Greetings sentients,
My wedding reception was a smashing success. Seriously, best party I have ever attended. The DJ rocked, our friends kept the dance floor hopping, my best man rode through on a horse, and everybody looked fabulous (except me. I'd rolled around on a grassy soccer field the night before playing Porkchop and my allergies made my eyes glow red. I looked like I had cried all night, but honestly, I didn't. My groomsmen and my parents will back me up on that.) My plan is to have a five-year anniversary party, hopefully just as memorable.
God created in us an appreciation for beauty and for glamour. For glitz and good times. For majesty, and charisma, and comedy. He created all these things for us, and gave us dominion over our planet. The trouble is we've gotten scared of good thing like those I listed, because we've allowed Satan to corrupt them.
Confronted with beauty, Satan steers us toward lust. Confronted with glamour and glitz, Satan steers us toward jealousy and greed. Confronted with good times, Satan steers us toward gluttony and drunkenness. Confronted with majesty, charisma, and comedy, Satan steers us toward idol worship, cheap imitation, and laughter at the expense of others.
Over the years various groups have fled from the wonderful things that God gave us. Amish, the austere branches of the Mennonites, Baptist who won't dance. Now, if they are content, if they are honestly at peace with their decisions, then they have chosen well. But if their feet or fingers tap when a sweet beat floats by on the breeze, then they've chosen wrong.
Of course, no one should define themselves by their clothing or jewelry. But God did not create us to walk around covered in mud. God replaced Adam and Eve's thin garments of leaves with strong, suitable, well-fitting animal hide. Imagine how excellent you would look in an outfit designed by God himself. I'm not talking about anything flashy, but simple and fitted for you by God. I imagine those original outfits outstripped any modern suit made by Anderson & Shepherd.
So I say look good. Be proud of the flesh that God gave you, but not vain thinking you have anything to do with it other than upkeep. When your thinking shifts from "I look good in this" to "Others are going to think I look good in this" you've taken a step too far. I know, it's a fine line, but it's there, and you know where it is. Stupidity doesn't excuse anyone.
I claim the gifts God gave me. I claim laughter, and music, and dancing, and good times, and charisma, and comedy. To spurn these things is wrong, to restrict others from enjoyment of these gifts does them harm. If you want to protect someone from the spurious machinations of Satan, teach them to enjoy God's original design so they can recognize the counterfeit, which is usually easier to obtain. For example, a decent foxtrot or waltz, which takes time to learn, is less accessible than bump-and-grind booty shaking, which is easy to learn. But teach someone real dance steps and ever after they'll scoff at the thought of "drop it like its hot."
I invite anyone to come share with me. Together we can safeguard integrity, beat back Satan's incursion onto our turf, and set right his twisting of our inheritance. Dance with me, you mad, wonderful fools.
Because I must...
Jesse Abram
And I still believe in the need,
For guitars and drums and desperate poetry.
And I still believe that everyone,
Can find a song for every time they've lost and every time they've won.
So just remember folks we not just saving lives, we're saving souls,
And we're having fun.
- "I Still Believe," by Frank Turner