New Hampshire: [Gene] Robinson Admits being an Alcoholic

Letters from the Bishop and the Standing Committee of the Diocese of New Hampshire:

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I am writing to you from an alcohol treatment center where on February 1, with the encouragement and support of my partner, daughters and colleagues, I checked myself in to deal with my increasing dependence on alcohol.

Over the 28 days I will be here, I will be dealing with the disease of alcoholism-which, for years, I have thought of as a failure of will or discipline on my part, rather than a disease over which my particular body simply has no control, except to stop drinking altogether.

During my first week here, I have learned so much. The extraordinary experience of community here will inform my ministry for years to come. I eagerly look forward to continuing my recovery in your midst. Once again, God is proving His desire and ability to bring an Easter out of Good Friday. Please keep me in your prayers and know that you are in mine.

Dear Colleagues in Ministry, The Standing Committee of the Diocese of New Hampshire joins its bishop in writing to you about his decision to seek professional treatment for his dealings with alcohol.

The Episcopal Church, through its General Convention, has long recognized alcoholism as a treatable human disease, not a failure of character or will.

The members of the Standing Committee fully support and stand with our bishop and his family as he confronts the effects of alcohol on his life, and we commend him for his courageous example to us all, as we pray daily for him and for his ministry among us.

The Episcopal Church, through its General Convention, has long recognized alcoholism as a treatable human disease, not a failure of character or will.

Hey Gene, maybe when you get to step six, you can dwell just a little bit extra on "Defects of Character".

The rooms have plenty of homos in them, and if you try to skip some of the less comfortable steps, it doesn't work.

Owl_Eagle

"You know, I'm going to start thanking
the woman who cleans the restroom in
the building I work in. I'm going to start
thinking of her as a human being"

-Hillary Clinton

(Yes, she really said that

Peggy Noonan

The Case Against Hillary Clinton, pg 55)

You are very righ. Bishop Robinson has this problem, when you read this you'll see him:

2 Peter 2

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive opinions. They will even deny the Master who bough them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2Even so, many will follow their licentious ways, and because of these teachers* the way of truth will be maligned. 3And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation, pronounced against them long ago, has not been idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

4 For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell* and committed them to chains* of deepest darkness to be kept until the judgement; 5and if he did not spare the ancient world, even though he saved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood on a world of the ungodly; 6and if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction* and made them an example of what is coming to the ungodly;* 7and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the lawless 8(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by their lawless deeds that he saw and heard), 9then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgement 10—especially those who indulge their flesh in depraved lust, and who despise authority.

11Bold and wilful, they are not afraid to slander the glorious ones,* 11whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not bring against them a slanderous judgement from the Lord.* 12These people, however, are like irrational animals, mere creatures of instinct, born to be caught and killed. They slander what they do not understand, and when those creatures are destroyed,* they also will b destroyed, 13suffering* the penalty for doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, revelling in their dissipation* while they feast with you. 14They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 15They have left the straight road and have gone astray, following the road of Balaam son of Bosor,* who loved the wages of doing wrong, 16but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm; for them the deepest darkness has been reserved. 18For they speak bombastic nonsense, and with licentious desires of the flesh they entice people who have just* escaped from those who live in error. 19They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption; for people are slaves to whatever masters them. 20For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment that was passed on to them. 22It has happened to them according to the true proverb,‘The dog turns back to its own vomit’,and,‘The sow is washed only to wallow in the mud.’

One might hope. I suspect that alcohol abuse came about because of a deep feeling of emptiness in his life created by his lifestyle choices. I think he thought following his urges would create harmony in his life. He thought combining his urges and his belief in his calling to the ministry by "coming out" would fill the void.

I think he won't come to his senses until he recognizes that peace and joy come only from fully following the Lord's commandments and being in harmony with those commandments, not only in his sermons but in his personal life as well. Until then, no rehab program will do a thing and he will continue to look for things to fill that loss of God's approval.

I hope he does come to his senses but I believe it will take a lot more than learning to abstain from alcohol. The scripture about a dog returning to his vomit teaches us that any denial or emptiness in our lives must be filled with something wholesome or we almost involuntarily return to the "vomit".

How depressing. This man has a lot of demons in his life. I was 300% opposed to his being made a bishop. Not because he has sinful inclinations. If the absence of a desire to commit sin is a requirement then no one will ever be able to serve in the clergy. But rather because he has not accepted that his lifestyle is sinful (irrespective of whether or not his orientation is chosen or not). You can not serve God while living in unrepentant sin.

This added problem is only going to make things harder for him. I hope he gets the medical treatment he needs. But he also needs to confront these problems on the spiritual plane, not just the medical one. Prayers for V. Gene Robinson that God may touch his heart and heal his soul and body of all afflictions.

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