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August 7, 2000 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The following is by Pastor Tim Spitsbergen, Bible Baptist Church, P.O. Box 4, Rosebush, MI 48878. It was first printed in O Timothy magazine, Volume 8, Issue 1, 1991.

In 1915 one of the greatest evangelists of all time, Billy Sunday, preached a message against ballroom dancing. The form of dancing that took place in 1915 would be considered innocent compared to the forms of dancing today. Yet a mighty man of God filled with the Spirit of God preached against it. Today an astoundingly higher number of Christian teenagers attend dances through the public schools and teen night clubs than did in 1915. I have worked with teens in three different fundamental Baptist churches. I have found that approximately 80% of professing Christian teens dance and defend dancing, believing that dancing is good clean fun.

This poses some questions. If dancing was wrong in 1915 can it be right in the Î90s? Is right and wrong variable and dependent on our culture and on societyâs changes and adaptations? Do scriptural interpretations and applications depend solely on the characteristics of our day and age and what the majority of churches allow, or do they depend on the character of God and His will for man?

Christians today use the Bible more for excusing what they do than for correcting what they do. There are few Christians, pastor and people alike, that view the Bible as the bedrock foundation for all manners of life, faith and practice. Psalm 119:105 says, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." This does not mean grab the Bible like a flashlight and shine it where you want to walk. It means, where the Bible shines, WALK!! Follow the light.

@LIFT = "I have worked with teens in three different fundamental Baptist churches. I have found that approximately 80% of professing Christian teens dance and defend dancing."

A few years ago a secular movie hit the screens of Americaâs theaters called Footloose. Footloose was about a mid-western American town that was controlled by the influence of the town church and pastor, a type of influence many people would consider "legalistic" now. The town had laws that banned "old fashioned, wicked" practices of drinking, rock music, and dancing. A new kid came to town and sought to "modernize" the public school by allowing the teens to dance. He took on the pastor and town board of commissioners by using Scripture to prove dancing was good clean fun. He succeeded in convincing them all. The whole town, including the pastor and his wife, cut "footloose." This filmâs philosophy has been accepted not only by Christian teens, but also by their parents and has infiltrated the church. The "Footloose" philosophy has been adopted not only by liberals and neo-evangelicals, but by fundamentalists.

This article is written to examine very closely what the Bible says about dancing in light of Godâs character and sound biblical exegesis. Godâs word is the final authority to true believers.

There are four Hebrew words translated "dance" in the Old Testament.

1. Chagag--to move with turns, as turning around in tokens of joy.

2. Machowl--similar to chagag but more frequently used--to turn around in celebration, praise, and joy.

3. Karar--to move about quickly and lightly (skipping).

4. Raqad--to jump, leap, or skip for joy. This is equivalent to the Greek word orcheo which is translated "dance" in our New Testament.

There are two basic reasons why people in the Bible used the body movements of jumping, leaping, skipping, and turning around: for righteousness or for unrighteousness. In the Old Testament Godâs people danced in this manner because they were overjoyed, over excited, or filled with gladness because of Godâs provision, of victory, and of Godâs interceding on their behalf. It was a good and righteous expression in response to their great God and His wonderful acts. However, in the Old Testament Godâs people danced for idolatrous, heathen, and immoral reasons that provoked the wrath and judgment of God. This is the key to answering our question, "Should Christians dance?" Is it for righteousness or for unrighteousness?

In Exodus nineteen, Israel had left Egypt and had come to Mt. Sinai where God explained His covenant with them in verses five and six. They were to be obedient to the words of God. They were to be faithful to God and keep the covenant. Therefore, God intended to make them a special but peculiar people above all other people, and a holy nation. The people in return vowed to do all that God would instruct them to do. Because of their vow, God told Moses in verse nine to sanctify the people in preparation to view the glorious revealed presence of God on the mountain. "Sanctify" means to separate oneself and make oneself clean and pure from that which defiles. In this case that meant both inwardly and outwardly. Their outer bodies were to be clean with clean clothes and inwardly they were to refrain from sexual relations with their spouses.

On the third day, Godâs presence came down on Mt. Sinai with thunder, lightening, a thick cloud, the sounding of a very loud trumpet, fire and smoke as a furnace, and the quaking of the mountain. God gave warning that if any tried to come beyond the bounds to gaze, God would break forth on them and kill them. What was the purpose of these rules of boundaries, and of purifying themselves inwardly and outwardly? Why did God not reveal himself with sunshine, rainbows, snowflakes, and with music that would excite people to clap, tap their feet, dance, and sing along? Because God is holy. Godâs holiness demands that sinful man cannot come into the presence of Godâs holiness. Psalm 5:4 says: "Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee." The children of Israel responded to the sight by trembling, and they "removed and stood afar off." Verse nineteen says, "Let not God speak with us lest we die." There is no need to worry that the people would cross the boundary to gaze. They were so afraid that they backed far away from the mountain and were still afraid that God might kill them. Exodus 20:20 tells us that God revealed himself in this way so that the people would fear God, turn from sin, and be a pure, holy nation. "For God is come to prove you and that His fear may be before your faces that ye sin not."

Moses went up into the mountain to receive the commands of God. One command given by God in Exodus 23:24 is, "Thou shalt not bow down to their gods nor serve them nor do after their works." This is a clear command of separation. They were not to mix with the false religions of the world nor involve themselves in their morally defiling practices.

In Exodus 24:3 Moses returned and told the people all that God commanded. The people responded "with one voice" and said, "All the words which the Lord said we will do." Moses returned into the mountain for forty days and nights to receive from God all the details concerning the commands. Moses was also to receive the ten commandments written by God on tables of stone.

Because Moses was gone for forty days and nights, the people began to be restless and to think that he would not return. So they commanded Aaron to make them an idol to be their god. He took their earrings of gold and melted them down and formed a golden calf. "And they said, these be thy gods O Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." Oh, how soon they forgot!! Even with the mountain in front of them smoking and flaming from the glory of Godâs presence (24:17), they ceased from fearing God.

Christians today may be guilty of this same sin. Believers are saved by grace (Eph. 2:8) and commanded to be holy in all manner of conversation (conduct) as God is holy (1 Peter 1:15,16). Many Christians have no idea what it means to be holy so they disregard 1 Peter 1. As Paul warned in Romans chapter six, they continue in sin that grace may abound. They use their liberty for an occasion to the flesh, not knowing that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump (Gal. 5), not being aware that they who sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption (Gal. 6). "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof" (Rom. 13:14). What are the works of the flesh? Galatians 5:19-21 says,

"Now the works of the flesh are manifest [clearly revealed] which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness [moral corruptness], lasciviousness [absence of sexual moral restraint and decency, same as wantonness], idolatry, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before as I have told you in time past, they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

Idolatry, uncleanness, and immoral behavior is a description of the state of the children of Israel in Exodus 32. Verse six says, "The people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play." This may sound innocent, but it is not. William Wilson commented on this Hebrew word for "play" and said, "...it implies wantonness" (William Wilson, Wilsonâs Old Testament Word Studies, McLean, VA: MacDonald Publishing Company, p. 313). Wantonness means absence of sexual moral restraint and decency. It carries with it the ideas of flirting to arouse, and bodily indecency to arouse. One of the ways the American College Dictionary put it is "loose and frolicsome."

In verse seven God told Moses to go down because the people had "corrupted themselves." In the sanctification process, before they could view the presence of God, the people were made pure both inwardly and outwardly (Ex. 19:14,15). Now in this corruption process they had corrupted themselves both inwardly and outwardly. How did God respond to His people corrupting themselves? "Now therefore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them, that I may consume them" (vs. 10). This is the same response God had toward Sodom and Gomorrah and their wicked homosexuality. The one sure fact that we must grasp with understanding is that God hates immoral behavior; whether it is just "loose and frolicsome," or whether it is sodomy! God hates it when the ungodly act immorally and when His people act immorally.

Moses interceded for Israel concerning Godâs wrath to consume them and came down out of the mountain. Look closely at what he heard and saw. In verse seventeen he heard shouting as the noise of war and in verse eighteen the noise of singing. In verse nineteen as Moses came near to the camp "he saw the calf and the dancing: and Mosesâ anger waxed hot."

What has been described here by the Word of God is a dance that is not much different than the dances we have today at public schools and nightclubs. Having attended a few dances just a short time ago, I want to consider and compare the elements found at teen dances today.

Consider what is worn. Some teens just wear jeans and T-shirts. The tight jeans that girls wear to school every day and to dances are more immodest and attention getting than many skirts. Others "dress up." Girls commonly will wear a tight or loose fitting top, often bra-less. Mini-skirts are also common. In either case, this is not becoming of girls professing godliness (1 Tim. 2:10). That is to say, Christians who profess Christ as their Savior yet who are immodest give cause for the unsaved to blaspheme the Word and the name of Christ (Rom. 2:24, Titus 2:5).

Consider the atmosphere which is influenced by the lighting and the music. These two aspects influence the mood of the attenders. Drugs, alcohol, and smoking can also influence the atmosphere and mood, but are not always present at teen dances. It is always dark. John 3:19 tells us that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Some have special lighting for effect. This involves different colored spot lights, moving or rotating reflections and strobe lighting.

Consider the music. The music is always rock. David Benoit in his video presentation Rock Music and the Occult has stated that Satanism is not just in heavy metal music, but pervades in all forms of rock music because "Satanâs best devices are his subtle devices" (David Benoit, Rock Music and the Occult, Charlotte, N.C.: Glory Ministries, 1987). Many rock groups, whether pop, soft, hard or heavy metal, reveal that they are involved with the occult. If they have made a pact with the devil, satanic symbols will appear on their album covers. David Benoit also substantiates that 90% of the tithes and offerings of the Satanic church goes to the rock music industry.

Often rock musicians claim to be Christians, but their god is not the Lord Jesus Christ. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, there is a Greek god named Pan. Pan is pictured as a cross/breed between a man and a goat. Jeff Godwin in his book Dancing with Demons said, "The entire rock world is a massive cult dedicated to Pan" (Jeff Godwin, Dancing with Demons, Chino, Calif.: Chick Publications, 1988, p. 3). Jeff Godwin proves this by the testimonies from some of the leading rock musicians of all time: Paul McCartney, Rolling Stones, Elton John, Duran Duran, Rush, and Led Zepplin. Jeff Godwin has also revealed the following:

"Rock music has been found to cause chemical imbalances in the human body. The bass tones and driving drum beats of modern rock have been proven to demonstrate a reaction with the cerebral-spinal fluid and pituitary gland of the brain. When exposed to rock, the adrenaline and sex glands over secrete. Their hormonal production is pushed into overdrive. This is why feelings of lust and sensuality wash over everyone there. Since the bodyâs hormones are imbalanced, it compensates by drawing blood sugar from the brain to bring everything into alignment. Since blood sugar is the primary material used by the brain to feed itself, a lack of decision making ability is the inevitable result" (Godwin, pp. 11,12).

This information is included here because many Christian teens do not think that rock music is harmful to them physically and spiritually.

Now consider the dance styles. There are basically two, fast and slow. Fast dancing requires a good beat and lively music. It includes all kinds of jiving, pulsating, shaking, and writhing movements of the body determined by the way the music "inspires" a person. Slow dancing involves a slow beat and slow emotional music. Slow dancing involves a guy and a girl with bodies close or pressed together, with a girlâs hands on the shoulders or neck of the guy and the guyâs hands on the waist, back, or buttocks of the girl. The dance movement is simply slow stepping and swaying side to side with the music.

After taking all of the aspects of teen dances into consideration with Scripture, it is safe to say that born again Christian teens corrupt themselves outwardly and inwardly when they partake of this form of wantonness. The Holy Spirit is grieved, fleshly lusts are fed, spiritual sensitivity is calloused, and personal holiness with an effective testimony is thrown away! If it were possible to separate guys from girls and take away the rock music, nobody would dance. Why? Because there would be no reason to dance. This dancing is unrighteous! "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this ... to keep himself unspotted from the world" (James 1:27).

In Mark chapter six verses fourteen to twenty-nine we have another clear illustration of unrighteous dancing. John the Baptist was put in jail by king Herod. Herod married his brother Philipâs wife while Philip was still alive. John told Herod that it was wrong to be married to his brotherâs wife. This enraged Herodias, the lewd woman to whom Herod was now married. Herodias schemed a plan to have John killed. On Herodâs birthday a party was given which included all of his rulers, lords, and military captains. Herodias sent her daughter to dance before the men and the Scripture says that her dancing "pleased Herod and them that sat with him." As a result, "...the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee." She went to her mother Herodias and asked her what she should request. "And she said the head of John the Baptist." The request was made; Herod commanded the execution; and Johnâs head was given to Herodias.

It may be asked, was this an innocent, proper dance before an innocent and honest king on his birthday? When we examine the history, culture, and context we find that it was not innocent and proper. H.A. Ironside commented that this "celebration of Herodâs birth was ... a vile, oriental orgy of drunkenness and debauchery" (H.A. Ironside, Expository Notes on the Gospel of Mark, Neptune, N.J.: Loizeaux Brothers, 1948, p. 93). So we can be sure that this birthday party involved drinking and lewd riotousness that is in the sin-loving, partying hearts of depraved men still today.

Oliver B. Green has stated, "In that day it was disgraceful both to dance and for a virgin to come into a banquet hall before men who had freely drunk" (Oliver B. Green, The Gospel According to Matthew, Volume III, Greenville, SC: The Gospel Hour, 1972, p. 338). Albert Barnes explained why this is so: "This was a violation of all the rules of modesty and propriety. One great principle of all eastern nations is to keep their females from public view. For this purpose they are confined in a particular part of the house called the harem. If they appear in public it is always with a veil, so closely drawn that their faces cannot be seen. No modest woman would have appeared in this manner before the court" (Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament: The Gospels, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1985, p. 151).

This type of dance is unrighteous. It is in contrast to the biblical accounts of Israelite women who took part in songs and dancing in public rejoicing. This was considered a righteous act and was quite different from the act of dancing before drunken men. Kenneth S. Wuest described the dance in translating the Greek as a "rapid-motion, leaping, lewd, dance" (Kenneth S. Wuest, The New Testament: An Expanded Translation, Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1961, p. 93). She "degraded herself in a licentious dance ... of loose morals" (Ibid.). "The immoral spectacle catered to the totally depraved natures of the drunken men" (Ibid.).

Verse twenty-two says that the dancing "pleased Herod and the men that sat with him." Oliver B. Greene commented on verse twenty-two in the following quotation: "Would they be fascinated by the voluptuous movements of her body? ... No doubt the babbling half drunk dignitaries burst out in expressions of satisfaction when they saw Salome performing her lewd, suggestive dance before their very eyes. We do not have any way of knowing how long the dance lasted, but we know it lasted long enough to inflame the passion of Herod to the point that he lost all ability to think or to reason. When the lewd dancer finished her act, the king made one of the most foolish and unreasonable promises that any king ever made. `Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would askâ" (Oliver B. Greene, The Gospel According to Matthew, Volume III, pp. 338,339).

Dancing today is much the same, whether or not people want to admit it. It is utterly disgraceful for Christians to partake in something that caters to the sinful depravity of men. It is immodest and morally degrading for Christian girls and guys to voluptuously (arousing sensual pleasure) move their bodies before the eyes of others, whether modestly dressed or not modestly dressed. The body movements of modern dancing are sexually suggestive! There is no argument against this. This fact is proven by the results. Just as Herod and his men were so sensually aroused that they lost their ability to reason logically so that Herod made a stupid decision, so do many teens after dances today. Dancing is a definite factor in teenage sexual exploration which often occurs after dancing. Dancing, therefore, is a high contributing factor to teenage pregnancy.

God has instructed the Christian in 2 Timothy 2:22 to "flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." Christians should meditate on and memorize 1 Corinthians 6:18-20:

"Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are Godâs."

The worldâs dancing is unrighteous!

There is a type of dancing in the Bible that is righteous before God. A type of dancing with a holy purpose. A type of dancing that brought praise to God for who He is or for what He had done. It is a type of dancing totally different from the worldly unrighteous type.

For example, Ecclesiastes 3:4 tells us that there is "a time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance." The Hebrew word translated "dance" here is raqad. It simply means to jump, leap or skip for joy. A proper illustration of this word is not the modern day teen dance, but that which is seen on television during the football season. What would happen if the University of Michigan upset Notre Dame? Michigan football players would leap, jump, and skip all over the field. They would gather in groups, jumping up and down and round and round with their "weâre number one" fingers held high. They would slap each other with "high fives." Why would they do this? Because of their joy with the victory. This is a good picture, though a carnal one, of righteous dancing before the Lord.

In Psalms 149 and 150, David, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said, "Praise him in the dance." This does not mean it is right for Christians to dance to Christian rock. In these fifteen verses the words "praise" and "joyful" appear twenty-two times in reference to the Lord. This should tell us that we should get excited about some things. We should get excited about our salvation and our Savior. God has done and should be doing in every Christianâs life some great things that we should get excited about. Excitement such as this may cause us to use physical gestures in expressing our joy and praise to God. Most of us know next to nothing about this.

Some would say that this is charismatic and centering on the emotions. I am reminded of what Vance Havner said about charismatics and going to extremes. He said emotional extremes have caused fundamentalists to be so "afraid of getting out on a limb that we never climb the tree" (Dennis J. Hester, The Vance Havner Quote Book, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1986, p. 81). We ought to be overjoyed when a sinner comes to repentance, gets saved, and joins the church. We ought to be overjoyed when God gives us spiritual victory over a sinful habit, or over a problem that has plagued us. We ought to be overjoyed that our names are written down in the Lambâs Book of Life never to be blotted out. We ought to be excited over the Lordâs soon return. We ought to get excited about giving praise to God just because of who He is.

We are not saying that we should become showy and outrageous. We are not talking about manufacturing emotion. We are not talking about charismatic extremes and errors. But we should have joy in the Lord and we should show it!

1 Samuel chapter eighteen is an account of Israelite women dancing. Was it dancing with a righteous purpose? Absolutely. The occasion was Davidâs victory in battle over the enemies of God, the Philistines. This caused the women to dance and celebrate, shouting, "Saul hath killed his thousands and David his ten thousands."

In Exodus fifteen we have the song of Moses. This is a song of praise and celebration for the miracle God wrought by separating the Red Sea, giving passage on dry ground to more than a million Israelites. This song of praise also glorified God for destroying Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea. This event is what spurred Miriam and the Israelite women to dance and sing to the Lord, "...for He hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and this rider hath he thrown into the sea." There is no question that this is a righteous, physical expression in celebration over a righteous purpose.

In 1 Chronicles fifteen God allowed David and the Levites to return the Ark of God from the house of Obededom to Jerusalem. Because they followed proper handling procedures no one was killed as Uzza had been earlier. The Ark was returned with joy, shouting, sounding of instruments, and dancing. It was an exciting and joyous spiritual occasion in praising God. Verse twenty-nine tells us that Michal, one of Davidâs wives, despised David in her heart because of his dancing. It is not to be assumed that she despised him because he was displaying wicked wantonness in unrighteous dancing. She despised him because she did not share in her heart the same joy of the Lord over the return of the Ark of God that David was expressing.

In Judges eleven, God gave Jephthah a great victory in slaughtering and subduing the Ammonites. This is what spurred his daughter to come running out to meet him in "dances" when he returned.

All of these examples of course in their contexts could plainly never be misinterpreted to be the worldly dancing that people do today.

It was simply a running, jumping, leaping, and skipping with a spiritual purpose in joy and gladness over what God had done.

May we not be as God found the children of Israel in Judges 17:16 with every man doing that which is right in his own eyes. May we be found as believers doing that which is right in Godâs eyes. "...I would have you wise unto that which is good and simple concerning evil" (Rom. 16:19).

[The previous article is by Pastor Tim Spitsbergen, Bible Baptist Church, P.O. Box 4, Rosebush, MI 48878. It was first printed in O Timothy magazine, Volume 8, Issue 1, 1991. 1701 Harns Rd., Oak Harbor, WA 98277. 360-675-8311.]