How Did Martin Luther's Actions Cause Corruption

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“Every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying.” This was one of the many quotes proclaimed by the infamous Martin Luther, founder of the Protestant Church. Luther was known for breaking away from the corrupted Catholic Church, and creating a whole new branch of Christianity called Protestantism. His actions caused a major strife within the religious world. These events caused many to choose a side between the Catholics and the Protestants. Although Luther was banished for attempting to fix a broken community, it was only a mere setback in his eyes. Of course, his actions led to a string of unnecessary events which led to a thirty year game of back and forth. Both sides had their faults and both sides refused …show more content…

Figures who people would look up to as “holy” would take advantage of their positions and their power. The Church began to conduct religious abuses such as selling church positions, selling indulgences, and supporting the luxurious lifestyle of the popes. Even corruption and immortality began to spur within the clergy. Churches charged their dedicated Catholic followers for the sins they committed in order to appease their own selfish greed. The Catholic Church was heavily corrupted, and once he realized it, what did he do? He made his issues known by creating a document called the 95 Theses. This document highlighted the key flaws of the Catholic Church, which thanks to the invention of the printing press created by Johannes Gutenberg, spread throughout Europe. This obviously upset the Catholic Church as they attempted to silence Luther, but rightfully so, he refused to keep quiet. He was then excommunicated and basically banished from the Church. Instead of giving up his beliefs and returning to a corrupted Church, he created his own religion where God’s grace is directly granted to believers and the source of religious authority was the Bible. “The Protestant Reformation was an attempt to recast the Christian faith in terms of the new learning of the 16th century, the enlightenment learning,” a quote stated by John Shelby