Adventist Youth Dance in a Church School to Music by Michael Jackson, Vanilla Ice, Daddy Yankee and Sean Paul

In the video below, you will see dancing from the 51st Annual Day Celebration 2024, hosted by the Seventh-day Adventist Matric Higher Secondary School in Thanjavur, India. It’s disheartening to witness the encroachment of worldly influences in our sacred spaces, particularly within the confines of our church schools. Encouraging worldly dance and music by artists like Michael Jackson, Vanilla Ice, Daddy Yankee, and Sean Paul in religious institutions blurs the lines between the sacred and the profane, compromising the spiritual integrity of our educational environments.

Adventist Youth Dance in a Church School to Music by Michael Jackson, Vanilla Ice, Daddy Yankee and Sean Paul #sda #adventist #adventista pic.twitter.com/KPeyZIGlwG

— Advent Messenger (@Advent1844) February 24, 2024

Our schools should be bastions of faith, nurturing the hearts and minds of students with music that uplifts and inspires devotion to God, rather than catering to popular trends associated with dance club scenes. Unfortunately, we have unconverted administrators who have absolutely no clue what it means to preserve our religious identity. Instead of resisting the allure of worldly conformity, too many Adventist schools in India are corrupting their youth with music and dance that is harmful and runs contrary to the work of safeguarding the sanctity of our educational institutions for generations to come. Indeed, many of our academies, colleges, universities, churches, and youth events have become dens of unholy dances and pleasures.

“In our day dancing is associated with folly and midnight reveling. Health and morals are sacrificed to pleasure. By the frequenters of the ballroom God is not an object of thought and reverence; prayer or the song of praise would be felt to be out of place in their assemblies. This test should be decisive. Amusements that have a tendency to weaken the love for sacred things and lessen our joy in the service of God are not to be sought by Christians” (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 707).