I am a Christian and I like clubbing. This sounds like an oxymoron to some but yes, I enjoy clubbing. 

I was someone who never thought that she would ever step foot into a nightclub, much less actually enjoy it. 

What’s the big deal about clubbing? That thought was what made me to decide to join my hall friends at the club, during recess week of my first semester at university. 

Please don’t stop the music…

What I discovered that night, is that there’s no experience like clubbing. It’s a very powerful bonding experience. 

In one night, you can experience drinking and getting “high” from alcohol with your friends, dancing on the dance floor to music and lights, and the post-clubbing part where we laugh about what happened inside the club. 

It’s a lot of fun. Clubs are meant to be fun. They attract youths and adults alike with the prospect of dancing, making memories with friends and living in the moment. 

Clubbing can also seem like an intrinsic part of the university or growing-up experience all around the world. Even schools and university clubs organise free or sponsored raves. 

So, if clubbing is so fundamental in our culture… is there anything wrong with it?

After all, nowhere in the Bible does it state explicitly that clubbing is wrong (this was what I told myself whenever I decided to club).

…okay, maybe pause the music

And yet, whenever I went clubbing, something in me would always feel off. 

I would be having the time of my life with my friends, raving, dancing to the music and busting out (bad) dance moves, but something within me would be questioning my actions and thoughts.

It felt like I was walking a tightrope between what was “right” and what was “wrong”.

Each time I returned to my room after a night of clubbing, there’d be a sense of emptiness. Even after the most fun night out, I’d still feel the void within me.

Why? Why do I feel empty after clubbing? 

I came to realise that it was because I was empty. God helped me to realise that I was using clubbing as a way to build my identity in the world and to fulfil my desires.

But the truth is that clubbing, or anything else apart from God, would never be able to fill the emptiness in me.

When I finally saw that, I started to see clubbing in a different light.

3 things to be aware of

1. Clubbing opens you up to intoxication

More often than not, a night of clubbing involves intoxication. Whenever I drank, I tried to toe the line between what I knew was “right” and “wrong”.

That was until God finally convicted me through something Pastor Timothy Keller had written about Ephesians 5:18: 

“Alcohol is a depressant – it deadens parts of the rational brain. The happiness you may feel when you are drunk comes because you are less aware of reality.

The Spirit, however, gives you joyful fearlessness by making you more aware of reality. It assures you that you are a child of the only One whose opinion and power matters. He loves you to the stars and will never let you go.”

I realised then that my “emptiness” came from feeling the absence of God’s presence in my life.

Drunkenness and the Holy Spirit are contradictory to each other. We should never be drunk on alcohol, we should be filled with the Holy Spirit.. 

If I wanted to remain in God and Him in me, I knew I had to let go of alcohol.

I realised then that my “emptiness” came from feeling the absence of God’s presence in my life.

Now, I’m not saying that drinking alcohol is bad. Alcohol consumption is not a sin.

The Bible describes wine as a blessing (Deuteronomy 7:13) and something to be enjoyed in celebration of God (Deuteronomy 14:26). Even Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding (John 2:1-10). 

However, losing one’s self-control to excessively indulge in alcohol would be sinful. Drunkenness leading to debauchery is also sin.

That’s the danger about alcohol, especially when consumed in exciting settings without trusted friends or sober judgment.

2. Clubbing opens you up to temptation

I had a culture shock when I first stepped into a club.

It’s a very common sight to see people making out in a club, and many people do go with the intention of having a fling or “having fun” that night. 

Even though I never did those things, seeing them happen so openly in front of me did make me question whether I should be doing a better job of guarding my purity.

It made me more keenly aware of how the opposite gender viewed me.  

I would be lying if I said there weren’t times of temptation when it would’ve been easy to gratify my desires. 

But in those times, I felt the Holy Spirit nudging my heart, urging me not to lust after the things of the world.

We have to put to death any opportunities for sexual immorality and lust if we want to walk in the life that Christ has for us.

So, if you find yourself struggling with lust, or if you view the opposite gender in ways that are not pleasing to God, know that being in a place of sensuality will put you at even greater risk of temptation.

So, flee – don’t even put yourself in a place where you may be tempted to sin (2 Timothy 2:22).

3. Clubbing may mar your testimony

My turning point came when my behaviour led others (pre-believers) to wonder if I was even a Christian. 

That sobering moment was when I realised that I was no longer salt and light to the pre-believers around me. 

I came to see that because I didn’t live a life that was holy and set apart from the lives of the pre-believers around me, they couldn’t take my testimony or words about the Gospel seriously.

This was a sorrowful realisation for me: by living a life on my own terms and in accordance with the world’s standards, I was no longer able to be a good reflection of Christ to my friends.

My pastor always says: “We are in the world, not of the world, influencing the world.”

We are Christians. We are of Christ and are to be “little Christs” to the world. This means that we are to live lives that follow after Christ! 

So… can Christians go clubbing?

“Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.” (1 Corinthians 10:23)

Ultimately, I don’t think this question is best answered with a “yes” or “no”. 

The question shouldn’t be “can I go clubbing?” Instead, we should ask “should I go clubbing?” or “why am I clubbing?” so we can get a better look at our motivations.

Clubbing isn’t inherently wrong, but it’s good to clarify your intentions about entering the club and what you hope to gain from doing so.

• Are you clubbing to run away from your problems?
• Or are you clubbing to satisfy your fleshly desires?
• Are you actually in the club for the opposite gender’s gaze?

Life isn’t always black and white, so we should ask clarifying questions to help us identify what benefits our relationship with God and proceed from there.