I am the mother of four boys. One is now a teenager and is being asked to attend boy/girl type parties where dancing is being encouraged. I feel that this is not appropriate for a Christian, especially the type of close dancing and couple dancing that is popular these days. What scriptures can I use with him to explain why dancing is not appropriate for him...can lead to lust, is not "modest", etc.?
There may be other influences that are as bad, but there is no influence that is worse on the morals or people and the stability of the home than dancing. There is nothing in it that elevates the spirituality of the soul or purifies the heart. No Christian has ever been led to be more spiritual-minded or more devoted to Christ by participation in this worldly activity. Dancing has never brought a Christian closer to God, nearer to Christ, or more Christ-like in life. Dancing has never led a Christian to love Christ more or to do more for His Kingdom. The most that has ever been said by any one in defense of dancing is that they don’t see any harm in it. One reason that they don’t see any harm in it is that they are not looking for any harm. They are looking to justify that in which they wish to engage and in which they are going to engage because they desire to “run with the crowd.” Any activity that has no better justification than “everybody is doing it” is something that is better left alone for the Christian. Moreover, instead of asking “What is wrong with it,” the Christian should ask, “What is the good in it?” What would they think of the same bodily movements and closeness of bodily parts occurred in the darkness of the bedroom instead of the dim light of the ballroom? Given the obvious answer, is it any wonder that such movements and closeness in the ballroom often lead to either the bedroom or that back seat of an automobile? Most likely, most of those who wound up in the bedroom or automobile said “It will never happen to me.” The remainder includes those who were too naive to realize what could happen and those who set about to make it happen as their aim in life.
The truth is that dancing is a work of the flesh and not a fruit of the Spirit. Read the list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 and see how impossible to fit dancing into that list. Read the list of the works of the flesh and you will see that dancing fits quite easily; it concludes with “envyings, drunkenness, reveling, and such like.” Paul then adds: “of which I forewarn you, even as I did forewarn you, that they who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” To say that dancing does not fall into the works of the flesh is to deny the obvious. Any conduct that brings such a decree from the Lord should be rejected and avoided by the Christian. The decree of the Lord cannot be changed.
Every passage of Scripture that commands us to avoid temptation and the excitement and gratification of the lust of the flesh prohibits dancing because it always does this.
The white robe of the Christian has been washed in the blood of the Lamb. Rev. 7:13-14. Conduct such as dancing can only spot and the white robe with the filth of the world and blemish the work of the blood of the Lamb.
You Must Hear the Gospel
Romans 10:17
You must hear the gospel and then understand and recognize that you are lost without Jesus Christ no matter who you are and no matter what your background is. The Bible tells us that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Before you can be saved, you must understand that you are lost and that the only way to be saved is by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:8) Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17)
You Must Believe
Hebrews 11:6
You must believe and have faith in God because “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6) But neither belief alone nor faith alone is sufficient to save. (James 2:19; James 2:24; Matthew 7:21)
You Must Repent
Acts 3:19
You must repent of your sins. (Acts 3:19) But repentance alone is not enough. The so-called “Sinner’s Prayer” that you hear so much about today from denominational preachers does not appear anywhere in the Bible. Indeed, nowhere in the Bible was anyone ever told to pray the “Sinner’s Prayer” to be saved. By contrast, there are numerous examples showing that prayer alone does not save. Saul, for example, prayed following his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:11), but Saul was still in his sins when Ananias met him three days later (Acts 22:16). Cornelius prayed to God always, and yet there was something else he needed to do to be saved (Acts 10:2, 6, 33, 48). If prayer alone did not save Saul or Cornelius, prayer alone will not save you. You must obey the gospel. (2 Thess. 1:8)
You Must Confess
Romans 10:9
You must confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. (Romans 10:9-10) Note that you do NOT need to make Jesus “Lord of your life.” Why? Because Jesus is already Lord of your life whether or not you have obeyed his gospel. Indeed, we obey him, not to make him Lord, but because he already is Lord. (Acts 2:36) Also, no one in the Bible was ever told to just “accept Jesus as your personal savior.” We must confess that Jesus is the Son of God, but, as with faith and repentance, confession alone does not save. (Matthew 7:21)
You Must Be Baptized
Acts 2:38
Having believed, repented, and confessed that Jesus is the Son of God, you must be baptized for the remission of your sins. (Acts 2:38) It is at this point (and not before) that your sins are forgiven. (Acts 22:16) It is impossible to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ without teaching the absolute necessity of baptism for salvation. (Acts 8:35-36; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Peter 3:21) Anyone who responds to the question in Acts 2:37 with an answer that contradicts Acts 2:38 is NOT proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ!
You Must Be Faithful Unto Death
Revelation 2:10
Once you are saved, God adds you to his church and writes your name in the Book of Life. (Acts 2:47; Philippians 4:3) To continue in God’s grace, you must continue to serve God faithfully until death. Unless they remain faithful, those who are in God’s grace will fall from grace, and those whose names are in the Book of Life will have their names blotted out of that book. (Revelation 2:10; Revelation 3:5; Galatians 5:4)