Before I get started I need to point out a few Acronyms: SSM = Same Sex Marriage, SSA = Same Sex Attracted, LGBT = The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual community.

In 2012, Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson published a book titled, God Believes in Love. Bishop Robinson has been a same-sex marriage (SSM) advocate for many years and has been an advocate for homosexual behavior for many more. Bishop Robinson has made the news and jeopardized the beliefs of many Episcopalians and many Christians on several occasions over the years. His decisions have caused a lot of scandal but that didn’t keep him from being elected a bishop of the Episcopal Church while he was living an openly homosexual lifestyle. His election as a bishop caused a lot of people to leave the Episcopal Church, his “marriage” to his partner caused even more scandal and then he published a book that would make any knowledgeable Christian wonder just how a person could rise to the leadership level of any Christian organization and know so little about scripture and theology. Actually, I think Bishop Robinson knows a lot about scripture and theology, but he has chosen to ignore what he knows so he can live as he wishes.

One of the primary themes in Bishop Robinson’s book is that SSM and homosexual behavior is consistent with Christ’s teachings because God wants, “…faithful, monogamous, lifelong-intentioned relationships”. Throughout the book, he latched on to the common relativistic fallacy that paints traditional marriage in a bad light and then props SSM up as harmless or even beneficial for marriage and family.

Well, we now see that the very author of a book that used his own relationship as a shining example of how and why SSM is not only Christian, but recommended, has gotten a divorce. It looks like time for more scandal.

It is not my intent to contribute to any additional suffering. My hope is that I can help people consider the issues surrounding homosexuality a little more deeply without causing Christianity, the Episcopal Church or Bishop Robinson any further heartache. The self-inflicted wounds of progressive Christians are adequate without a bunch of people shouting, “I told you so”.

I don’t know Bishop Robinson. I’ve never heard him speak, I’ve never followed his work and I have never met him. I only know of him because of his recent book. All I can say about him is that he must be a tremendously likeable individual. I say this because there is no way that a SAA religious figure could rise to the level to which he has risen while being abrasive, opinionated, confrontational, etc… In fact, I doubt that he could have achieved what he has achieved by simply being a pleasant and enjoyable person. There must be something uniquely welcoming and approachable about him.

I mention this to help explain how a person could live and preach a lifestyle that is clearly contrary to Christ and clearly out of line with the bible on which his faith is based. I believe that it was his personality that caused a lot of people to look the other way when he divorced his wife and left his two young children, announced his homosexual relationship, was elected the first openly homosexual bishop of the Episcopal Church and subsequently married his partner. These same people will probably get whiplash when they turn their heads to avoid thinking about his divorce.

Bishop Robinson’s book is written for a few select groups of people. One group is those who want to find a way to justify their decisions or the decisions of someone they love, and retain their Christian identity. Their goal is doomed, but many have fooled themselves into living the illusion. Another group is people who have no clue as to what Christ teaches us in the Gospel or to what authentic Christianity and discipleship truly is. There are probably other target groups, but the most likely targets are these two because one group wants to be led astray and the other is easy to lead astray.

I’ll go through some of the multitude of weaknesses in the arguments in Bishop Robinson’s book tomorrow as this blog is really long and is probably better broken into three shorter blogs…