Featured Interpretive Dance in church?

I believe that God has ordained "the foolishness of preaching" as a main tool for touching lives. However, the church that downplays the important role of music in worship and praise is likely quenching the Holy Spirit's work in the body.

I have seem many moved to salvation during a powerful worship service! We are free to worship how the Holy Spirit leads in our church and that includes dancing!

I love the excitement of being in the presence of God! It is the praise of his people that brings us into His presence!

My mother passed away after years of recovering from a stroke. I believe the day she was in His presence she was dancing, shouting and praising God. Even though on earth she would have no part of it!

 

AIC,

This was also done "in church",where everything was to be done for God.
What was wrong with it???


10 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not.

2 And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.

3 Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.

 

Icon,
I do not think Tom would mind me telling you this story, and it is kind of amusing as it relates to the thread. Tom was singing special music one Sunday before the sermon. We had a couple, probably in their late 20s visiting. All of the sudden, in the middle of the song, they got up in the middle of the aisle and started dancing. If you could have seen the look on Tom's face while he tried to maintain his composure for the rest of the song, that would have been a life long memory. LOL. Anyway, me and someone else quietly asked them to sit down and they did. That was a first in our 130 year history.

I do think however the Lord leads one to worship is fine, as long as the Lord is the center of worship and praise. I do not think the Lord would lead anyone to do something that would disrupt His service. However, because one does or does not like what another does, it is not necessarily disrupting the service. When I first went to a Baptist church, I thought raising hands and saying Amen were out of line, but I was totally wrong.

 

Apples and oranges.. The OT temple is not equivalent nor are we under the laws that were violated.

 

On a personal note. The few times I've seen it I either can't stop laughing or it disgusts me. At least in the OT it was spontaneous.

 

We are not under the OT theocracy...correct ,and agreed. Many see a clear principle here however. Those who offer this objection do not seem to object to looking at the last few psalms to find support for musical instuments however.

I think we error if we do not see what God had commanded in the theocracy.

The principle of which he commanded them not is something that enters the discussion.
Aic had posted anything is acceptable as long as it is offered to God.
Remember also that what Cain offered was not accepted also[and this was before the theocracy}......so no matter how you slice it....we need to examine what God has prescribed in His worship, then make a biblical case.....rather than....anything goes at anytime.

I am not given to any special abilities in the "arts'....so to some extent I am not the most objective person to enter this discussion. Even many mainstrean so called christian artists, choirs , seem to many times be singing for their own benefit in the same way any secular artist who has such abilities does when performing as entertainment.
Steve Camp makes an effort to examine what he sings in light of scripture,and perhaps some others do. I do not think this can be skipped or not considered.

 

It is interesting that we don't actually know why Cain's sacrifice was rejected. We've heard many preachers opine on why the sacrifice was rejected, but the truth is that we do not know why. Since there were sacrifices of grain under the Law accepted by God, I tend to believe that his heart was not right.

I'll take interpretive dance with heart-felt worship over hymns that are sang like they're at a funeral.

 

I was really skeptical of interpretave dance in church... then I saw this and I liked it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3JFCNt31Jo

 

If you like it, it must be biblical...

 

Thank you.

That should serve as clear proof... to the ones against dancing...that dancing is perfectly acceptable in church.

 

This has been a good conversation...very encouraging to know we can discuss something which had been traditionally speaking, "taboo" in the church.

However, I cannot get away from this passage: "praise Him with the timbrel and the dance," which appears in Psalm 150:

Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.

Amen.

I know that traditionally speaking, some may be "uncomfortable," so I get it. However, there are tasteful applications and artistic movements the lend themselves very well to dramatic interpretation of scriptural themes.

Care must be exercised - as in all other facets of the worship experience. For instance, I wouldn't want to have 4 hams get up on stage to sing southern gospel either if all they're doing is performing.

 

Yes, people danced in the Bible and it was an expression of worship and praise to God.

I don't see it having a place inside of corporate worship.

In the Bible they danced, but (as was pointed out by someone else) it was not in the temple.

The few time I have experienced it there were clear issues...and I admit they color my opinion on the issue greatly.

1. It is something done for the edification of the dancer and is between them and God. There is no way for us to know what the moves mean (as is the case with sign language and some types of dance, for example hula dancing). Remember that for tongues to be allowed in church there must be an interpreter, otherwise it is not edifying for the body. I believe the principal applies. Now, to be fair, I have also been in services where the person leading the music was clearly on his own page. He may claim to be led by the Spirit and just into the moment but jumping around from verse to verse with no rhyme or reason is all about them. One man even got angry because noone was singing with him. Of course we weren't. We had no idea where he was and it was obviously about him and his own groove.

2. I do not need to see a 16 year old girls thong in church. This even happened when visiting a church and the only row of seats with room for my family was right in front. I spent the time trying to shield my eyes, praying for it to end, and praying for wisdom to know how to address the issue with my sons....not to mention how such a thing was making my bride and other women feel. I was embarrassed for us all.


Can it be done to glorify God? Maybe, but I haven't seen it yet.

 

We do any number of things in corporate worship that was not done in the Temple. I do not care for it personally. It does nothing to glorify God in my mind and is more of an annoyance that anything else to me. But there is no reason to forbid it scripturally.

 

You should have got up and left with your family. We have had to do so a couple of times when visiting a new "church".

 

Yes, I should have. I had decided to not make a scene but I should have led us out anyways.

 

One more example of the world being invited into the church!

 

What can a dance be but a performance!

 

There's an Old Praise Song....

...that goes like this:

"When the Spirit of the Lord moves in my heart...I will dance like David danced!"

It repeats itself each time with a new act, like "Praise like David praised," Prayed like David prayed," "Sing like David sang," etc.

I have been in churches where interpretative dance was part of the praise and worship service, and if you are truly into the praise and worship, you will mostl likely not even notice the manner in which the dancers exalt and uplift God through the movements of their body!

I feel if it was good enough for use in the OT, why should we object today? I will admit, the first time I witnessed dancing in church, I was taken back. But, after watching the dancers and getting into the words of each song, my spirit became less critical and MORE appreciative of the many talents and many ways in which HIs children choose to outwardly display their inward love for God!

In my heart, I give interpretative dance, in church, a :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: [in case you wonder, that is the highest rating I give anything done by mankind to lift up Jesus]

 

:thumbsup: Maybe I'm cut from a more traditional cloth than some here, but I just don't get the point of interpretive dance in church.

 

Suppose you don't like stained glass windows either! Art brother art. :laugh: