Image by Getty Images via @daylifeMichele Bachmann is in the news quite often because she is the front runner in the Republican presidential race AND because she has a lot of issues surrounding her that make for interesting chatter.
I have already mentioned that on historical matters, both her and Palin are dumb as dirt BUT she tries to defend her historical miss-pronouncements which just makes her look dumber.
She is good at avoiding embarrassing questions as when her husband’s psychological counseling practice was revealed to try to cure people of their “gayness”, something normal psychologists and psychiatrists say may be dangerous and definitely detrimental to gays seeking help. She merely said that she is concentrating on creating more jobs in the U.S.
Now, the Lutheran denomination the Bachmanns “used” to belong to (over a decade but left in June) has been asked to explain why they believe the pope or the papacy is the anti-Christ. Does that make Michele an anti-Catholic?
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) of which Bachmann’s church is a part of (Salem Lutheran Church in Stillwater , Minnesota
Well, many people I bet have never heard the pope or the papacy called the anti-Christ but I have and many protestant denominations hold that view and especially the more conservative Lutheran denominations.
It goes back to ole’ Luther himself who, as you remember, had many run-ins with the papacy due to its open corruption (selling indulgences…get your mother out of purgatory for $5). Luther challenged the papacy and eventually started the whole protestant movement.
The term “anti-Christ” is found in a number of New Testament spots, specifically in Revelations, John 1&2 and Paul talked about a “man of sin”. I won’t go into all the interpretations of the term but generally it is a man or organization that pretends to do good but is really evil and controlled by Satan.
Luther stated that the pope has set himself up in place of Christ and therefore is an anti-Christ? Luther and therefore Lutherans believe in salvation through “faith alone” and not obedience to church doctrine, church leaders or by “good works”…but that is a long and complicated argument for this space.
So is Bachmann an anti-Catholic or are Lutherans anti-Catholic? I don’t think they hate Catholics but remember that Protestantism arose because the Papacy was so corrupt so obviously the whole movement was started in opposition to the Catholic Church and their hold on religious thought and power.
Some of my protestant friends recounted what they were taught as children and that is that the pope is not infallible and no you did not have to belong to the Catholic Church to be “saved” and that the pope was an anti-Christ figure and that they cannot play with any of their Catholic friends.
Bachmann has some very serious issues about her and the fact that she is a voter favorite right now makes her even a more dangerous candidate BUT being anti-Catholic is probably not an issue at all; its just more religious mumbo-jumbo.
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