I think we all knew this was going to happen. Michele Bachmann would decide to run for president and give us all enough fodder to write articles, journals, magazines, and books about for months. Hell, maybe even years. However, her newest problem is one that is just too hilarious and too ironic to pass up on. We all remember Rev. Jeremiah Wright, President Obama's "controversial" pastor who had a lengthy sermon reduced to just a few clips that demonized him and the president as "radical" or "un-American." Well, Michele Bachmann has a "controversial" pastor of her own. She just left the church this week, but I think it's fair to go into the details of this issue.
Michele Bachmann was a long-time member of the Salem Lutheran Church. This church is a member of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. These are just a few things about the WELS that makes me chuckle. The following comes from the websites doctrinal statements area. I'll start with their "Scriptural principles of man and woman roles."
7. We reject the opinion that the principle of role relationships taught in the New Testament was culturally conditioned and is not applicable today.
8. We reject the opinion that the principle of role relationships applies only to some people, only for some periods of history, or only to certain aspects of Christian life.
Ok. So if i'm correct, these people believe that not only should the women of their church submit to the men, but all women should do so. This would include non-religious women. Uh, no sir. That's just not going to work. This is a foolish belief for anybody to have, especially Michele Bachmann. She has staffers. Some of her staffers are men. So she has power or authority over men. If she really believes this garbage, she should resign from office, exit the race for the presidency, and go home. Moving on to the part about abortion. Now here's a goodie.
Resolution on Abortion.
WHEREAS 1) the Holy Scriptures clearly teach that the living yet unborn are persons in the sight of God and are under the protection of His commandment against murder (Job 10:9-11; Ex 20:13; Mt 5:21; Ge 9:6; Ps 139:13; Ps 51:5; Jer 1:5; Lk 1:41-44);
This is my favorite part because it basically claims that abortion is murder without explaining how it is murder. It lists biblical verses that do not explain that as well. These people believe that not only should women not have leadership roles that give them authority over men, but that women have no authority over their reproductive systems. They believe that their magical cloud genie has that authority and that "Thou Shall Not Kill" means "Thou Shall Not Abort." However, if these people believe that all killing is wrong, then I suppose they are against defending your house from an armed robber. I'm sure they would be the first to pick up a gun. This fits in well with Michele Bachmann because we already know she's anti-choice. Now, onto their views on homosexuality. This is becoming one hell of a pattern for Mrs. Bachmann.
We must warn the impenitent that homosexuality, like all sins, excludes people from eternal life (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). The church, therefore, must not, bless same-sex marriages or unions, since these are contrary to the will of God. The church must not place into nor retain in the public ministry of the Word people who defend, condone, or persist in words or actions that are contrary to God's law.
Well this is nothing new. It's just like the Catholic church. It's safe to say that Michele Bachmann belonged to a homophobic and anti-woman church for a long time. However, this gets even more homophobic.
Our Christian duty toward homosexuals (and toward the sexually immoral, thieves, swindlers, murderers, slanderers, and drunkards, and any violators of God's will) is clear—to confront the impenitent with God's law, which condemns their sin, and to comfort the penitent with the gospel, which offers forgiveness.
Great! So they are lumping gays with thieves, swindlers, murderers, slanderers, and drunks. This gives me reason to believe that Marcus Bachmann has been influenced by them. I mean it's almost as offensive as calling gay people, oh I don't know, barbarians?
However, none of these things are being talked about by the mainstream media. Their views on the Antichrist (something that a lot of religious people have wrong) is what is getting the coverage.
We reject the idea that the teaching that the Papacy is the Antichrist rests on a merely human interpretation of history or is an open question. We hold rather that this teaching rests on the revelation of God in Scripture which finds its fulfillment in history. The Holy Spirit reveals this fulfillment to the eyes of faith (cf. The Abiding Word, Vol. 2, p. 764). Since Scripture teaches that the Antichrist would be revealed and gives the marks by which the Antichrist is to be recognized, and since this prophecy has been clearly fulfilled in the history and development of the Roman Papacy, it is Scripture which reveals that the Papacy is the Antichrist.
These people believe that the pope is the Antichrist. This is clearly an anti-Catholic view and I believe that since Michele Bachmann doesn't want to lose any of that vote, she left her church. She left the church so she wouldn't alienate the other anti-gay, anti-choice, anti-woman church that conservatives are pandering to. It's weird that she spent a long time in her church. Did she know that they were members of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod? Did she know the views of the WELS? She had to. She was a member of her church for over 10 years. I'm sure she has a computer. She could've easily googled this stuff. I believe the reason it took so long for her to leave this church is because she believes this stuff. She holds these views. This is also obvious. Her repeated comments about same-sex marriage and abortion proves it. Now i'm not going to say that she believes that the pope is the antichrist. I think it's more realistic to think that she believes President Obama is the Antichrist.
So what is the point? Michele Bachmann belonged to a crazy church. Big deal, right? As I wrote earlier, the Reverend Wright issue dominated the mainstream media for months. Even up to the election. Fox News ran with this story as if it was a national disaster (which is a 180 from how they are covering the News Corp scandal.) CNN ran with the story. MSNBC reported on it. President Obama had to give a speech about the damned issue. He was repeatedly beaten over the head by the conservative media about this. So where is the conservative media on this? Why are most of the media outlets and websites that have covered this story only reporting on the part about the pope being the Antichrist? Michele Bachmann has a lot of problems. The church she belonged to should not have been one of them. So much for that.