to this the admonitions to praise the Lord with dancing in Psa. 149:3 and 150:4. So I think it's an over-generalization to say that in the Bible, dancing is never part of worship. It is, just not ceremonial worship.
And again, I'd like to emphasize that although dancing must have remained as an expression of joy for the Jewish folks, yet among Christian believers this was never pointed out even by accident,

However, this would be an argument from silence. There are thousands of everyday things, "expressions of joy" and otherwise, that simply are not covered by Scripture. For example, No New Testament writer ever mentions, even in passing, shouting "Woo hoo!" when something good happens, but I don't infer from that lack that "Woo hoo!" is an inappropriate expression of joy. This is why I said the New Testament is neutral on the subject of dance. It simply doesn't come up except in a couple of analogies which are about something else in any case.

nor do we read in any of the Apostles writings about the importance of it in a spiritual setting.

And here, I think, is where you are arguing a straw man. If you go back and read the first post, the question was over dancing in a social setting at a party - not a worship setting on the platform. The Bible is as silent about dancing in a social setting as it is about putting mustard on hot dogs.

BTW, my reaction to your first post was not a criticism over what you have written but rather your spontaneous reaction to the post before you.

Ah, OK. I wasn't sure quite how to take it, so I assumed it was "neutral."

[ March 20, 2002, 03:04 PM: Message edited by: Ransom ]

 

Bob, was that to show the foolishness of promoting dancing or what?

Also, Saggywoman, it is best to get one's theology from the Word and not some touchy-feely song.

 

There is nothing spiritual about a group of people getting together to "bowl." Furthermore, I've never seen anyone bowl to psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

[ March 21, 2002, 02:32 AM: Message edited by: javalady ]