WHY DON’T YOU DANCE?

By David Maxson

 

  I can still remember hearing a couple of my teenage church friends talking about the girls they had kissed or “made out” with. They bragged about it. I felt strange because I had never kissed a girl. The irony was you wouldn’t find either of those guys at a dance. Why? Because Christians don’t dance. Period. No exceptions. Everybody knew that.

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 I remember being asked one time why I didn’t dance. My weak reply: “It’s against my religion.” I guess that was better than saying, “My parents won’t let me,” but that reply, by itself, sounds creedal at best and at worst it sounds downright Pharisaical.

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 read about a guy who went to a “Christian” school that didn’t have dances. After he became a Christian he said, “You know, we used to go to the dance because we’d take a girl out to the dance, get her all warmed up, and then we could go out and neck.” He said, “Then when I became a Christian, I realized you don’t go to the dance, you just go right out and neck.”

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e need to be sure our young people know why it is wrong to dance. Some know but lack the courage to say it (like me when I was asked). Others have no clue. They may be surprised to find there isn’t a verse in the Bible that says, “Don’t dance.” They may be shocked to find examples in the Bible of people who danced before the LORD as an expression of their joy (2 Sam. 6:16).

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e need to focus on what lies at the heart of the issue (and the “heart” is the issue). Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Mt. 5:27-28)

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esus never specifically condemned dancing. He never said, “Thou shalt not make out.” You can’t quote Jesus’ position on watching sensual movies, visiting beaches with nearly nude men and women, or wearing clothing so tight there’s nothing left for the imagination! It’s not there. He didn’t specifically say anything about those activities. He didn’t have to.

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onsider the application Jesus gave to His instruction on lust: “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell” (Mt. 5:29-30). Any questions?

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he issue is not about dancing. It’s about the heart. It’s about lust. The question is not, “Does the Bible condemn dancing?” The question is, “Does dancing produce lust?”

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e can go even deeper than that. Before Jesus ever talked about lust, He talked about salt and light. He talked about salt losing its saltiness and putting lamps under baskets. He said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Mt. 5:16). Our purpose on earth is to glorify God, and we can’t do that when we seek to satisfy our lustful appetites.

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ead the following passages carefully. “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:19-20). “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God” (1 Thess. 4:3-5). “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts…” (2 Tim. 2:19-22).

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oung brothers and sisters, how should you respond when someone asks you to a dance (or to a crowded beach, or to a dirty movie, or to make out)? Do a better job than I did. Tell them kindly about the dangers of lust. Tell them you’ve made a covenant with your eyes (Job 31:1). Tell them you care too much about their purity. Tell them you’re a Christian and what that means to you. Tell them about Jesus who died to set you free. Then tell them how badly your Savior wants to set them free. [Via Embry Hills Bulletin, 2/18/04] &

ARE RELIGIOUS DEBATES PROFITABLE?

By Bob Myhan

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       t is sometimes argued that, since religious discussions are seldom, if ever, profitable,     we ought not to attend them. Those who feel this way will not attend, of course, and will not be profited. While there may be some truth to their charge, it does not fallow that we should never hold or attend public discussions of religious topics.

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his writer believes that there are two basic reasons why some religious discussions are not profitable. One is that so any discussions are no more than occasions of 'strife" and "contention," and involve “the expression of enmity" and hostility. This kind of "debate" is condemned in scripture (Rom. 1:29; 2 Cor. 12:20). If two men do nothing but tear one another down, personally, people will leave in disgust. And so they should, for such discussions are, indeed, unprofitable as well as unbecoming of two men who claim to be Christians.

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 second reason religious discussions are often unprofitable is that some do not attend out of concern for whether or not what they believe is true. These people manage to completely separate their beliefs from their concept of truth with the attitude that "it makes no difference what we believe.” In short, they are going to believe what they believe, regardless of what may be said in the discussion. Those of this persuasion who may be reading this article should be reminded of what Paul wrote of those who “did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2 Thess. 2:10-12).

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n the other hand, the Jewish people of the first century city of Berea “were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily, to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11).

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ublic discussions of the Bible, when properly conducted, give concerned people the opportunity to do this very thing. Should we not take advantage of such opportunities? &