The Other Sins of Pastors

A lot of people like to talk about "double-married Preachers," and say all sorts of bad things about them. One thing a lot of Fundamentalists say is that a man can't be married more than once and stand in a pulpit as a Pastor and preach. But is this so, biblically? What about a guy whose wife has died, and he's remarried? Wouldn't he be able to Pastor? A lot of times, they don't think about that. They only want to preach against the sin of divorce. But what about all the other sins a Pastor can commit?

Funnymentalists oftentimes run to the following passage to tell us that it's anti-biblical for a man to be double-married and Pastor a church:

1 Tim 3:1 This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
1 Tim 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
1 Tim 3:3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
1 Tim 3:4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
1 Tim 3:5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
1 Tim 3:6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
1 Tim 3:7 Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

Modern Fundamentalists are quick to point out that according to verse two, a bishop or a pastor should only be the husband of one wife. They say that one means one, and that to be double-married disqualifies a man from the ministry and the call of God to be a Pastor. Well, I'm not going to tell you what I believe about that verse.

But I am going to ask this important question, "What about all the other things listed there???"

Why do Fundamentalists conviniently leave out those other things that are listed? If we look at them, and we follow their logic, then a man who is guilty of the following other things is DISQUALIFIED according to the scriptures:

1. A man who is not "blameless."

2. A man who is not vigilant.

3. A man who is not sober.

4. A man of bad behaviour.

5. A man who is not given to hospitality.

6. A man who is not apt to teach.

7. A man who is given to wine.

8. A man who hits or has hit someone else in anger.

9. A man who is greedy of ill-gotten gains.

10. A man who is impatient.

11. A man who is who is quick to beats up others.

12. A man who is covetous.

13. A man who doesn't rule his own house

14. A man who is a novice.

15. A man who is not prideful.

16. A man who is of good report.

Notice how many "qualifications" of a Pastor that there really are. Why don't Pastors just be consistent, for they want to go around and exclaim, "So and so can't be a Pastor because he's been divorced!" But they never go around and say, "So and so can't be a Pastor because he's INHOSPITABLE, or IMPATIENT or HE LET'S HIS WIFE WEAR THE PANTS IN THE FAMILY, or HE'S FULL OF PRIDE!"

Why don't we hear talk of those other "qualifications" listed in this passage as well? I think it's because there would be a whole lot less pastors in the world if we tried to hold them all to these standards!

I'm reminded of Jesus when he said, "Let him that hath no sin, cast the first stone!"

I'm not a "double-married" Preacher. I've only been married once. But I know and have known some men who are Pastors that have been married more than once. But instead of just throwing them out the door immediately, as some would do, I look again at the scripture.

Notice the scripture doesn't use the term "double-married." Instead it says, "Husband of one wife." And, as I've known some Pastors who have been married more than once, I've noticed something interesting. They only have one wife at home! There is not two or three women running around their house. They have only one wife. Some of them their wife died, and they remarried, and now they have only one wife. Others, their wife ran off and left them, and went to a wicked world system and divorced them. This left them divorced, WITHOUT A WIFE! That woman then remarried someone else, which left the Pastor scripturally able to remarry, which he did. If you went to their house today, you would find only ONE WIFE. Wouldn't that mean they were still qualified to Pastor???

Now, on to the other side of the coin, I've also met some Pastors that didn't qualify very well on those other points.

One thing I really hate is being invited to a meeting, and the Pastor putting my wife and I up in a hotel somewhere. What about the Pastor being HOSPITABLE? Shouldn't he put us up at his house, or maybe with someone in the church? Instead, he puts us up in a hotel somewhere, and we hardly ever get to fellowship. That just doesn't seem right. Can you imagine the Apostle Paul going to a church 2000 years ago, and the Pastor saying, "Okay, Paul, we appreciate your coming so far to us, but we don't want you in our home, so we're putting you up in the Imperial Roman Inn, and I hope you have a good time there. See you on Sunday!" Somehow I just don't see that happening!

We also see a Pastor should be "apt to teach." Where does that leave those Pastors who only preach on Sunday, but let someone else teach their Sunday School? Shouldn't the Pastor be the one teaching it? I mean, uh, you know, that's what the Bible says, right?

What about the "bad behaviour" qualification? I've met Pastors who don't behave nicely. They are mean to their wives, mean to their kids, and more. Further, their testimony with those that are without (lost people) leaves much to be desired, as they stiff waitresses at fancy restaurants, and snootily look down their noses at others with a "holier then thou" attitude. Does that sound like the way a "man of God" should act to you???

And then there are the "brawlers" and "those who are strikers." I can't tell you how many times I've heard a Pastor brag (and yes, even from the pulpit) about smacking around some guy in the congregation who he thinks should do better, or hitting someone he doesn't agree with, or slapping somebody in the face. How is that a good thing? And shouldn't that automatically disqualify them from the Pastorate?

Then there are those who are IMPATIENT! Boy, that pretty much hammers all of us, doesn't it? They say, "The one thing you should never pray for is Patience!"

Yep, there are quite a few Pastors who grow very impatient with how slowly their church is growing, and waiting on God to bring in the people and the money to build a bigger building, so they go to the SECULAR WORLD BANKS and get loans to build bigger facilities before they are even filled up. Oh, they are very pious about it, claiming, "We have faith to believe that God will fill the building after we construct it!" But they fail to realize they are disobeying the scriptures which say, "Owe a debt to no man!"

How many times has a Preacher taken a church and immediately started a building project, and then left the church suddenly, high and dry, with a massive debt to pay off? Too many times to count! Shouldn't that guy have been disqualified? Why weren't other preachers preaching against him? Sounds like he had a great "lack of faith," doesn't it?

And then we come to "covetous." Oh where do I begin with this one? I've met Pastors who covet quite frequently, wanting the best of everything. They want a car of the year, a nice house, the best suit, etc. Basically, they want it all, exclaiming, "I'm serving a great God, and I know he'd want me to have the best, because I represent Him!"

Shouldn't a guy like that be completely disqualified? Yet Fundamentalists buy into that mentality, and have to have the most expensive suits, cars, etc. Like one preacher said, "All a Pastor needs is a couple of three piece suits, several three point outlines, and about three old jokes and he's ready for the ministry!"

Obviously, there are much more "qualifications" of a Pastor than just being the Husband of one Wife. So why don't you hear about them? Hmmm. Could it be Pastors are guilty of some of them, and that's why they don't want them mentioned? Nooooooo! Oh, no, that couldn't be it, .... could it?

I was taught in Bible School that those points in 1 Tim. 3 are the "ideal qualifications" of the Pastor. For nobody is without sin. And that a Pastor should strive to be like those points listed. If you don't believe that, that's fine. But if you are going to go the other way, and dogmatically say, "Those are the qualifications of a Pastor, and a Pastor HAS TO MEET ALL THOSE POINTS or else he can't Pastor!" Then don't you have a big mess on your hands?

Don't just go after those "double-married" guys. You'd better go after those covetous, impatient, prideful, moneygrubbing, praise loving, inhospitable, Pastors out there interested only in beating people up instead of teaching others how to be meek and humble. I mean, what's good for the goose is good for the gander, right? ...Right? ... Is this thing on? Hello, ... Hello?

Well, I've gone to meddling, so I'd better quit. But think about it, okay? All sin is the same in God's eyes!