{"id":17577,"date":"2009-01-24T11:04:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-24T17:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=17577"},"modified":"2020-01-02T11:07:06","modified_gmt":"2020-01-02T17:07:06","slug":"is-liturgical-dancing-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-liturgical-dancing-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"Is liturgical dancing wrong?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>I have a friend that goes to a church and she is a liturgical dancer. I read all your articles on dancing and understand the views. She told me that it was her calling to dance to the Lord. Is liturgical dancing wrong?<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>The New Testament does not contain a commandment, an example, or even an inference that dancing was a part of the worship that God asked men to give to Him. Anyone desiring to do this is doing so by their own authority and not that of the Lord. In other words, they are adding things that the Lord did not command. Even under the Old Testament, altering God&#8217;s commands was strongly condemned. &#8220;<em>Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it<\/em>&#8221; (Deuteronomy 12:32). In the New Testament, Paul said that changing what God said brings condemnation. &#8220;<em>I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ<\/em>&#8221; (Galatians 1:6-10).<\/p>\n<p>Dances were a part of the Israelites&#8217; worship in the Old Testament (Psalm 149:3; 150:4). They did not do it of their own desire but were following the Lord&#8217;s commands. But, like instrumental music, it was not something the Lord commanded of Christians in their worship of God. See &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-we-dont-follow-the-old-testament\/\">Why We Don&#8217;t Follow the Old Testament<\/a>&#8221; for more details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: I have a friend that goes to a church and she is a liturgical dancer. I read all your articles on dancing and understand the views. She told me that it was her calling to dance to the Lord. Is liturgical dancing wrong? Answer: The New Testament does not contain a commandment, an example,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[155],"class_list":["post-17577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-dancing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32034,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-teach-my-fiance-that-dancing-in-worship-instrumental-music-and-women-preachers-are-a-big-deal-if-you-want-to-please-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":17577,"position":0},"title":"How do I teach my fiance that dancing in worship, instrumental music, and women preachers are a big deal if you want to please God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm getting my fiance to come to a church of Christ from being a Baptist. She had decided to study with me and learn the Word together, but it seems still a little hard to do so. For one, her mother is always in her ear and to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8246,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/which-women-were-considered-liturgical-dancers\/","url_meta":{"origin":17577,"position":1},"title":"Which women were considered liturgical dancers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Concerning liturgical dancing, who were the women in the Bible that were considered the dancers? Answer: The word \"dancer\" does not appear in the Bible. There are occasional mentions of women dancing, but there is no indication that it had any fixed part of worship. The article Dancing in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17641,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-person-add-things-to-their-worship-so-long-as-they-dont-require-it-of-others\/","url_meta":{"origin":17577,"position":2},"title":"Can a person add things to their worship so long as they don&#8217;t require it of others?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm curious about things and friends of mine who go to other churches. I want to understand why they do the things they do. Regarding Christians doing what they personally want to do is what I'm trying to understand. I understand if they use musical instruments, dance, etc. in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27660,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-street-dancing-or-salsa-dancing-biblically-acceptable\/","url_meta":{"origin":17577,"position":3},"title":"Is street dancing or salsa dancing biblically acceptable?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Please can you tell me (so that I may pass onto my son who will not listen to me) if you think street dancing is biblical? \u00a0I said it is of the world, but he needs a biblical answer before he listens. \u00a0Also salsa dancing. Answer: It is very\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12676,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-sin-for-church-members-to-watch-tv-shows-like-dancing-with-the-stars\/","url_meta":{"origin":17577,"position":4},"title":"Is it a sin for church members to watch TV shows like &#8220;Dancing with the Stars?&#8221;","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it a sin for church members to watch tv shows like \"Dancing with the Stars?\" Answer: I have never seen the show referenced, but then I rarely watch television, so I'll address the problem of watching dancing. One of the problems with many dances is that they are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33075,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ive-taught-my-wife-the-truth-about-dancing-but-she-wont-accept-it-what-else-can-i-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":17577,"position":5},"title":"I&#8217;ve taught my wife the truth about dancing, but she won&#8217;t accept it. What else can I do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Well, I am married and the only problem we have is that she goes to another church that's not a church of Christ. To be honest it not really the church that we're clashing on, even though that's wrong as well. It's the dancing that she does that she\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17577\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}