Divorced Ministers

[EdSutton]

Let's not mix the apples in with the oranges. It is one thing to say all sin in a believer's life is covered by the blood of his Savior and another to say whether or not they are BIBLICALLY qualified to serve as an elder in the local church.
We would all agree that a divorced man who repents and comes to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can have his sins covered by the blood. What we cannot say unequivocally is that a divorced man is above reproach, manages his household well, is a one-woman man, and well thought of by outsiders (1 Tim. 3:2-7).

Best observation in this thread, yet.

Ed

 

[EdSutton]

To all I commend you to God... This is my last post on this subject for a while in this thread... May God's will be done.

May I suggest that one can 'minister', even if divorced, according to any Scripture I can find, for I see that all are called to minister.

It is only when we confute and confuse the spiritual gifts into and with the Biblical offices, that this 'impasse' occurs. But our own (Baptist) 'tradition' of rolling the office of elder/bishop into the spiritual gift of pastor and teacher has muddled these waters. I pray for you, Apreacher4him. But I also think that deciding that one is now unqualified to 'serve' is limiting greatly. the Biblical concept of 'serve' into an unsupported idea from culture. God bless, and I'm outta this thread, all.

A quote from the late Dr. S. Lewis Johnson I once heard him make, rings true with me.

"Tradition, apart from the Word of God is error grown old!"

He repeated this with: "Tradition apart from the Word of God is error grown cold!"

I agree.

Ed

 

[Hope of Glory]

Hope of Glory, you illustration brings back a concern I have already shared. Individuals hold to a certain doctrine but then something happens close to home, i.e., friend, family or even themselves, and then through their experiance they alter their doctrine.

You reminded me of something else that I meant to add: People also need to make sure that they are changing their doctrines because they misunderstood something and not simply for the sake of convenience.

 

[mnw]

Hope, I can agree with you on that. We should never hesitate to change if we are convinced from Scripture that our position is wrong. But as you stated, change for convinience is wrong.

 

[mcdirector]

You reminded me of something else that I meant to add: People also need to make sure that they are changing their doctrines because they misunderstood something and not simply for the sake of convenience.

Well, a big AMEN to that :thumbs: