So is dancing a sin or not?

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I’m getting mixed messages on whether dancing is sinful or permissable:

saints such as John Vianney, Augustine, Ephraim, Charles Borromeo, John Chrystodom, Ambrose said it was a serious sin

I also read on a website about St. Frances of Rome and a vision of hell she had:

“In the life of Saint Frances of Rome, we read of a vision of Hell which was granted her, and which lasted for four hours. God willed to show her, in
the fires of Hell, certain ladies whom she had known in Roman society. For what sins had these souls been damned? They had been damned:
for guilty desires, even though these had not been put into act. for indecent styles of dress, which were the fashion of the day, and which had been a cause of seduction and of sin, for dances, considered inoffensive by the world.”

catholicapologetics.info/morality/modesty/dress.htm

(btw, I couldn’t really find a citation on that quote from the website, all I found was a “copy and paste job” on another website not citing where the quote came from

www.olrl.org/virtues/modcrus.shtml )

…But then in the bible David is always dancing, in the book of Psalms we are told God will turn our mourning into dancing and we should praise God with dancing, the book of Jeremiah says the virgin shall rejoice in dance, the women of Israel danced in celebration after God saved them from the Red Sea, churches and catholic schools have dances, Jesus went to a wedding reception, Jesus mentions dancing in the prodigal son parable, St. Frances De Sales said dancing could be permissible in certain situations, St. Teresa danced, St. Francis of Assissi danced in front of the pope, the bible says there is “a time to dance”, in Dante’s visions he said St. Thomas Aquinas was dancing before the Lord in heaven, etc.

This bothers me because 1) I’m a christian hip hop producer and I don’t want to tempt anyone into dancing if it’s a sin 2) I like listening to music that provokes dancing (even though I don’t dance) 3) I’m worried that just a nodding of a your head up and down during a song is considered dancing, and 4) most of my friends dance, and I’m worried about their eternal state.

Is there more information about whether dancing is a sin?
 
Ben_Sinner said:
I’m getting mixed messages on whether dancing is sinful or permissable:

saints such as John Vianney, Augustine, Ephraim, Charles Borromeo, John Chrystodom, Ambrose said it was a serious sin

I also read on a website about St. Frances of Rome and a vision of hell she had:

“In the life of Saint Frances of Rome, we read of a vision of Hell which was granted her, and which lasted for four hours. God willed to show her, in
the fires of Hell, certain ladies whom she had known in Roman society. For what sins had these souls been damned? They had been damned:
for guilty desires, even though these had not been put into act. for indecent styles of dress, which were the fashion of the day, and which had been a cause of seduction and of sin, for dances, considered inoffensive by the world.”
catholicapologetics.info/morality/modesty/dress.htm
(btw, I couldn’t really find a citation on that quote from the website, all I found was a “copy and paste job” on another website not citing where the quote came from
www.olrl.org/virtues/modcrus.shtml )

…But then in the bible David is always dancing, in the book of Psalms we are told God will turn our mourning into dancing and we should praise God with dancing, the book of Jeremiah says the virgin shall rejoice in dance, the women of Israel danced in celebration after God saved them from the Red Sea, churches and catholic schools have dances, Jesus went to a wedding reception, Jesus mentions dancing in the prodigal son parable, St. Frances De Sales said dancing could be permissible in certain situations, St. Teresa danced, St. Francis of Assissi danced in front of the pope, the bible says there is “a time to dance”, in Dante’s visions he said St. Thomas Aquinas was dancing before the Lord in heaven, etc.

This bothers me because 1) I’m a christian hip hop producer and I don’t want to tempt anyone into dancing if it’s a sin 2) I like listening to music that provokes dancing (even though I don’t dance) 3) I’m worried that just a nodding of a your head up and down during a song is considered dancing, and 4) most of my friends dance, and I’m worried about their eternal state.

Is there more information about whether dancing is a sin?
Click to expand...
I was going to write that St David danced and dancing is often mentioned in the Psalms but I see that you have answered your own question. Jesus and the Bible don’t condemn it - that would be good enough for me. Of course anything can be abused, sexually suggestive dancing wouldn’t pass muster though.
 
dancing for the purpose to attract and arouse the opposite sex is sinful. remember, it’s the intent behind the action that’s make it a sin.
 
What about dancing together, as a couple? It would be the touching that would be of concern and not so specifically the dancing, I’d think.

Alan
 
Ben_Sinner said:
I’m getting mixed messages on whether dancing is sinful or permissable:

saints such as John Vianney, Augustine, Ephraim, Charles Borromeo, John Chrystodom, Ambrose said it was a serious sin

I also read on a website about St. Frances of Rome and a vision of hell she had:

“In the life of Saint Frances of Rome, we read of a vision of Hell which was granted her, and which lasted for four hours. God willed to show her, in
the fires of Hell, certain ladies whom she had known in Roman society. For what sins had these souls been damned? They had been damned:
for guilty desires, even though these had not been put into act. for indecent styles of dress, which were the fashion of the day, and which had been a cause of seduction and of sin, for dances, considered inoffensive by the world.”

catholicapologetics.info/morality/modesty/dress.htm

(btw, I couldn’t really find a citation on that quote from the website, all I found was a “copy and paste job” on another website not citing where the quote came from

www.olrl.org/virtues/modcrus.shtml )

…But then in the bible David is always dancing, in the book of Psalms we are told God will turn our mourning into dancing and we should praise God with dancing, the book of Jeremiah says the virgin shall rejoice in dance, the women of Israel danced in celebration after God saved them from the Red Sea, churches and catholic schools have dances, Jesus went to a wedding reception, Jesus mentions dancing in the prodigal son parable, St. Frances De Sales said dancing could be permissible in certain situations, St. Teresa danced, St. Francis of Assissi danced in front of the pope, the bible says there is “a time to dance”, in Dante’s visions he said St. Thomas Aquinas was dancing before the Lord in heaven, etc.

This bothers me because 1) I’m a christian hip hop producer and I don’t want to tempt anyone into dancing if it’s a sin 2) I like listening to music that provokes dancing (even though I don’t dance) 3) I’m worried that just a nodding of a your head up and down during a song is considered dancing, and 4) most of my friends dance, and I’m worried about their eternal state.

Is there more information about whether dancing is a sin?
Click to expand...
Dancing is NOT a sin.
 
Dancing can be used as a sexual power trip… think about the hip hop videos where the girls are sticking their butts way out and shaking them in a provocative way… how can this possibly compare to someone being moved by the music to move around in joy?

Frankly I always thought it was odd to see hip hop (and for that matter rock) videos where the dancing females were clearly moving around in a way that had nothing to do with reacting to the music in a positive way, but merely using it as a platform to bring attention to themselves by using their sex to dominate the viewer… how often did you see joy in their faces? Mostly what I saw reflected in the faces was contempt, anger, ego, coldness, power or even what might on the surface seem to be happiness but one that had more to do with being paid attention to than a self forgetting joyous dance. I always thought these were very wrong expressions of dance. It had more to do (also) with turning the music into a product. And as any advertiser knows sex sells.

Coming back a bit even though I’m mostly referring to current conditions (Hip Hop videos) this use of dance as sexual power is nothing new at all. But there is plenty of references to dancing as an expression of joy and even worship of God in the Bible so I’d say that it wouldn’t inherently be wrong in itself but more, as others have noted, the intention.

Actually, my recommendation to you would be to contact Fr Stan Fortuna C.F.R., the “rapping priest.” with these concerns… ( a quick google search will give you contact points) I’m sure he’d be better able to answer your questions than any here…
 
I think that it depends on the dancing. David danced because he was rejoicing, and that’s very different from what we today characterize as “dance”. If you turn on MTV (though I suggest you don’t :)), that’s the type of dancing that might be sinful. Sadly, most young people today dance that way. I have myself, though I no longer do. The reason why it might be a sin is because it draws attention to the person in a sexual way. For dance to glorify God, it shouldn’t draw attention to the body of the dancer, but to God. (This type of dancing would probably look very different from what is popular today, lol).

St Frances lived in the 14th century, and I’m kind of wondering what kind of dancing there was back then that was offensive… maybe it was just really worldly? I dont know
 
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