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I don’t think we should be critical of sincere expressions of worship. There is a tendency among Catholics to move toward more and more rigid formularies in their religion—adopting a whole new language for instance—and it is my considered opinion that in trying to be perfect to some kind of letter, they are building barriers to the spirit of the law and distancing themselves from the blessed simplicity of a living relationship with Jesus.

People at my church worship in a way that is very much like dancing if it is not dancing itself. It is so beautiful to see. No one who sees it can doubt its purity and sincerity. I wish I could do the same with the same kind of grace. Years of rigidly following rules has made that difficult.

Do me a favor if you answer this reply: don’t nitpick but deal with the basic issue.

"Do me a favor if you answer this reply: don’t nitpick but deal with the basic issue."

Well, firebrand, I think we should each decide for ourselves what to post here and how to post it (within the Robinson guidelines of course), not dictate to other posters here what or how they should or should not post. With a friendly smile, I gently urge you to take care of your own posts, and I'll try to take care of mine. :-) That said, I really don't think I ever "nitpick". I just see a point I want to reply to, and do my best (with all my limitations) to address that point, sometimes using simple illustrations to try to get my own point across.

I probably shouldn't assume here, but I am going to assume anyway that you would draw the line SOMEWHERE (as to what kind of dancing you would approve of for a Christian worship service). (For example, if you do a Google search on "stripping for Christ", you will see a bunch of web sites about that type of activity, which was featured in some other news story I once saw somewhere else. I would certainly not open those links that come up on Google, nor would I recommend that anyone else open them either, but I am just pointing out that such things do exist.) I don't think you would find that kind of "worship dancing" appropriate, would you?

Now, at a church I formerly attended, we once had a misguided priest who had a large group of attractive and young but very physically mature women doing some kind of dance in the front of the Church during Mass, wearing less than fully modest clothing. To many of the men in the congregation that day, it was more of a temptation to "lust in the heart" than an innocuous form of "dancing praise". To my mind, that kind of dancing was completely inappropriate for any kind of Christian worship service.

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"There is a tendency among Catholics to move toward more and more rigid formularies in their religion—adopting a whole new language for instance—and it is my considered opinion that in trying to be perfect to some kind of letter, they are building barriers to the spirit of the law and distancing themselves from the blessed simplicity of a living relationship with Jesus."

The "whole new language" is simply an effort to bring the United States up to speed with the language used by the rest of the Catholic world (based on more accurate translations of the Latin prayers of consecration). If you were getting an inheritance from a Lithuanian uncle written in Lithuanian, you would want the interpreter to be accurate, and give you the equivalent of $50,000 as stated in the will, rather than have their interpretation be nebulous and inaccurate, and give you "about 50 bucks", wouldn't you? I think the new, more accurate translation of the prayers of consecration are also more solemn and beautiful, and I welcome them.

I also see following God's rules not as some kind of bothersome restriction of my freedom, but rather as the only genuine kind of freedom there really is. Look at it this way -- if an auto manufacturer tells you to only fill up the gas tank with gas, and you decide that you prefer the smell of maple syrup to gas, or you think it will be cleaner if you fill the tank with water, or something like that, you will be free to do that, but you will not be free to get anywhere. You will be sitting there with your nice-smelling maple syrup, or clean water, but you will not be free to go anywhere - your car won't run very well or for very long, following such short-sighted rule-breaking.

God knows far better than you or I do what is best for us, and ALL his rules reflect that. And Jesus solemnly promised to build his Church, and he kept that solemn promise. He also had a long-term future purpose for building that Church, and his purpose is being served by his Church, whether you agree with it or not. A toddler may want to run out and play in the street, and might think it is more fun, but mom and dad know better. If they make a rule for the toddler to not play in the street, it will be much better for that toddler to obey that restriction in the long run. Likewise, God knows what is best for us, whether we believe that or not, and God solemnly promised to be with his Church always. God does not lie.