The Modern Dances and Unwholesome Social Conditions
A FEW days ago, Dr. Charles A. Eaton, pastor of the Madison Avenue Baptist Church of New York City, addressed himself to modern dances and present-day social conditions, in the following significant language: "The new style of dance is a craze, a form of nervous degeneracy. It has been stimulated, first, by unwholesome social conditions, and, second, by commercialism. People of all walks of life seem to have abandoned their common sense, their sense of self-possession, and in many cases their morals. . . . "I don't know what the parents of our country are thinking about. They throw their children to the crocodiles as the Indian mothers used to do, but the former without any religious motive. They are consumed by an itch for social advance, and they think the only way to get into society is to dance in. The present condition is a result of a spiritual degeneracy. It in turn is the cause of worse degeneracy. It is time for the church, the home, and the press to use every legitimate means against these degrading conditions. They are nothing more or less than sensuality set to music." Men are compelled to recognize the gross sensuality of the times, and how it is leading the world toward irretrievable ruin; and yet, in the face of all the facts, we are still told that the world is getting better and better. We will yet see that God's word has the right of it. God knew how things would be in these times, and He has foretold it. He has said plainly that evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse. He compares these days to the violent conditions that existed in the time of Noah. He compares them to the vice-laden conditions in Sodom while Lot was there. He has told us that "wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matt. 7:13, 14. And the Master furthermore has raised the question whether or not He will find faith on the earth when He returns the second time; and while His own question is answered in scriptures that show there will be some men and women of the most heroic faith in the days when He returns to earth, yet faithlessness and debauchery will be among the conditions that will mark the imperative necessity for Christ to come in person to meet the terrible situation.