Once when I moved into a new ward, I had occasion to get to know a younger couple. The wife was a sweet person and the husband, whom I will call “Ned,” was one of those rare truly humble, caring and kind souls. You felt like if you were hurting or if you had done something you felt bad about, Ned would understand and would reassure you. I thought he would make an outstanding bishop some day and told him so.

Later Ned told me that DW actually was his second wife. It seems that when Ned had been a teenager, he and his girlfriend had followed their hormones instead of the strict church rules, and the girl got pregnant. Ned had felt that the only honorable thing to do was to marry her, so he did. They were completely unsuited for one another and divorced some years later. Later Ned had met and married his current wife.

Time went by, and Ned was seeking a change of vocation. He told me he was thinking of applying to be a CES teacher. “Oh, you would be a wonderful teacher!” I exclaimed enthusiastically. His manner, patience, and character would make him an ideal candidate to inspire the YM and YW of the church.

However, in a different conversation with someone else a while later, I found out that divorced men are not allowed to become CES teachers. “WHAT?!” With a sharp pang of disappointment, I realized that this meant that Ned would be ineligible, because he was divorced. NONE OF HIS WONDERFUL QUALITIES COUNTED FOR ANYTHING to the Morg; all that mattered was that Ned was a divorced man and therefore was not perfect enough for the squeaky-clean church image.

What a shame! Who were the losers in this case? --the students Ned would have had. They would have loved him!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/2011 12:02PM by WiserWomanNow.

TSCC sometimes makes it extra easy for people to see that Jesus comes a very distant 2nd to the supposed wisdom and unforgiving nature of men

This may not hold true for some positions or callings. I know a man who was embroiled in an adultery scandal (region wide), who in fact moved in, married and served a couple's mission with the, uh, home wrecker. I also know another man who got this girl pregnant, refused to marry the girl, disowned the child, but he still got to teach institute in his ward, following a repentance process (cough! cough!) where they "forgave" him.
They both came from wealthy families. Do you think that had anything to do with their 'good' fortunes?

In this case, WiserWomanNow is talking about professional jobs with Church Educational System, so yes, it's a bit different.

CES is extremely hypocritical. They are payed religious representatives...you know, that thing the church isn't supposed to have.

*snort*

Hadn't heard that one before...I find it accurate to my experiences.

actually ppl like Ned are horrible bishops because they are great bishops, because they keep ppl in the church longer when the ppl might have got ticked off enough to leave much sooner. If I had a jerk for bishop when I was a teen and quit seminary, given what was happening I might have quit LDS inc altogether, but I had a really good bishop, who even told my parents to get off my back. DAMN that good Bishop!

That's because the LDS church doesn't really believe in repentance.

See also: licked cupcake lesson, nail in board lesson (where even after you remove the nail, there's still a hole), etc.