Slippery slope? Where will it stop?

[Gerr]

A friend sent me an article from the "Statesville Landmark & Record" (NC), "Dance the Night Away, Churches step in as federal abstinence funds run dry" by Lucas L. Johnson II, as Associated Press writer, dated 1/23/10. It was also published in USA Today and The Oklahoman.

Apparently several SDA Churches in the Nashville area collaborated and sponsored a "purity ball" dance which featured a "vow to abstain from sex until marriage."

[Bravus]

It's a conundrum all right: isn't the usual argument against dancing the idea that it might lead to sex?

[Cosmin M.]

Sincerely, I wouldn't want to go to one of those...

[Neil D]

What? you afraid of holding hands with a girl.....because it might lead to instant [gasp!]

s e x!

Fear not, Cosmin...there are a lot more steps needed before you get to be ...er..um...well you know.....

[philo]

I already have heard about it.

Great.

As an old man with the history of some generations of SDA behind me - and the history of things going on withinthe SDA - I remember that also in the most conservative SDA school girls get pregnant. (Do not laugh : One was still a virgin - anatomically) Simply : The fact of two genders on this world leads to sex and needs some regulations.

The "conservative", "classical" social dancing maintains forms and conventions of (decent) behaviour. It provides a structurized encounter. You are doing something, have an "exercise" (and this is "healthy" !) You learn to move in harmony to a music and in cooperation with a partner. You - I hope so - enjoy it.

The Methodist, Baptist, Bretherens, Pietists all fear bodily movement to music; any rhythm that stimulates even tipping with your toes is a deception of the devil, who already seduces the little preschool children with some tamtamtam. I would like once tho hear a biblical foundation for this attitude.

I for decades (!) deeply regret not having beeen in a dancing school in my teens, not being to the annual school alumni ball, not having learned to "behave" in a bodily harmony, staying rather clumsy, not having learned how to bow or kiss the hand (Viennese indispensable custom in conservative societies) in this or that situation ( a press photo of me accepting some honouring reward from the president of the Republic shows : That was too deep, that was not fitting the conventions).

For decades now I get the annual honorable invitation to the very school ball : There I would meet those I cooperated with, my lawyer, my notary, their families (!), some of my trainees, some I have educated into respectable (medical) careers. But you just have to meet the forms there I never have learned or trained, otherwise you are just not polite.

I have been teching in a school of nursing : To my great relief they had no prom after getting their diploma . I have taught my SDA conviction in Psychosomatics an Psychiatry. I loved them and they loved me - only so you can really "teach" something of lasting value. They would have invited me and I would have been be expected to have a dance with every one of them. Guess my situation !

Boys, girls in Tenessee, enjoy your learning to dance, enyjoy

your dancing !

One very conservative minister once told the congregation from the pulpit that he regrets having preached a nonsense

for long (on another "We do not - - "). Then he once could not resist an invitation - and learned that he found decency and beauty and nothing of idleness or licentiousness - - -

Now in Tennessee they get to reasons !

[Serafinos]

Is this even close to the SDA church I was raised in?

Anywhere in Ellen Whites writings &/or scriptures that back this behaviour/topic?

Just curious why we're seeing so many churches moving to dancing, even in sanctuaries!

:(

[phkrause]

A friend sent me an article from the "Statesville Landmark & Record" (NC), "Dance the Night Away, Churches step in as federal abstinence funds run dry" by Lucas L. Johnson II, as Associated Press writer, dated 1/23/10. It was also published in USA Today and The Oklahoman.

Apparently several SDA Churches in the Nashville area collaborated and sponsored a "purity ball" dance which featured a "vow to abstain from sex until marriage."

Very interesting article Gerry. I hope it works out.

pk

[phkrause]

It's a conundrum all right: isn't the usual argument against dancing the idea that it might lead to sex?

Bravus you make a good point, but I'd add that a lot has to do with the type of dancing I'd say.

pk

[Cosmin M.]

What? you afraid of holding hands with a girl.....because it might lead to instant [gasp!]

s e x!

Fear not, Cosmin...there are a lot more steps needed before you get to be ...er..um...well you know.....

I'm not afraid of holding hands with a girl, or instant sex.

I just find it pointless to waste my time with something like that. If I want to be abstinent, I will be, if not, then... Just because I go to some purity ball doesn't mean I will be forced to be abstinent...

[Neil D]

I just find it pointless to waste my time with something like that. If I want to be abstinent, I will be, if not, then... Just because I go to some purity ball doesn't mean I will be forced to be abstinent...

heheh...just because you go to some purity ball also doesn't mean that you will be 'sex-ed' either....and that is the point that I was making.....

You are young...Do let the principles of your church HELP guide you in your life...But don't let the traditions of the church scare you into being something that you are not. While God wants true men and women, He isn't to keen on women and men who are fake...

[Cosmin M.]

This may seem like I am being a curious snob but, who here waited till marriage?

[Neil D]

You might get an answer from a woman but I doubt you will get many answers unless they are PC....

[Bravus]

I did, Cosmin. It really happens, it's really possible.

[Cosmin M.]

PC? Personal Computer?

[Cosmin M.]

I did, Cosmin. It really happens, it's really possible.

Well we at least know someone who was abstinent for real!

Probably the first person I know...

[Outta Here]

At least these churches are being open about the message they are hoping to convey with these dances. Additionally, they are giving young people an opportunity to publicly declare their desire to abstain from sexual intercourse before marriage.

[Cosmin M.]

I'll get back to you guys tomorrow. Im off to bed. Good night and happy Sabbath.

[Outta Here]

Bravus is not the only one.

[aldona]

This may seem like I am being a curious snob but, who here waited till marriage?

My husband and I both did. (We knew each other since high school and started dating in our senior year. We got married 4 years later.)

Not saying this to boast in any way, but just to say that it is possible and not that uncommon.

Forgive me for speaking frankly, but as a medical person I regularly see unmarried ladies (both Catholic and Protestant) who are virgins, sometimes well into their 30's and beyond. (As a doctor you can find these kinds of things out, because one of the standard questions you ask a patient for their well-woman check is "Are you due for a pap test?" and the answer is then "I don't have pap tests yet - I'm still a virgin.")

I can't comment on men because there is nothing anatomical or physical that distinguishes male virgins from non-virgins. I did once have a male patient who was about 24-25 (not religious) who came in and asked for a fertility test because, as he put it, "I have never had sex but when I do have a partner, I want to know that I can father children."

So you see - there is more than just one of us freaks out there! ;-)

aldona

[GoLions]

I grew up in the Christian Reformed Church. For the most part, the church frowned upon dancing. But in High School, parents who thought otherwise, would throw unauthorised dances. Sometimes, even at the High School. I attended some of these, and it seemed to me like a great big old party, that didn't discourage drinking and whatever. This was back in the early eighties, at one point I had so much to drink that I could hardly stand, I was asked to leave. So I got in my car and drove around the block, and went back in.

These dances sound like a good place to pick up women. As a teenager that's what I would think about them.

This reminds me of a joke I heard about that time in my life. 'Why do Christian Reformed Christians refrain from having sex standing up? It leads to dancing.'

[Gerr]

It's a conundrum all right: isn't the usual argument against dancing the idea that it might lead to sex?

If by sex you mean coitus, no, I don't believe necessarily leads to sex. I have danced before and I did not have sex. However, I guarantee you that the Lord was the farthest person in my mind.

Do you think they'd be dancing to the tune of "Amazing Grace?"

[SivartM]

Wasn't Amazing Grace a written to a bar tune?

[Gerr]

I don't know, but do you think they'd be dancing to that tune? Or "Old Rugged Cross?"

[SivartM]

No, probably a waltz or something. Probably not "Single ladies" by Beyonce. :)

[GoLions]

Wasn't Amazing Grace a written to a bar tune?

Bar tune is a stlye or a form of music that uses 'bars'. Yes it is a "bar" tune, but it was not from a song that was played in a "pub".