So I was raised in the Independent Fundamental Baptist tradition.  There are many things about this style of worship that I love.  One of them is that the Bible is unquestionably the word of God and that we should live our lives around it if we claim to serve God.

However, fundamentalism has taken some turns for the worse.  It has become associated with legalism.  There are suddenly all these rules among the "Bible-thumpers" that I'm pretty sure are not in the Bible.  I still consider myself a Fundamentalist in the truest sense--I believe the Bible is the word of God and that it should be followed as a blueprint for life.  I believe in the fundamentals of the faith.  I am a Bible-thumper.

But I don't fit with that crowd anymore.

You see, all through high school, I challenged youth leaders and pastors about things they said.  Rock music is bad. Dancing of any kind is immoral.  They even challenged dating way before Joshua Harris kissed dating goodbye.  I thought, music is good.  Rock music is fun.  Christian rock reaches people that Gospel music doesn't.  Dancing is an expression of emotion.  That's a good thing, right?  I tap my feet to the church choir and clap to the quartets just as much as with everything else.

Well, I learned today that the Bible backs me up!  Check out 2 Sam. 6.  King David has experienced a great amount of triumph in his life at this point.  As they are bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem, he dances through the streets in his uderwear (the Bible says linen ephod, but it's the same thing)!  He is so overwhelmed with joy, with the vitory God has given him, that it is not enough to simply speak about it or sing about it.  This joy has taken over his entire body.  It wasn't immoral or alcohol induced.  It was his way of expressing his joy.  David was a man after God's own heart.  And if you'll notice, there's a pattern in scripture.  If God isn't happy with something David does, he lets him know, usually through Nathan.

Then Michal, the daughter of Saul, comes up to David.  Now let me just say that I think her intentions were good.  Michal was all about serving God, she would have been considered a good Christian today.  But Michal called David down on his actions.  She called him vulgar, among other things.  Just like today's Fundamentalists, Michal called David down for worshipping in an undignified manner.

But look at what David says in v. 22: "I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes."

Na na na na na na, HEY!

Worship God however you are led. Don't look down on anyone else's worship.  Just make sure that it is from God--what He is leading you to do, and not your own show.

And dance away.