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Is Grinding a sin?

Apr 15, 2018

Is the form of dancing,grinding a sin? I just don’t get a lot of direct answers for dating and relationships, circumstances vary but acts are either a sin or they aren’t. So is it?

Asked at 09:02 pm on April 15th 2018

Hi Zachary, it’s probably better to approach the question of grinding in dancing by reminding ourselves of Jesus; comment on sexual sins where he;s said that anyone looking at a woman lustfully commits adultery with her in his heart (see Mt 5: 27-28). And St John Paul II, commenting on this explains that the ‘heart’ of a person is themselves as God sees and loves them, that is, God loves us completely for our own sake, not for anything he can get out of us.

So that’s the standard Jesus sets out for us: not even to look at a person of the opposite sex for our own pleasure, since then we;re using them, not loving them for their own sake. If the kind of dancing you;re speaking about involves some kind of sexual stimulation, then it seems it;d be very difficult for either dancer to avoid falling into what Jesus calls adultery of the heart. He’s not asking us to repress our love for the opposite sex, but to upgrade it to the kind of love that lasts forever, the most romantic love there is, where each person loves the other just for themselves. Very best, Fr Brendan

Replied at 04:31 pm on April 23rd 2018

Honestly Father, I appreciate your response but that’s a presumptive answer.I can’t have pleasure looking at a girlfriend?? And I couldn’t imagine a marriage where two people that love each other for themselves don’t receive pleasure looking at their beloved spouse. It’s a part of love.

Replied at 08:20 pm on May 08th 2018