I’ll be totally honest here. This is about the tenth time that I’ve started over on this article series. You would think that it would be a simple topic, but it really isn’t. Part of the reason for the difficulty in writing an article series about Christianity and the dance scene is that there is so much to explain and so many different viewpoints and reasoning about it. To make matters more complex, I need to make sure that this article series reads well for three groups. The first group is of course Christians who like dance music and are looking for some validation that this really is ok. The second group is made up of those Christians who feel this is wrong to its very core. The last group and honestly maybe the one that will gain the most from the article series are those who are not Christians and this includes people who feel that Christians are, for whatever reason, the most evil people on the face of the Earth… second only to maybe the Jews in Israel<sarcasm>.

So, I’m really not kidding around. I am having a very hard time with this article series. It’s been so bad that I found myself questioning the very tag line I wrote for Tastyfresh.com: Christ-Centered DJ Culture. I guess the first thing people have to realize is that this is actually the third tag line Tastyfresh.com has had. The first was Christ-Friendly Dance Music and the second was For Christians Who like Dance Music. When Jamey Wright coined the first tag line, he was really referring to a lifestyle within the existing dance culture that can co-exist within and not only encourage the use of Christian music, but also encourage the use of secular music that either reinforced Christian beliefs or lifestyle as well. Later as the Christian industry slumped, he simply changed the tag line to refer to the fact that Christians like dance music too. So when I coined Christ-Friendly DJ Culture, I was thinking about a combination of those two things yet, I never truly defined it and placed goals around that tag line and thus, why I question.

A little more back story to the current tag line is this. It fit under the logo. I would have preferred to have used Christ-Friendly Dance Culture or Christ-Friendly Club Culture as opposed to DJ Culture because those are a bit more all inclusive. On this site, we have DJs, producers, label heads, fans, and people who just hang out here for whatever reason. It’s a pretty diverse crew actually. Before we celebrate our diversity in this regard, we really do not have anything to celebrate if we do not have goals to reach for or a clear objective to complete and that’s where the debate enters.

The first question in my mind is should we as Christians be apart of this scene or rather… should we be allowed into the scene? A lot of my thoughts regarding this go back to two Biblical examples. The first and oldest is that of King David dancing in a parade as the Ark of the Covenant is being brought home to Israel after having been stolen by the enemies of the Hebrews for so many years. David was dancing in praise and worship to God before many people (including young women) solely wearing underwear. Not exactly a dignified thing for a King to be doing is it? His wife did not think so. She complained about him acting in such a way forgetting that David was actually worshiping God. The end of the story is that God was pleased by David’s dancing, and displeased by his wife’s criticism of it. So, at least in the act of worship, dancing is not against God. There are more examples, but that is probably the most memorable for me.

The second example is Jesus’ life in general. I know that it is old and campy, but Jesus is really the only one who ever truly lived up to the phrase P.L.U.R. (the old rave motto of Peace, Love, Unity and Respect). Jesus taught and showed that whenever possible, we should live in peace with one another. He taught and showed that the two greatest commandments were to love God and then to love others as you love yourself. He taught and showed that we should be united together in one spirit and one accord. Lastly, he taught and showed use to respect everyone from the rich to the dregs of society. The thing that so many people miss is that you don’t need PLUR, you just need love. If not for love, Jesus would not have been able to live in peace, show unity, or even have respect. His entire life was dedicated to that and for that; he was falsely accused of crimes he didn’t commit, brutally beaten, and then murdered in a way that we could not even imagine the suffering. Ironically, this was also his greatest act of love in this world as his death and later resurrection brought us all salvation and forgiveness for our sins.

Peace, unity and respect are all dependent upon love and Jesus knew that. If you do not love that person dancing next to you like you love yourself, then you will never be at peace with him. If you do not love that person next to you, you cannot be united with them even if you sometimes disagree with them. If you do not have love that person a row behind you, you will never be able to respect them. To follow in Jesus’ footsteps requires that we as Christians love. Sometimes we do a good job and sometimes we fall short. That’s the great thing about Jesus though; he loves us even when we screw up.

The only thing is, before you get the idea that Jesus accepted everyone regardless of whatever they had done, you should know that while he did do that, he also told those involved in things they should not be involved in to “go and sin no more.” Jesus was not in favor of a free pass to do whatever you want. He was all about loving and caring for you even when you did something wrong though. Whenever someone recognized Jesus for who he really was (God’s son, the Messiah), Jesus would offer them forgiveness for their wrong doings and then encourage them not to participate in those types of actions again. In doing so, he actually taught these people how to truly be free and live a more fulfilling life than they had been.

So, here’s the next phase of confusion, if the whole concept of the dance scene is to not only connect with others in a respectful manner, but to accept people no matter what they do, who they think they are or even who they actually are is not this contrary to the modern teachings of Christianity? We all have heard Christians adamantly bash and attack people for drinking, doing drugs, and of course bashing homosexuality. And yet, this does not even take in account the miss-education about Christianity that the media and public schools give people everyday. From the non-Christian’s view point, Christians come off as a bunch of hate filled party poopers who just want to ruin everybody’s fun.

This really does not jive with the example of King David dancing or Jesus showing love and kindness to everyone he met. So who is wrong? Are the accounts as I have presented regarding Jesus and King David wrong? What about the non-Christian view point? What about the attitudes of Christians? I think the truth is that Christians have done a lot of damage to the ideals that Jesus put forth, but not nearly as much as non-Christians have accredited to them. A lot of it boils down to hate. There are the Hell-fire Christians who have been only taught about Jesus’ habit of calling a sin a sin and never have really considered the love he has shown them and extends to the very sinners they attack. There are also the non-Christians who blindly attack Christians either because they personally ran into one of the Hell-fire Christians or hate because they know that if the Christians were right, they would have to admit they were wrong and had to change. So, it becomes a quest with some to distort or dismiss anything that has to do with Christianity quickly, efficiently, and sometime quite loudly.