[Iowegian]

"I've had lots of people who said: 'I couldn't listen to you because you couldn't understand. Now you understand,'" Stanley told the "Charlotte (N.C.) Observer." "When I talked about pain before, I didn't know what I was talking about."

Boy, what a cop-out. Why then, don't we encourage the clergy to have affairs and divorce so that they can better relate to the issues of the masses? Total Barbara Streisand.

[DittoJed2]

Dr. Stanley didn't have an affair. That wasn't his wife's beef. I think he was too devoted to the ministry and there were other emotional problems involved.

[DittoJed2]

Also, I don't think it is a cop out. I heard a very prominent figure in Southern Baptist ranks once say that divorced people are no longer eligible to do pastoral counseling. I think it depends on the person. In one sense they may be more qualified if they have learned from their mistakes and can counsel others not to follow in their steps. Unfortunately, divorce is one of those issues that Christians like to club their wounded with. Sometimes, a person is divorced against their will. Yet, we castigate them just as if they are the guilty party. Dr. Stanley did not have an affair. I think their separation was like 5 years or something like that. He went through counseling I think and tried to work it out, but she still wanted to leave. This should not disqualify him from pastoring. He shouldn't have promised to step down and then go back on his word, but I'm glad he is in the pulpit.

[Jean Chauvin]

"I've had lots of people who said: 'I couldn't listen to you because you couldn't understand. Now you understand,'" Stanley told the "Charlotte (N.C.) Observer." "When I talked about pain before, I didn't know what I was talking about."

Regardless of the correctness or the incorrectness of Stanleys desire to stay on, the above quote is very very true.

I personally know a pastor who had resigned his ordination due to personal anguish reasons related to the actualities of preforming his job. He left for 5 years and came back a far better pastor. The above quote could have come from his very lips!

Jean