Martin Luther's Nine-Five Theses Essay

Martin Luther lived during a time when the Catholic Church dominated mainstream Christianity. He was a former Monk and priest. Luther was educated at the University of Erfurt. He use to work tirelessly in the church. He was born and educated. Luther rejected several teachings of the Catholic Church. He addressed his concerns with the church by nailing his ninety-five point theses to the door of Pope Leo X. Luther was big on salvation by faith alone. He also spoke out against the sales of indulgences by the church. Luther wrote, “Although indulgences are the very merits of Christ and of His saints and so should be treated with all reverence, they have in fact nonetheless become a shocking exercise of greed. For who actually seeks the salvation of souls through indulgences, and not instead money for his coffers? This is evident from the way indulgences are preached. For the commissioners and preachers do nothing but extol indulgences and incite the people to contribute. You hear no one instructing the people about what indulgences are, or about how much they grant, or about the purpose they serve. Instead, all you hear is how much one must contribute. The people are always left in ignorance, so that they come to think that by gaining indulgences they are at once saved. He also made it clear that you cannot earn salvation by works. The Catholic Church was teaching doctrines that contradicted what the bible was saying. The Pope was displeased at Luther’s challenge. Luther’s

One thing that Luther did not like about the church was that the church officials were selling Indulgences to people so that they would not have to go to Hell and pay for what that had done. Indulgences were also for people to pay for loved ones that had passed so that they would have less time in Purgatory. Purgatory is a place between Heaven and Hell that catholic’s believed was known as a holding place for people that weren’t suppose to go to heaven yet. It was where you done all you’re forgiving before going to heaven. Purgatory isn’t a place but a state of existence.

Martin Luther was a monk from Germany who was against the act of having a slip of paper remove your sins, otherwise known as an indulgence. Luther believed that this idea caused individuals to treat sinning with little care as it could be dismissed simply with a slip of paper. He was not necessarily popular with the Catholics. In fact, he was not popular with the Catholics at all. Going after the Church seemed to be less successful after attempts like John Wyclif. His efforts were successful during his time on Earth but were frowned upon after his death. Martin Luther had a successful shot at his criticisms on the Church which eventually lead to the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther wrote a document entitled the ‘Ninety-Five Theses’

During the course there were very interesting people and events, but Martin Luther was who I consider the most interesting. There are several reasons why this character caught my eye. In the first instance, Martin Luther begins a reform and separation of the Catholic religion with his "Ninety-five Theses", in which he does not agree with the position of the church and the Pope due to indulgencies. These indulgences were bought by the parishioners, and by this action their sins were forgiven for which they did not need confession. According to Luther, after analyzing the Bible, the only source of salvation was to have faith in the promises of God made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. To this point I find the reform of Martin

The Ninety-Five Theses was written by Martin Luther in 1517. Martin Luther was a priest and professor later a sudden religious experience inspired him to become a monk. The Ninety- Five Theses was about what Martin thought was wrong within Catholic Churches. He posted the Ninety- Five Theses on church doors all over Germany. By him doing that it hurt the churches because they were not getting as much money as they usually did. Half of the reason why people stop paying the churches is because they started to believe like Martin did, and they believed that you should not have to give money to the church to pay your dead friend or relative to go to heaven. That is a reason why every church was extremely wealthy, because people paid them all the

Martin Luther’s 95 theses were 95 things that he did not agree with the church on. Martin Luther was a monk and professor at the university of Witenburg where he lectured on the Bible in Germany. He put these 95 theses on the doors of the Catholic church and on the castle in Witenburg. The Catholic churches would not give the people bibles so they could tell the people whatever they wanted to and the pesants could not disagree with them. So, if they say you have to pay the church 1,000 dollars a week or more, you had to do it and whatever else they told you to do. This was one of the things that Luther did not agree with.

The Ninety-five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences came about as the result of a single controversy in the Catholic Church, and ended up becoming the basis of a split in Christianity. This influential document was one theological professor’s response to the sale of indulgences, a practice long supported by Catholic leaders. Indulgences were a way to lessen punishment after sin. Martin Luther was livid at the thought of people buying their way to salvation, as it contradicted his strong belief that redemption was determined by faith, and that the Bible was the ultimate religious authority, as opposed to the Pope. On a pilgrimage to Rome, Luther witnessed flocks of peasants spending their life savings on indulgences for their dead relatives. At the monastery, Luther struggled to find peace with God; his superior, Johann von Staupitz, chose not to counsel him out of the order. Instead, he sent Luther to study for his doctorate and assume the Doctor in Bible at the University of Wittenberg. While teaching at Wittenberg, Luther continued to develop his theological and philosophical perspective, resulting in his revelatory “tower experience.” Meanwhile, Friar Johann Tetzel began to sell indulgences in Germany to raise funds to renovate St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, prompting Luther to preach against Tetzel. To counter Tetzel, Luther composed the “Disputation on the Power and

At this time, Christians were buying indulgences from the Roman Catholic Church as a way to “pay off” their sins. Luther denounces this practice immediately in his works. Theses 17 states, “Those who believe that they can be secure in their salvation through indulgence letters will be eternally damned along with their teachers.” I cannot imagine Luther’s frustration in watching devout Christians spend money they did not have to purchase a paper he perceived to be meaningless. Luther brings up multiple times that those who spend their money on indulgences as opposed to using it for charitable deeds, such as feeding the poor, is committing a sin. I interpret this as buying indulgences is a way to “plead” with God for one’s forgiveness, but going out and spending your time and money on God’s chosen people is a way to grow in

Martin Luther played a critical role in the Protestant revolt. He is responsible for destroying the unity of the Christian religion. He sparked a reform movement that led to different Protestant religions, such as Lutheranism, Calvinism, and Anabaptism. The religious differences between the Protestants and Catholics have led to multiple wars. His obsession with his sinfulness led him to conclude that only faith in God’s promises can save humans. After all, Luther believed that humans “could never do enough good works to merit salvation.” (Spielvogel 341). Therefore, the only way humans can gain salvation is by receiving God’s grace. The sale of indulgences also angered him to the point where he would post his Ninety Five Theses and deny papal

Martin Luther was just a monk and a professor at the university of wittenberg in Germany where he lectured on on the bible. He was part of the catholic community. But there was something from the church that he did not agree with. Indulgences, he agreed with everything else since he had been studying at the university but Luther felt that indulgences were just scamming people out of money. Luther believed that just by believing in god you would go to heaven not just by indulgences. So Luther decided to write a letter to the prince on how he felt and the prince didn't take it to well. The prince decided to kick him out of the catholic community and he felt that was to far and he got mad too. Then at that time the worlds look on the catholic

One of the real issues that concerned Luther related to the matter of chapel authorities offering "indulgences" to the individuals as a method for discharging

“Sola Scriptura,” salvation by scripture alone, a new theory for salvation constructed by Martin Luther qualified the Protestant Reformation as a unique era in history, separate from the Renaissance. Luther argued in The Ninety Five Theses, a set of ninety five statements objecting the sale of indulgences, that Christ had already atoned for man’s sins, once and for all, at the time of his crucifixion. Indulgences were issued to reduce time in purgatory, where as Luther taught following true Christian scripture as a gateway to salvation, deeming indulgences as a contradiction of holy scripture and irrelevant to reaching salvation. Ulrich Zwingli announced in 1519 that he would go right through “from A to Z” that is, from Matthew to Revelation

Protestantism began as a movement in 1517 AD, when Martin Luther - a German Professor of theology - posted his “Ninety Five Theses” on the walls of the “All Saints’” castle in Wittenberg, Germany. This great work brought awareness to the doctrinal faults - such as the dealing of indulgences - and corrupt practices of religious leaders from the Roman Catholic Church, and gave reason for a reform of the establishment. The content of the “Ninety Five Theses” - which addressed three main ideas, including: “selling indulgences to finance the building of St. Peter's is wrong”, “the pope has no power over Purgatory”, and “buying indulgences gives people a false sense of security and endangers their salvation” - was heavily contradicted and rejected by the church at that time. Furthermore, Martin Luther translated the Bible into German for the first time in history, and spread the work all across Europe. This placed the bible into the hands of a large majority of Christians, who were able to interpret the text without the need of religious figures. Although Martin Luther, began the Protestant movement and branch of religion, other important figures such as John Calvin and Huldrych Zwingli also greatly contributed to the

The indulgences were created in 1343 as a way for the church to raise money. They cited that the church had a pool of good deed points that could essentially be doled out for a fee. In 1517 Pop Leo X created the jubilee Indulgence to finance the rebuilding of St. Peters Basilica in Rome. This Indulgence absolved the sinner of all outstanding sins that had been perpetrated allowing them to skip purgatory (Kagen 324). Luther felt that the church was undermining the very foundation of Christianity as a way to make money (Hampson 89). Luther says, “"Why does not the pope, whose wealth is to-day greater than the riches of the richest, build just this one church of St. Peter with his own money, rather than with the money of poor believers?" (Adolph

Luther did not tolerate seeing his Church abuse the devout and poor by robbing them of their money merely to feed the papacy’s extravagance. He denounced the Church’s use of indulgences, and also spoke out against the papacy’s corrupt way of being. With his different feelings toward the Church, he inspired other men and was a spokesperson for all those who were victims, physically and monetarily, of the Catholic Church. Luther’s impact on history is even more importantly seen since he chose to attack the church. In his time, people rarely questioned the way things were. Since Luther targeted problems that the people suffered from, such as impoverishment due to indulgence money, and the papacy’s violence and corruption, he received the support of the people. Also, Luther’s attitude and fearlessness when dealing and talking about the church helped him achieve so much more than what any before him had. With his attack on the church, Luther also inspired and “accidentally” began the creation of his own church, which then spread to two churches, and later affecting all other additions to the religious