Shall
We Dance? - Part 3 During our study on dancing, we outlined four basic principles we use to determine whether an activity, such as dancing, is sinful.
In this article, we explore father-daughter dances, and dancing at wedding receptions, which are closely related. Father-Daughter Dances The typical father-daughter dance is with girls up to age twelve. Lately, though, Father-Daughter Purity Balls have become popular. At these balls, young ladies between nine and eighteen years old, are escorted by their fathers, grandfathers, brothers, or uncles. Mothers are also invited to attend the ball, and sometimes whole families attend. During the purity ball, young ladies pledge to remain pure, and the fathers pledge to protect their daughters in the area of purity, while also remaining pure in their own lives as men. Questions that some Christians ask, are, “Can a father and daughter go to a dance?” and “Can a father dance with his daughter at her wedding reception?” I believe the answer to both questions is “no.” For the reasons previously outlined, regarding husbands and wives dancing in public, I don’t believe fathers should dance with their daughters in public.
Additionally, I believe the lesson a father teaches his daughter, when
taking her to a father-daughter dance, is not the correct lesson. After reviewing the Bible principles associated with the issue, knowing I needed to tell the girls the reason for my decision, the thing that stuck out most was the precedence I was setting, and the lesson I was teaching. It wouldn’t be long till I had to deal with homecoming and prom. Now was the time to begin teaching them about dancing. In a nutshell, this is what I told the girls: It was okay to goof off and have fun with dad, doing silly dances around the house, and one day they could dance in private with their husbands. But we shouldn’t go to father-daughter dances. Before long, they’d have boys asking them to dances at school, and they’d have to say “no,” so they shouldn’t start going to dances, not even with dad. Wedding Receptions As already explained, there are a number of reasons why it would be inappropriate for a husband and wife, or father and daughter, to dance in public. Perhaps more than anything, such dancing would encourage sin. If a bride and groom dance at their wedding reception, everyone else would be encouraged to dance, perhaps in the same way, slow dancing while holding each other close. Can you imagine a couple from church getting married and dancing at the reception? Can you imagine the father of the bride dancing with his daughter? Then can you imagine the elders slow dancing with the bride, followed with slow dancing with all the women at church? Then can you imagine all the teenagers slow dancing with each other, just like the bride, groom, and elders? Then can you imagine the elders slow dancing with the teenage girls, and the elders’ wives slow dancing with the teenage boys? Thinking about this, I can hear the kids exclaim, “GROSS!” Something may be pure, but when displayed in public, encouraging other people to sin, it’s suddenly defiled. This is the case with several aspects of a married couple’s relationship. To Be Continued
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