1. Dancing Mark 6:21-29

2. Introduction World’s acceptance not a surprise –Christian’s acceptance a shame –Great pressure on the young –Resist (Ephesians 5:11) Bible teaching –Primary concern –Wisdom of the world

3. Bible Dancing vs. Modern Dancing Public rejoicing –Miriam and women (Exodus 15:20, 21) –Jephthah’s daughter (Judges 11:34) –Women (1 Samuel 18:6, 7) –David (2 Samuel 6:12-16) –Return of the prodigal (Luke 15:23)

4. Bible Dancing vs. Modern Dancing Public rejoicing –Became a metaphor for rejoicing

5. Psalm 30:11 “Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing; thou hast loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness;”

6. Ecclesiastes 3:4 “A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.”

7. Lamentations 5:15 “The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned into mourning.”

8. Matthew 11:17 “and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn”

9. Bible Dancing vs. Modern Dancing Public rejoicing –Became a metaphor for rejoicing –Individuals –Segregated groups (Jeremiah 31:4, 13) –No trace of anything akin to the modern dance

10. Bible Dancing vs. Modern Dancing Worship –Old Testament (Psalm 144:3; 150:4) –No command, example, or necessary inference in the New Testament

11. Bible Dancing vs. Modern Dancing Lustful –Herodias’ daughter (Mark 6:21, 22) –“Such dancing was an almost unprecedented thing for women of rank, or even respectability. It was mimetic and licentious, and performed by professionals.” (Word Pictures of The New Testament, A.T. Robertson, p. 313)

12. Development and Acceptance Preliminary remarks –C–Character seen by examining its origin and progress –H–Historical quotes from Let’s Dance by Peter Bruckman –W–World’s honesty about purpose

13. Pre-couple dancing and sex appeal (parallel to Herodias’ daughter)

14. Pre-couple Dancing “From the ancient Greeks...our civilization has worshiped the female dancing figure. Over more than two thousand years, such dancing has lost its religious origin, but then as now, the primary objective was simply to arouse the spectator.” (pp. 49, 50)

15. Pre-couple Dancing “In Roman times ‘The couple dance had not arrived, so there was no question of learning how to move across the floor with a partner. But dancing gracefully in public was still a useful means of attracting the attention of the opposite sex.’” (p. 50)

16. Pre-couple Dancing “It is important to note that in the earliest cultures the dancers scarcely touched one another. This did not in the least bit inhibit their sexual drive, any more than the “solo” dances as the twist, which were popular in the '60s, mark a decrease in fertility.” (p. 35)

17. Pre-couple Dancing “The couple dance, as we know it, with a pair of dancers actually touching each other, did not arrive until around the fifteenth century, and even then it was a decorous affair. Among the early cultures, even the crudest sexual pantomime rarely involved a touch more intimate than a grasp of the hands. Most dances were sexually exclusive, for men or for women only. Some tribes insisted on the

18. Pre-couple Dancing “ …opposite sex absenting themselves from the dance area for certain dances, though these were always of a sacred nature. But, even at celebrations, or in mimetic wooly dances, men and women danced in groups at each other, and not with each other. This sort of exclusivity enjoyed a very long life: ‘mixt dancing’ was frowned upon by many Puritans in the seventeenth century, by orthodox Jews, and also by strict Muslims.”( p. 43)

19. Development and Acceptance Pre-couple dancing and sex appeal (parallel to Herodias’ daughter) Couple dancing and qualified acceptance, some objectors

20. Couple Dancing “One early dance, LaVolta, was considered highly indecent by contemporary moralists- only close-couple dance. A woman was warned to “keep her left hand against her own thigh to hold her skirt, ‘lest in gathering the wind it should display her chemise (undergarments) or bare leg.’ I leave you to judge whether…”

21. Couple Dancing “…it be a proper thing for a young girl to make large steps and wide movements of the legs; and whether in this Volta, her honor and well-being are not risked and involved.” (pp. 91, 92)

22. Couple Dancing Religious objection (Puritans) –“Lascivious dancing to wanton ditties with amorous gestures and wanton dalliance (playing around)” (p. 104)

23. Couple Dancing Religious objection (Puritans) –Through influence, the Continental Congress on Oct. 12, 1778 prohibited dancing as an activity ‘being a diversion producing idleness, dissipation, and a general depravity of principles and manners.’” (p. 107)

24. Couple Dancing Religious objection (Puritans) –Dancing was greatly attacked by “revival” preachers, especially after the economic crash of 1857 which ushered in the “Great Awakening,” yet dancing continued to be popular for “The God of profit was replacing that of the Bible as the chief totem (emblem) in American life.”

25. Couple Dancing Objection to the waltz –“Naturally, the pleasure it gave to couples who lost themselves in each other’s arms, who pressed breast against chest, and who, as the music, whirled on, embraced each other more and more tightly, itself attracted strong criticism. In parts of Germany and Switzerland, the waltz was banned …

26. Couple Dancing Objection to the waltz –“…altogether. A German book, proving that the waltz ‘is a main source of the weakness of body and mind of our generation,’ proved popular as late as 1799.” (p. 124)

27. Couple Dancing Objection to the waltz –Lord Byron (1812) objected to the “lewd grasp and lawless contact warm,” and to the fact that “thin-clad daughters, leaping around the floor would not leave much mystery for the nuptial (wedding night)” but “he also objected to mixed bathing.” (pp. 124, 125)

28. Couple Dancing Objection to the waltz –The London Times in the summer of 1816 wrote: “We remarked with pain that the indecent foreign dance, called the waltz, was introduced (we believe for the first time) at the English Court on Friday last. This is a circumstance which ought not to be passed over in silence. National morals depend on …

29. Couple Dancing Objections to the waltz –“…national habits. So long as this obscene display was confined to prostitutes and adulteresses we did not think it deserving of notice; but now that it is attempted to be forced upon the respectable classes of society by the evil example of their superiors, we feel it is a duty to warn every parent against exposing his daughter to so fatal a contagion…” (p. 125)

30. Development and Acceptance Pre-couple dancing and sex appeal (parallel to Herodias’ daughter) Couple dancing and qualified acceptance, some objectors After the sexual revolution

31. After The Sexual Revolution Objection to the polka –“Despite such complicated instructions, the dance triumphed over all objections, andlike the waltz, its steps were incorporated into other round dances which called for the close hold that no amount of sermonizing could loosen.” (p. 146)

32. After The Sexual Revolution The disco of the seventies –“An aura of acceptance surrounds the disco trend...... antiquated sexual mores, which were successfully battled during the sixties, have yielded to a new sexual freedom in which people deal with their desires honestly and participate without guilt.” ( Show Business, “A Dynamic Decade of Disco.”)

33. The New Testament A form of lasciviousness –A work of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21)

34. Vine’s Dictionary “Denotes excess, licentiousness, absence of restraint, indecency, wantonness. The prominent idea is shameless conduct.” (p. 650)

35. Thayer’s Lexicon “unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, lasciviousness, wantonness, outrageousness. Shamelessness, insolence- wanton acts or manners, as filthy words, indecent bodily movements, unchaste handling of males and females, etc.” (pp. 79, 80)

36. Arndt and Gingrich “...especially of sexual excesses.” (p. 114)

37. Webster lewd- “sexually unchaste, obscene, salacious (pornographic)” lustful- “sexual desire often to an intense or unrestrained degree”

38. The New Testament A form of lasciviousness –A work of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21) –Admitted by the world –Does the music and social acceptability make it right?

39. The New Testament Promotes lust –C–Condemned (Matthew 5:27, 28) –U–Unchaste touching …moving with cologne and perfume… suggestive music, and immodest clothing. No lust? –P–Pray, “Lead me not into temptation? (Matthew 6:13) –C–Cause one to sin (1 Corinthians 8:13)

40. Flee fornication –Command (1 Corinthians 6:18) –Author T.A. Faulkner reported that 163 out of 200 girls lost their moral purity through the influence of the dance

41. The New Testament Need for self-control –A fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23)

42. Thayer’s Lexicon “the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, especially the sexual appetites.”

43. Arndt and Gingrich “self-control, especially to matters of sex.”

44. The New Testament Need for self-control –A fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23) –Are to possess ourselves in honor and sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5)

45. Conclusion Judgment is coming Is dancing worth your soul? Be like Moses (Hebrews 11:24-26)