Several years ago, I was assigned to preach on the topic of “The Dangers of the Modern Dance” at a lectureship in West Virginia. Knowing the average age of the attendees of this lectureship being around 60-70 years of age, I jokingly told my wife that the greatest danger of the modern dance for this audience would be throwing out their hips.
However, while I had no hesitation in preaching on this topic, I thought my lesson would be missed by these listeners. However, when I finished my lesson, a young lady, the only young lady present, came to me and thanked me for helping her make a decision about an upcoming school dance. A lesson I thought would have little effect had more than I anticipated. Through the years, this memory has served to remind me to preach the truth, all the truth, and allow God’s word the opportunity to convict.
Friends, I don’t need to tell you that the general standard of morality held by many Christians has declined along with the morals of our society. Things that were once preached against by godly men, who were spiritual leaders in the church, are now practiced without any sense of shame or wrongdoing. This forces me to ask the questions:
- Were these spiritual leaders of the past wrong?
- Or maybe, has the modern dance cleaned up its act and is not as bad as it once was?
- Or, could it be that our moral consciences have been dulled?
Listen to me before you dismiss what I have to say. Dancing is not an intrinsic evil. There is no sin in moving one’s feet to the rhythm of music. In fact, the Bible records instances when righteous men danced as an expression of their joy (1 Chronicles 15:25-29; Luke 15:11-32). However, dancing that calls for close bodily contact and indecent and suggestive bodily movements is wrong. The kind of dancing that God’s word condemns is the kind of dancing that stirs one to have impure thoughts and act in impure ways. That is the problem with the modern dance.
Call me old-fashioned. Tell me I’m out of touch. But when you’re done, please determine to be more committed to God’s high and holy standard of living than you are committed to defending a practice in which you or a loved ones engages. Give it some thought.