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Prom

Unknown
edited December 1969 in Youth Corner
Hey everyone,

It's the time now for schools to start preparing for junior and senior proms do you think that as a christian it is ok to go?

Pray for me

Comments

  • Mansour89
    The Worst Sinner,
    The best person to give you advice on this matter would probably be your FoC. But I also wanted you to read this excerpt from Fr. Athanasius Iskander's book titled "Practical Spirituality" (pages 62-63):


    DRINKING:
    Alcohol is a very potent stimulus of the passions of the flesh.
    Resistance to sexual sins dissipates when one allows himself to drink
    even moderately. The great Shakespear realized this and wrote in one
    of his plays describing the effect of wine on sexual behaviour, “It creates
    the desire but takes away the performance!” Through the many years
    I have served as a priest, I have heard many horror stories about
    drinking and fornication, but this one stands in my mind. It concerns a
    16 years old girl of German descent, who was very religious. She used
    to come and baby sit my children when they were little. We were very
    pleased with her, since she read the Bible to our children, a rare find
    even in the seventies. One day her mother told her, “You don’t have a
    life! Why don’t you attend the neighbourhood New Year’s party?” She
    agreed. Someone gave her this funny tasting orange juice and she drank
    it. Not only did she lose her virginity on New Year’s Eve, but she
    realized later that she became pregnant. The perpetrator was a married
    man with kids. The mother refused to allow her an abortion. She was
    a retired nurse, she went back to work to allow her daughter to keep the
    baby. Six month later, she died of a heart attack.
    DANCING: 
    Dances are the most common way for “relationships” to start. Again,
    it suffices here to tell one of the many horror stories that sticks up in my
    memory. It was the eighties, and I had to go to the U.S.A. to serve
    instead of another priest on vacation. After communion, I was
    approached by a 13 years old girl who wanted to confess. I took her to
    the office of the priest I was covering for, and she went on crying and
    sobbing. I tried to calm her down, asking about the reason for her tears.
    Finally she started talking, “I had sexual intercourse”. It turned out she
    went to a dance (her parents were “enlightened”), danced with a 15-
    year old boy, and before the night was over she had lost her virginity.
    “Did he rape you?” I asked, “No Abouna, I wanted it as much as he
    did. With the music and the lights and our bodies close to each other,
    I had no desire to resist.”  That was her answer.

    (http://www.stmaryscopticorthodox.ca/content/books/spirituality.pdf)

    Are these cases extreme? Maybe so. Does this stuff actually happen? Absolutely. Don't think it doesn't. I *personally* never went to my prom, and I don't feel like I missed out on much. But that's between you, your FoC and your parents.

    Pray for me,
    Mansour89
  • Abounasarecool
    H.G. Bishop youssef's answer =] here are some questions asked him and he replied =]
    Question:: I would really like to go to prom because this is the last big event I can share with my friends before we all go off to  college. I would simply go with a group of my good friends. I don't know about other schools, but our school is very supervised and bad behavior is not tolerated. Also, my friends are such a great influence in my life. They all are devout to their churches. They do not drink, curse and so on... Also, my parents have met ALL of the friends that I would go with. Am I wrong for wanting to go?

    Answer:: St. Ephriam El-Surian stated, "The soul is the temple of God, the heart is the holy altar upon which sacrifices of praise are offered and the mind is the priest who has the honor to serve this office."

    We all must no matter the age, try hard to live a careful life. We must follow the instructions of the Holy Bible and "Keep our hearts with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:2).

    We are also told, "Blessed are the pure in heart" for they shall see God. It is seeing God, which we must strive for. What takes place at a prom for a number of hours? I have been told, nothing except dancing in all the different and varied types. Do you think this is the Christian environment one is striving for during the Holy Great Fast? Will  you be contemplating upon the Holy Resurrection while watching or participating in dance?

    The dresses worn and dances danced at those proms could be particularly provocative in nature. Often those who have attended those proms against the advice of their confessor fathers and parents, have returned home very disappointed with the events that had taken place at the Prom. While we are often faced with situations not of the nature we desire in daily life, we should not purposefully place ourselves in similar situations.

    Abba Daniel once said, "We cannot prevent the birds from soaring around us, but surely we can prevent them from perching and building their nests on top of us."

    I am pleased to know of your friends' good qualities and the company in which you keep.


    Question Q&A Home > P > Prom

    Why is going to the prom wrong?

    Answer::
    The prom is an occasion for youth to date and to dress up in an unbecoming, unchristian manner trying to get the attention of the opposite sex. Some go to the prom to spend time dancing and drinking while others have other agenda. Many youth commit several sins on that night. I don't think that it is a healthy environment someone should be at even if they do not intend to dance.

    Christianity is based on free will and choices, let us make the right choices as St. Paul says, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify" (1 Cor 10:23). Therefore "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col 3:2) and "Let all things be done for edification" (1 Cor 14:26).


    my reference:http://www.suscopts.org/q&a/index.php?catid=305

    Thanks God bless u
  • ebnyasoo3ebnyasoo3
    In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

    Two years ago I wanted to go to prom

    I bought the tickets and I agreed with one of my classmates to go with me

    after I did all that, I told my Father of Confession so he would give me the ok

    he told me not to go because I will be tempted. But because of my foolishness and my ignorance I did not listen to him and I went.

    It is not the place that us as the temple of God should go to.

    I would tell you not to repeat the mistake that I have done.

    God my help you decide

    Pray for my weakness
  • user00
    First, St. Paul says all things are lawful for us, but not all things are helpful. Prom is not helpful.

    Second, Prom is so overrated.

    I wouldn't go.
  • HailemikaelHailemikael
    I went to prom in my Senior year. I went but i didn't want to dance. Everyone was dancing and even one of my friend was telling me to dance with her. God made it so I wouldn't dance.  If I remember correctly, it was just my and my friend (who was an athiest btw--while his whole family is Catholic) who were sitting down and watching the others dancing.

    You could just go and observe and get what a prom is like.

  • manokamanoka
    I had the same problem cause i am a senoir and prom is this year. Everyone of my freinds are telling me to go and be with them but i thought about for a sec. i will not dance and i will stay by myself the whole time. so thier is no point of wasting money and time( + getting tempted). And you will have all the other grad. fun with ur friends. Prom is not the only thing!!!
  • SilentOneSilentOne
    I asked my father of confession about this recently, because I was invited to go to senior prom with one of my best friends (I graduated last year), yet I knew in my heart as a deacon, let alone a Christian, I probably should not go. He replied and said, and I'm paraphrasing: "I will not tell you whether to go or not to go, that is not my right. I will tell you to ask yourself this, 'the place where I am going, will I experience God there, or will I be far away from Him?' " I decided that I will not be going to the prom this year. My Father of Confession had the same opinion as I did, that going there wouldn't be really beneficial to my spiritual life at all. Of course, some may argue that going there won't really be a detriment to my spiritual life, but I disagree completely. I know for a fact that at the prom, there will be some girls wearing rather...revealing dresses, or some just wearing normal nice dresses, that would cause me to lust and sin, just by looking. I know I wouldn't even talk to them or do anything else, but just that one sin in my thoughts is enough to keep me from going.

    As I also mentioned, I graduated last year, and I just thought I'd say that I did indeed go to my own senior prom, junior prom, and sophomore cotillion. In all three, I went and enjoyed my time with my friends. We sat around a lot, ate and talked for a while. We didn't really dance much until those popular songs (cha-cha, macarena? etc) came on, but then we'd leave or just go to the corner of the floor and chat around. I look back at this and say, yeah at the time I did enjoy it, I did have fun, and for the most part, I didn't weaken my spiritual life. But now, I'd rather just go to church on a Friday night instead of go to prom. The choice is up to you, no one here can make that decision. You can go, but beware of the temptations and stick with people you know wont take you down that path, or stay home or go to church instead, and benefit from that.
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