Oceans of Beer

“Thus a man who slept with twenty women before his conversion, but was enough of a jerk not to marry any of them, is thought to be qualified for eldership after his conversion, but a man who married one woman and was divorced from her before his conversion is thought to be automatically disqualified. This version of the ‘one-woman man’ may have had any number of mistresses in his past, but no wife. Ironically, this ‘strict’ approach can wind up approving men who have a glaring character deficiency with regard to women, and excluding a man who clearly does not. It is as though the elders insisted that a new pastor not be given to much wine, but oceans of beer are okay” (Mother Kirk, p. 189).