I was watching a news program this morning, and there was a story about a high school that has cancelled all future school dances.  The reason for the ban on these dances is because the dancing has become so lewd and indecent that the principal and other school officials simply could not allow it to go on under their watch.  Therefore, there will be no homecoming dances and no proms from now on for this school.

Students and parents were outraged about this, and so they are mobilizing in force in an attempt to reinstate dancing in the schools.  They consider the ban on dances to be oppressive and stifling.  Their contention is that the ban infringes upon the students’ freedom to express themselves, and they deserve the right to have their dances.  Therefore, the students and their parents are taking their cause to the media.  It wouldn’t be surprising if the issue becomes a lawsuit for the courts to decide.

Here is an example of how our society is loosing its collective mind.  How can parents be upset with a principal who is working to prevent their children from participation in or exposure to indecent acts?  I have to wonder if these parents have seen the dances that their children are doing.  The particular dancing style that has become popular is called “freak” dancing, and it is so lewd that I would not dare to describe it here.  What has gotten into parents to cause them not only to allow their children to do such things, but also to fight for their children’s rights to be corrupted?

Let me clarify for the record that these activities clearly fall into the category of sin that the Bible calls lasciviousness.  The word “lasciviousness” (or “sensuality” in the NASB) is translated from a Greek word meaning “excess, licentiousness, absence of restraint, indecency, wantonness” (W.E. Vine).  It describes the kind of conduct and speech that arouses the passions and ultimately promotes fornication (see Mark 7:21-23; Rom. 13:13; 2Cor. 12:21; Gal. 5:19; Eph. 4:19; 2Pet. 2:2, 7, 18).  This is what these parents are promoting in their children by fighting for their rights to do these dances.

Someone once described to me the progressive nature of sin in four phases, and I think we can see it in this case.  The first phase is opposition to sin.  In this phase, people take a stand against sin by discouraging it through words and righteous examples.  The second phase is tolerance of sin.  At this phase, people drop their opposition to sin and become silent on the subject.  The third phase is acceptance of sin.  By accepting sin, passive approval is given to the sinner, and there is perceived to be nothing wrong with the sinful activity.  The fourth phase is participation in sin.  At this phase, all barriers of conscience to prevent one from participating in sin have been removed because of the erosion through the previous phases.

According to what I have been told, gospel preachers and godly persons once commonly declared that dancing and other similar activities were sinful.  Moreover, most decent people, whether they were Christians or not, could recognize an indecent act, and they opposed it.  Today, this is not so.  For the most part, preachers are silent on the subject of dancing.  Some Christians tolerate and accept dancing for their own children and even resent anyone who stands against it.  If Christians take on this attitude, then we can only expect for society in general to do the same and much more.

This didn’t happen overnight, but it is the result of slow decay.  We can see in many ways that our society is heading full speed into a gutter at the bottom of a slippery slope.  The progression can be seen through the decades as the so-called “sexual revolution” along with the rise of feminism and homosexuality have worked to corrupt almost every aspect of society.

Christians, be diligent that you don’t allow yourselves and your families to be pulled down the slope with the rest of society.  Don’t measure yourselves by society’s standards and thereby stay just one step above common corruption.  Make your aim the holy standard of God, for He has said, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1Pet. 1:16).  Paul told the Philippians to “prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world”  (Phil. 2:15).  Let this be our goal, and let us keep the filth and corruption from the world away from ourselves and away from our children.

Stacey E. Durham