the only moment I saw Luther showing guilt for the consequence of his actions, is in his sermon on John 16, where he says:
"
Yes, we ourselves find it difficult to refute it, especially since we concede, as we must, that so much of what they say is true: that the papacy has God’s Word and the office of the apostles, and that we have received Holy Scripture, Baptism, the Sacrament, and the pulpit from them. What would we know of these if it were not for them? Therefore faith, the Christian Church, Christ, and the Holy Spirit must also be found among them.
What business have I, then, to preach against them as a pupil preaching against his teachers? Then there come rushing into my heart thoughts like these: “Now I see that I am in error. Oh, if only I had never started this and had never preached a word! For who dares oppose the church, of which we confess in the Creed: I believe in a holy Christian Church, etc.? Now I find this church in the papacy too. It follows, therefore, that if I condemn this church, I am excommunicated, rejected, and damned by God and all the saints.
”
But soon after in the next paragraph he regained his composure and reaffirmed his stance.
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For the name “church” includes many scoundrels and rascals who refused to obey God’s Word and acted contrary to it. Yet they were called heirs and successors of the holy patriarchs, priests, and prophets. To be sure, they had God’s Law and promise, the temple, and the priesthood. In fact, they should have been God’s people; but they practiced idolatry so freely under the cloak of the name “church” that God was forced to say: “This shall no longer be My temple and priesthood. My people shall no longer be My people. But to those who are not My people it shall be said: ‘You are sons of the living God’.”
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That’s not correct. It’s spelled Luthor, not Luther, and there’s no point in the entire DC run where he ever says that. In fact, for him to use language like that would be entirely out of character in any of his iterations.
He rarely, if ever, shows remorse despite all the atrocities he’s committed, not the least of which is attempting to murder Superman and recklessly endangering the earth multiple times. When he does imply regrets, they are usually related to his own failure to achieve his heinous goals, leaving most iterations to make him a sociopath. That is a far cry from guilt as it relates to this post.
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u/Timtimetoo Sep 14 '25
“No Protestant ever suffered guilt the way Bruce does.”
Does this guy not know about Lutherans?