Should Christians Dance in Social Settings?

I must admit, I love dancing.  Just to be clear, I did NOT say I love partying, clubbing, or secular music (that is, secular music after the 1970s, lol).  But I do love dancing.  It has been part of my life since I was a wee lass.

I am part of a large family, and we all spent lots of time together and were basically each other's closest friends.  Our frequent gatherings always produced lots of fun, laughter and, many times, DANCING.   I have fond memories of dancing with my mom, dad, aunts, cousins, and especially my oldest brother Joe.  He was (and still is) a fantastically cool and smooth dancer.  They taught me how to jitterbug and bop. (Check out the video of my mom and brother dancing last year at a family gathering.)

I had ballet lessons when I was around 6 or 7 years old, and at the end of the semester, my classmates and I competed against one another by performing a choreographed dance.  Guess who won.  I also danced in a couple of my school's talents shows with groups of my girlfriends.  The cheer team I was on in high school often performed dances during half-time at basketball games.  For some of those performances, we danced with flashlights in the dark.  It was very cool.  None of these experiences involved lewd dancing.  For sure, our high school would have not allowed it.  In fact, some popular dance moves (like "the bump") were banned.  What we were allowed to do is a far cry from the dance moves I have seen permitted in our schools today.  Talk about lewd.  Outside of school, however, I did whatever was popular.  

In college, I enrolled in a "Couples, Square and Ballroom Dance."  That class was a blast.  There was only one other black student, a guy, and on the last day of class, to my amusement, the instructor asked me and that guy to perform the jitterbug for the class.  We tore it up!  Just sayin'.  Everyone enjoyed it.  Thanks Mom and Joe.

When I got saved, it took a minute, but I evenutally stopped going to parties and listening to secular music.  I even stopped dancing anywhere outside of the church because I was told it was ungodly.  When my mom married my stepdad about a year after I got saved, I didn't dance with the rest of the family at her wedding.  That was hard for some of them to understand.  But I was saved, sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost.

As I grew in Christ and began to weigh issues in light of God's Word, I lightened up a bit on the dance issue mainly because most of the arguments against it dealt with its lewdness and the music.  The music issue, I wholeheartedly understood; but the lewdness posed a problem for me.  It's obvious there are lewd, seductive dances and people who dance to seduce.  And certainly, there are Christians who, because of their unsaved past, associate dancing with sensuality and can't see beyond that.  But lewdness and seduction was not, and still is not my point of reference. Most of my dance experience involved my family.

So no, dancing does not take me back to some dark basement party where dancing aroused all kinds of sexual desire.  It doesn't take me back to illicit relationships.  My point of reference for dancing is having fun, bonding with my family, and expressing inner joy.

Although I love dancing, I don't dance anywhere, at any time, with just anyone, to any type of music.  I dance by myself around my house.  I dance with my children.  I dance with my husband.  I still dance with my brother when I get the opportunity.  A couple of years ago, I did some line dancing with my family at our Thanksgiving celebration.  I had a blast dancing with my sisters in Christ at a women's fellowship.  We all had fun doing a gospel line dance at my son's wedding, and I am looking foward to celebrating my daughter's wedding in a few weeks as well.  I dance in my Zumba class at the gym.  That class does involve a lot of gyrating, and it may be questionable, but I stick with it because physically I'm getting great results while developing wonderful new relationships, even with other Christians. 

Then there's the issue I often hear of other people being offended by dancing or "hurting one's witness." I've heard plenty Christians confess they love to dance, but are afraid of what other Christians may think. This reminds of when someone who believed women should not wear pants visited our church's Friday night prayer meeting.  I led a prayer dressed in pants, and at first he was appalled.  However, he told me later he couldn't deny he felt the anointing and was blessed by the prayer even though he couldn't understand how God could use someone who wears pants. Eventually he joined our women-wearing-pants church.

I have sought God about social dancing for many years, done research, and listened to all kinds of opinions about it, and what I have written here is where I am at this point.  Jesus is my Lord, the most important person in my life, and I certainly do not want to displease Him.  People are another story, and this blog post will probably rub folks the wrong way.  Nevertheless, I am open to the Lord, and He knows it.  I don't love anything so much that I'm not willing to give it up for Him. After all, He gave His Son, and His Son gave His life for me.  If He says give it up, I will.  But I have yet to hear Him say it.

I would love to hear what you have to say about Christians and social dancing.  For this discussion, we are not talking about dancing to lewd, profanity-filled, demon-inspired music, so no need to rant on that.  But do you think it's okay for Christians to dance in social settings, even to Christian music?