Question: “Worship, as far as I am concerned should bring spiritual refreshing and draw you closer to God. Also, we should worship God with dances like king David did in the Psalms. How can we get that spiritual refreshment in our worship if we are not allowed to dance?”

Answer: “Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40, NKJV).

“By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established” (2 Corinthians 13:1).

“Let them praise His name with the dance; Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp” (Psalm 149:3, NKJV).

“Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!” (Psalm 150:4, NKJV).

“Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.’ So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. ‘O Baal, answer us!’ they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. At noon Elijah began to taunt them. ‘Shout louder!’ he said. ‘Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.’ So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention” (1 Kings 18:25-29, NIV).

“Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, ‘Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ And Aaron said to them, ‘Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.’ So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD.’ Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount” (Exodus 32:1-7, 19, NKJV, KJV).

“Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry [dance]’” (1 Corinthians 10:5-7, NIV)

“You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (Jesus, speaking in John 4:22-24, NKJV).

“And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him” (Acts 5:32, NKJV).

According to Jesus, spirit and truth are both essential in the worship of God. In order to achieve proper worship of God, we need both the Spirit of God and the truth of God. The Spirit is not something we can conjure up or manufacture through our worship styles. Christianity is not like a heathen religion, trying to force God’s Spirit to respond by our actions. We cannot dance and leap as the Baal worshippers at Carmel in order to conjure up the Spirit of God. The Bible indicates that God’s Spirit is present in worship when we obey the truth of God’s Word.

Having said that I would like to answer this question in three ways:

1) What the Bible says about dance in worship

2) What the Bible says against dance in worship

3) What the Bible says about how to worship

First let’s examine the evidence for dance in worship. It is clear that there are some verses that seem to indicate that dance is acceptable in the worship of God. It should be noted however, that these verses are authored by David who also danced before the Lord. One of the principle methods of arriving at Christian practice is to allow “two or three witnesses” that is, biblical authors, to confirm doctrine. It has been difficult for any church to do this based on lack of clear evidence for dance in worship from more than one source. In addition, David danced before the Lord alone (see 2 Sam 6:16). There is no evidence that others joined him, making his dance even less of an example for a congregation in worship. (Yes, there are a couple other examples of dance among God’s people in the Bible, but these were in victory celebration, not worship and done by the women only; (see Exodus 15:20; 1 Sam 18:6;).

The evidence against dance in worship is more abundant. We find two witnesses in Moses and Elijah that indicate that dance was something used by those who worshipped God falsely. Both at Sinai and on Carmel the professed followers of God set a bad example of worship style by dancing. This brought severe consequences from God and a warning from Paul in the New Testament not to follow their example (see 1 Corinthians 10:5-7)

Finally, let’s consider the evidence for proper worship. If we take a biblical approach to this question we can see that God has given us abundant evidence of when to worship Him, that is, on the Sabbath day. Compare the small amount of biblical evidence we have for dance with the ample biblical evidence we have for worshipping God on the Sabbath day. We can see clearly that dance in worship is a distraction to the more important issue of the day God blessed and sanctified for worship (see Genesis 2:1-3; Revelation 14:7). God never says He blessed and sanctified dance for worship. In addition, God has promised His Spirit to those who obey Him. In the end, dance in worship is a side issue to distract us from worshipping God in spirit and truth. Dance in worship has led God’s people to idolatry, confusion, and apostasy. Let’s make sure we follow the clear teaching of God’s Word and we will then have the promise of His Spirit. And when we have the Spirit we have true spiritual refreshing.

Question: “There is a lot of romance on our university campus. I believe romancing my sweetie is not a blueprint commandment. Who defines the extent of our physical relationships? I understand ‘no sex before marriage,’ but my problem is whether it is a sin to touch my girl friend (to a predetermined level).”

Answer: “Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other” (1 Thessalonians 4:1-9, NIV).

Now this question brings a smile to my face, because I know it touches on the very practical issue of relationships that grabs the interest of young people in every generation. In answer to this question I would ask you, “is it a sin to touch another man’s wife in an inappropriate way?” Whatever physical contact is inappropriate toward another man’s wife is also inappropriate towards your girlfriend, because until she is actually your wife, she is the potential wife of someone else. This applies also to young ladies.

As far as a “predetermined level” of touching, I know from personal experience how difficult it can be for a couple, especially the male, to hold back once physical contact begins. My wife and I did not engage in any physical contact at all until we were engaged to be married. We did not even hold hands. And I remember that when we began to hold hands and kiss after we were engaged, it was much more difficult for us to be morally faithful to God. It just makes sense that we will have more control over our bodies sexually if we hold back from physical touch as much as possible when we are just girlfriend and boyfriend. This will also give us clearer and better mental discernment and not allow our emotions, based on physical appeal to overrule our sense of judgment as we move forward in our relationship. In this way we can avoid making major mistakes in the choice of a life partner (see Judges 14:1-3).

                                                                                                                                                                      Question: “Pastor what do you say about the wearing of treasures (jewelry) and the braiding of hair?”

Answer: “Do not adorn yourselves outwardly by braiding your hair, and by wearing gold ornaments or fine clothing” (1 Peter 3:3, NRSV).

“Also that the women should dress themselves modestly and decently in suitable clothing, not with their hair braided, or with gold, pearls, or expensive clothes, but with good works, as is proper for women who profess reverence for God” (1 Timothy 2:9, 10, NRSV).

Both of these Scriptures, in context, contrast the wearing of jewelry with the modest dress of a godly woman—as if the two were in opposition. The book of Revelation does the same thing (compare Revelation 12:1 and Revelation 17:1, 4). God is the source of life, love and eternal happiness. Therefore, the Bible instructs women to adorn themselves in such a way that people are led to reverence God. Jewelry and expensive clothes direct attention to self. Decent, suitable, yet modest clothing are worn by godly woman because they long to live in such a way as to direct attention to God. 

Question: “Pastor—is there anything wrong with sporting activities like soccer?”

Answer: “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8, NIV).

This Scripture translation of 1 Timothy 4:8 is comparing physical training with godliness. It indicates that sporting activities have some value. For example, they give us the physical exercise that our bodies need. They offer a needed break from mental activity. They can also help us vent stress and the pent up energy of youth. Yet when compared to godliness, physical exercise is less valuable. Godliness is much more valuable because godliness helps us in this life and the life to come. Sporting activities and godliness is like comparing $20 to $1000, the $20 is valuable, but if we have to choose between the two we would be much wiser to take the $1000. In my personal life, sporting activities have some value. I lift weights, run, play ball and swim. I spend time in physical activities because I know it will benefit my body and mind and I spend even more time in exercising godliness, because I know it will benefit me know and eternally.