If you were to ask most Baptists how many unpardonable sins there were, they would say one. The Blasphemy of The Holy Spirit. But in reality for most Baptists there are two. The second being divorced. If someone feels called to be a pastor or any paid position in the Baptist hierarchy and they've been divorced, regardless of the circumstances they are eliminated from consideration because of their interpretation of such verses as I Timothy 3:2 which states that a bishop should be the 'husband of one wife'. Never mind that the Greek means 'one woman man.' Example, Bill Clinton has only been married once but even the most devout Democrat wouldn't call him a one woman man. Yet, he'd have a better chance of being called as the pastor of a Baptist church then a man who was faithful to his wife but for non biblical reasons, decided to divorce him.
I went through a situation like this. I surrendered to preach the gospel in 2003 at a conference in Hammond, Indiana. The following year I enrolled at Hyles-Anderson College, the bible college run by the church that put on this conference. I left because I felt I wasn't learning any bible. I ended up marrying a graduate of said college in 2006. Less then a year later she filed for divorce. I tried everything I could think of to reconcile with her but nothing worked. Since then I have been greatly frustrated. I still feel called to preach but the Baptist churches I go to prohibit divorced men from pastoring. It had depressed me so much that I've attended Presbyterian and Full Gospel churches where I felt more accepted but whose theology I had trouble with. It seems like I can either stay in a Baptist church where I feel at home, but where I feel like I'll have a scarlet 'D' on my chest for the rest of my life, or I can try another church where I'm accepted but where I don't feel comfortable, either with their worship or their theology.
I am sure there are others out there who have been through simlar circumstances. If you have feel free to post them in the comments.
