Question regarding church discipline
 

There was a post on cougaboard about qualifications for a bishop and one of the qualifications was to have not been disciplined. Does the church keep on your record whether you have been disciplined or not? And if they do does that mean that you cannot receive forgiveness from the church?

I know that certain things are noted in ones membership records despite forgiveness. A sexual offense with a minor, for example. I'm not sure about official disfellowship or excommunication, but I believe that answer is yes, it is noted in ones records. (others will know more).

My understanding is that once blessings are restored, official records do not indicate anything about past discipline. I have been told that Salt Lake may keep records of disciplinary action that nobody on the local level would see but I have no idea whether or not that's true. Such a policy would make some sense to me, especially concerning certain actions such as the instance Waters mentioned.

The official record of church discipline is always stored in Salt Lake. For example, a stake president can request a list of all members formerly excommunicated in his stake. I'm pretty sure that is wrong about a bishop qualification, though.

I think records are marked, and a bishop has to call in to get the information.

There is nothing in the local record that says "cheated on wife" or gives any explanation.

So if a person with an asterix is called for some position, it goes through a complicated approval (or disapproval) process. This is my peanut-gallery take on it.

This is correct, to avoid accidental invasion of privacy on the part of the person in question.

I'm not aware of any official (ie, "handbook") stipulation on former church discipline for bishops. But as I've said before, in my youth I had a bishop who years earlier (early on in his marriage, if you can believe it) was unfaithful. He was disciplined (not sure how severely), repented, and was re-instated.

One of the questions commonly asked of people called to visible positions is, "Is there anything in your past that, were it brought to light, could hurt the church?" I think that is the key more than anything. These are very subjective decisions.

I'm aware of another case like this.

Is there anything in my past that might show that I'm a sinner, that Jesus loves sinners and has redeemed me? Wouldn't want that to hurt the church.

Hmmm, did someone not have their coffee this morning?

I could use a Diet Coke.