Marrying Outside the Organization

cameo-d

The leader of the Oshkosh Salvation Army is packing up and preparing to leave the community he served.

Captain Johnny Harsh is suspended and will most likely be terminated from his position. It's because he's planning to marry someone outside the organization.

Back in June, his wife died unexpectedly. Now he's engaged to a woman who isn't affiliated with the Salvation Army, and that is against Salvation Army rules.

By talking to the media, Captain Harsh knows he could lose his current suspension pay but he's taking a stand, saying the rules need changing.

"The archaic rules of the Salvation Army are man-made, not God-made. They have no Scriptural foundation for marrying outside the Salvation Army," he said.

"Somebody has to step up and tell the Army they're not doing what they should do, that none of this is right," Harsh's daughter Yoley said.

But not everyone sees it this way, like Ada Postl, a Salvation Army "soldier" in Oshkosh.

"He should have looked within the Salvation Army," she said.

While he disagrees with the Salvation Army's policy regarding marriage, he still supports its mission.

http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=9461384

Are they taking lessons from the WT GB in how to be assinine and segregationist? I never realized SA was high control, too. Did you?

aniron

You will probably find that most denominations have in some form or another similar rules.

My mother was Salvation Army , but she married an Anglican church member. That was back in the 1930's.

I've known Catholics looked down on because they married a Protestant.

I have known JWs marry non-JWs, and have been treated ok.

The thing of course is that this Salvation Army guy was an officer in the SA organisation.

Therefore he would be expected to set the example and follow the rules.

I wouldn't have been surprised if he had been an ordinary member of the SA no one would have said a word.

Cheetos

Personaly I think you gget a more well balanced person outside the cult.

When one receives payment for his or her services to an organization, it is reasonable to expect that he or she marry from with in that organization, or that the spouse become a member of the organization. Otherwise, it is nobody's business. I would want the wife of the pastor of the church I attend to have similar beliefs.

jgnat

The rule is archaic and should be removed. I personally know another example where a Seventh Day Adventist lost his position as pastor because his wife had an affair and divorced him. He lost his family and his career in one fell swoop. How, in any way, did he lose his capacity as a leader?

If a religious leader could only marry within the religion, then Moses is in trouble. Somebody should tell him. Oh, yes. Someone did, and she turned leprous white. Perhaps that was God's way of saying, "Stay out of other people's domestic affairs."

sass_my_frass