The Right Understanding
Certainly it is true that in the dance halls and on the dance floors of this nation there are many who sin through the wrong use of dancing! However, this does not make dancing, as such, wrong. The intents and lustful desires of the people participating in the dances is the sin — even when they are not dancing!
Jesus Christ gives us the key to right understanding. Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, that whosoever LOOKETH on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matt. 5:27, 28). Jesus Christ did not condemn looking at a woman! What he condemned was lusting after her in the heart. Dancing was originally given by God as a free expression of joy and rejoicing. The fact that men have turned the use of dancing into a means of gratifying the flesh is no condemnation of the right form of dancing.
Another example we might use to illustrate this point would be the use of card playing. Many people condemn card playing as an absolute sin. However, you will not find such a condemnation in the Bible. The reason that men have condemned card playing is that for centuries men have put card playing to a wrong use. Cards have been used as a means of gambling and coveting others' personal possessions and money. Just because men have used card playing as a means of sinning does not mean that card playing itself is a sin. There are many wholesome, entertaining card games that can be used as recreational activities for a godly society. But some have put cards to a wrong use by wasting their time hour after hour at cards.
Certainly such wonderful sports as basketball, baseball, tennis and bowling are really splendid sports and wonderful activities for all to participate in. Yet, we may also find that men have taken such games and used them as a means of gambling, cheating and illegally making money. Does this mean that we should stop proper participating in such sports? Certainly not!
What Is Sin?
We need to ask ourselves — WHAT IS SIN? Many of the churches of this world have attempted to label certain things as sin. They have said dancing is sin, card playing is sin, moving pictures are sin, alcohol is sin, together with other things. Some churches have even gone so far as to say that it is sin if a woman shows as much as an inch of her arm above the wrist or as much as two inches of the leg above the ankle.
The idea is that if man is placed in a situation where there is no temptation — where there is absolutely no opportunity for sin — then man will not sin. This is absolutely ridiculous! Re moving the temptation does not remove the sinful nature that is in man. What we must understand is that we sin in attitude and in the mind as well as in deeds. It is not the thing itself that is sin, it is the use of the thing that may be sin.
Sin is the transgression of God's law (I John 3:4). We transgress God's law when we lust and commit sinful acts such as fornication and adultery. If an individual has a sinful and lustful nature, prohibiting dancing for this man is not going to keep him from sinning! On the other hand, if a man is a Spirit-filled Christian and seeking to obey the Eternal God in everything, then he will be able to dance properly, eat temperately and do all lawful things before God properly. If a man wants to lust sinfully after a woman, he doesn't have to go to a dance. Jesus Christ said that it is he who looks upon a woman to LUST after her who has committed adultery in his heart. According to the reasoning that men have used in the world concerning dancing, society ought not to allow women to walk down the street lest men look at them. The Mohammedans have practiced this very thing — and hidden their women under black veils and white sheets! But their men still sin!
Can we all get the point?
Modern Dancing
The Bible leaves the form of dancing to each people. The mode of dancing utilized in the various nations of the world depends a great deal on our culture. The type of dances utilized in Germany, France, England or the Scandinavian countries — that are native dances — may differ very greatly from the dances we may use in the United States or dances that may be practiced in the other regions of the world.
The American dance culture began in early years with certain folk dances such as square dancing, the Virginia reel and other so-called "round dances" like the European polka and waltz. These dances are the natural cultural dances of America. Through the years these dances have progressed to our modern ballroom-type dancing which involves such steps as the fox trot, the two step, the waltz and certain other modern dances.
Just as dancing in ancient Israel progressed along certain cultural developments, dancing has developed in America and is the means of dance expression used by the American people. The development of dancing has followed similar patterns in England, France and many other countries. However, in other countries the dance has taken somewhat different patterns. Folk-type dancing in other parts of the world uses mechanics that differ somewhat from American-type dancing.
No matter what country we are in, however, we can find good and bad uses of the dance — regardless of what kind it may be. In every country there are those who improperly use dancing as a means of exciting their lust and perhaps to get acquainted with someone of a doubtful character to carry on illicit sex relations. However, among those who understand and practice the right use of dancing, dancing can be used properly and correctly in the sight of God.
There is absolutely nothing dirty or filthy or sinful in pure and right dancing. It is only the degenerate mind, which is thinking on evil things, that will assume that men and women dancing together are lusting after each other. Proper dancing is an art, not a sin.
Wrong Forms of Dancing
Perhaps one of the thoughts that has most provoked the condemnation of dancing is the position utilized in some dances. The proper position for dancing is not an embrace. In modern dance steps a man's right arm is placed at the woman's back and his left hand holds her right hand in order to guide and direct her in the movements of the dance. The woman's left hand rests on the man's right shoulder to steady her. In proper and correct ballroom dancing there is no bodily contact between the two individuals. This is the right and proper position for dancing and is actually the only means in which the dancing steps may be executed properly.
Certainly it is true that there are many who degenerate this dancing position into nothing more than a lustful embrace. Many can be observed on dance floors in embraces which are everything but the proper position for dancing. This is NOT dancing! Simply because some take the occasion of dancing to practice love-making in a public place is no condemnation of the right use of the dancing among the people of God. The proper dancing position is not and never has been an embrace.
Dancing among the people of God is one of the most refreshing and uplifting of activities. This kind of dancing creates an atmosphere of friendliness and wholesomeness mixed with spontaneous joy and Christian fellowship that is indeed one of the blessings of God. There is no place for any couples off in a dark corner dancing in a lustful and passionate way. Rather, you will find everyone sharing together as a Christian family the joys of group recreation and joyful, physical activity through the right use of social dancing.
Neither the Church of God nor Jesus Christ Himself will ever condone two people embracing each other in a sinful and passionate way during a dance. The kind of dancing Christ approves cannot excite sex and lust in any way.
Social Dancing Not Commanded
God does not require you to dance socially! Dancing is not a requirement for the Kingdom of God and certainly there will be some who will not take to dancing just as some do not take to other sports or recreations. God does not force you to dance if dancing simply does not appeal to you. However, what is very important is your ATTITUDE toward dancing! If we continue to condemn as sinful and evil a practice that God approves, and even gives us as a blessing of rejoicing, then certainly we will be in a wrong attitude.
We should thank God that He has given us this right understanding and perspective so that we are able to enjoy dancing, and many other things that are enjoyable and wholesome before God when done in the right way. It is only through the understanding and illumination of God's Holy Spirit that we are able to do these things properly and not allow them to become lustful or in any way to take away from our service to the Eternal God.
Let us all thoroughly understand this principle and teach our young people the truth about dancing — keeping them unspotted by the world. Let it never be said that God's servants haven't the character to make right decisions and resist the pull of the world with its dances. Let's have the character to use properly the blessings and opportunities God gives us in this physical life.