Usually in evangelical circles, a person is first exposed to this verse in youth group where it is used to bolster the teaching of abstinence until marriage. And to be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever heard this verse used in any other context. That’s unfortunate, because I think our Puritan legacy of sex obsession has blinded us to the broader application of this verse.
There are many things to consider when we think of offering our bodies to God. One is the way we treat our bodies in terms of health. Historically the church has done a good job of understanding that since our “body is a temple” we ought not to pollute it with things like cigarettes. But we’ve dropped the ball when it comes to other dangerous consumption. When was the last time you heard a sermon about gluttony? Then there’s the physical activity side of health. From a theological standpoint, is it right for us to ill-treat our bodies by letting them atrophy from lack of exercise? No. Yet some Christians preach against many forms of physical activity saying they lead to sin. While some extremists eschew sports because they could “become an idol,” usually the target of ultra-conservative Christians is dance.
One of the worst things I’ve found on the internet regarding this topic is the following quote. “Obviously, not every person who engages in dancing ends up a prostitute or fornicator, yet many who have come to immoral ends began their journey by way of the dance.” Um, really? You’re still toting the ‘dancing leads to sex’ theory? Raise your hand if you have ever danced your way into someone’s bed. No one? That’s what I thought. Sure, bumping and grinding can be lust inducing, but this quote is taken from a site that condemns all dance including ballroom, ballet, and anything else that mixes the sexes.
One of the things I like about my church is that they sometimes incorporate dance into worship service. They understand that David himself danced before the Lord and the Psalms encourage us to “praise His name in dance.” God turns our “mourning into dancing.” So when we express our joy through dance, it is a form of worship. When we train our bodies in a discipline (dance or sports, etc.) it is a form of worship. It is proper stewardship of what God has given us.
The reason I think many conservative Christians decry dance among other things is they have bad theology regarding “the flesh.” They think of the body as inherently sinful. And while our nature is inherently sinful, it doesn’t mean that every desire we have and everything related to the physical body is bad. I desire food when I am hungry, I desire hugs from loved ones, I desire to one day marry, I desire to be healthy. None of these are sinful desires, yet they are of the flesh.
When we shame the human body and associate all of its desires with sin, we teeter dangerously close to eastern philosophy. There’s a reason I’m not Buddhist. (Well, several.) While it is true that we are to place more importance on spiritual matters than physical ones, it behooves us to remember that Christianity, when properly understood, is a pro-body religion. Rather than vilifying the physical world, our Savior took on physical form and healed physical needs as well as spiritual ones. Indeed, even after we leave this mortal coil behind, we are instructed that we will be given new bodies in heaven; we will not be bodiless souls.
Therefore, let’s recognize that honoring God with our bodies is just as much about what we do with them as it is what we don’t.