Should They Hold an Office ?

[ColporteurK]

I was going to post this on a subject that pastor presented but did not want to divert from his specific question.

Should people that marry out of the church hold an office either officially or acting?

The reason I ask is because in our church we have two  young lifelong SDA members that have married out of the church and they hold offices. When I say young, they are in their thirties.

The wife of both wear nice big diamond rings, earrings, painted toenails and fingernails and one wears punky hair and a lot of make up. Her young daughter also wears earrings.

My concern is that if an SDA has not the good judgement to marry a church member  does he have the good judgment to faithfully carry out in an office especially one that where he/she leads out from behind the pulpit or in a teaching capacity ?

One of these young men was superintendent this morning. His wife helped him by reading the mission story. She wears earrings and about a 3 carrot diamond wedding ring. She did fine reading the story. Then her husband reads a couple of stories. His first story was ok but the second one was as he said, " a little humorous.
Just to give you the shortened version so you know what I am talking about, " A man was fighting in court for physical damages as a result of a car wreck. The defending attorney kept cutting off the plaintiff by saying " you said at the scene of the accident that you were in perfect condition." The plaintiff would try to tell his story and again and again the defending attorney would cut him off and say, " you said at the scene you were perfectly ok."
Finally the judge said, "I want to hear his story." The plaintiff said that as he was driving down the road pulling his horse trailer the other man ran a stop sign and plowed into his trailer and tipping the whole rig over. The police arrived and the donkey in the trailer was in such bad shape the officer shot him between the eyes. Then he came over to me and said, "and how are you feeling?"

There was no spiritual point it was simply a joke. Of course many laughed big time including the elders.
The same person that married out of the church and has his wife up front reading, thought a secular joke was fitting to give while standing behind the pulpit for Sabbath school.

The other man I spoke of does the same thing. Sometimes what they read is good but more often than not it is of the same caliber with children's jokes about Santa Claus or some worldly story that plants seeds of error like stories about football games or movies where the implication is that everyone goes to them.
The head superintendent is the father of the boy that led out today.

How would you handle this ?  Also consider that you are the only one that ever brings things like this up so you are viewed as the one that is the up tight , stick in the mud.

[newbie]

the external is sometimes a reflection of what is going on internally...

but sometimes it is difficult to tell... there may be some that externally LOOK really good but inside they are as wolves...

what are the tests of character?

[ColporteurK]

 Could we say that a good look is not proof that everything is ok but a worldly look is evidence of confusion ?

[newbie]

 Could we say that a good look is not proof that everything is ok but a worldly look is evidence of confusion ?

very true...

but there are even more subtle tests of character that will reveal whether or not you would want this person holding a prominent position

[ColporteurK]

Perhaps this does not exactly fit here as this post is not about holding an official office but I suppose it is as good a place as any.

The  latest Mid America Outlook magazine in the section on perspectives is an article by a frequent contributor and blogger for the Outlook since 2009.
.
"Ed Dickerson is a lay pastor, church planter, writer and speaker. He enjoys photography, golf, music, watching football, and exegetical Bible Study. His passion is to do everything in his power to see that if the Lord tarries, there will be an Adventist church that his children and grandchildren want to belong to."

The tone of this snap shot takes on a troubling note. What does it say about the contributor ? What does it say about the editors of the Outlook ?

[ColporteurK]

The Problem of Many Athletic Sports.--Vigorous exercise the pupils must have. Few evils are more to be dreaded than indolence and aimlessness. Yet the tendency of most athletic sports is a subject of anxious thought to those who have at heart the well-being of the youth. Teachers are troubled as they consider the influence of these sports both on the student's progress in school and on his success in afterlife. The games that occupy so much of his time are diverting the mind from study. They are not helping to prepare the youth for practical, earnest work in life. Their influence does not tend toward refinement, generosity, or real manliness.   
     Some of the most popular amusements, such as football and boxing, have become schools of brutality. They are developing the same characteristics as did the games of ancient Rome. The love of domination, the pride in mere brute force, the reckless disregard of life, are exerting upon the youth a power to demoralize that is appalling.   
    Other athletic games, though not so brutalizing, are scarcely less objectionable because of the excess to which they are carried. They stimulate the love of pleasure and excitement, thus fostering a distaste for useful labor, a disposition to shun practical duties and responsibilities. They tend to destroy a relish for life's sober realities and its tranquil enjoyments. Thus the door is opened to dissipation and lawlessness with their terrible results.  {AH 500. 1-4}

A doctor ( not Simpson's) is claiming that OJ Simpson is suffering from an ailment as a result of multiple head injuries/concussions from football. This is why he seems to have lost his moral compass. This may or may  not be true but the fact remains that pro football even with the pads and helmets is brutal and causes lifelong injuries. It is the epitome of the glorification of man. Carnal to the bone... the bones that break.

[ColporteurK]

   
     Whatever is done under the sanctified stimulus of Christian obligation, because you are stewards in trust of talents to use to be a blessing to yourself and to others, gives you substantial satisfaction; for all is done to the glory of God. I cannot find an instance in the life of Christ where He devoted time to play and amusement. He was the great Educator for the present and the future life. I have not been able to find one instance where He educated His disciples to engage in amusement of football or pugilistic games, to obtain physical exercise, or in theatrical performances; and yet Christ was our pattern in all things. Christ, the world's Redeemer, gave to every man his work and bids them "occupy till I come."  FE 229

 God designs that the body shall be a temple for His Spirit. How solemn then is the responsibility resting on every soul. . . . How many there are, blessed with reason and intelligence, talents which should be used to the glory of God, who willfully degrade soul and body. Their lives are a continual round of excitement. Cricket and football matches and horse racing absorb the attention. The liquor curse, with its world of woe, is defiling the temple of God. . . . By the use of liquor and tobacco men are debasing the life given them for high and holy purposes. Their practices are represented by wood, hay, and stubble. Their God-given powers are perverted, their senses degraded, to minister to the desires of the carnal mind.   
     The drunkard sells himself for a cup of poison. Satan takes control of his reason, his affections, his conscience. Such a man is destroying the temple of God. Tea drinking helps to do this work. Yet how many there are who place destroying agencies on their tables. {Te 142 }

[SDA4Life]

I don't think it is a good idea for them to hold office. Especially not the office of Elder or Deacon. The only exception is if the person was married before becoming SDA and their spouse didn't become SDA. I see that as a different situation than if someone has been raised SDA and marries someone who is not SDA. Church policy actually does not allow an SDA pastor to perform a marriage ceremony between and SDA and non-SDA.