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The contribution of martin luther to the reformation
Contribution of martin luther to the church
Contribution of Martin Luther
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His major objection about his church are the indulgences because he knew that they were false. “Indulgences were payments to the Roman Catholic Church in return for pardons for one’s sins and grants of salvation in the afterlife.” Martin Luther stated that he didn’t approve of indulgences because they were false as well as expensive, so he didn’t want people to buy meaningless pieces of papers. Luther believed that getting rid of your sins with paper was not the right thing to be doing and that the church had been receiving money for lying. He said that the people who buy these indulgences will be “eternally damned” with those who taught them.
He took the words of God, and made them his own, changing their meaning. After these sudden changes, Martin Luther said, “The main reason I fell out with the pope was this: the pope boasted that he was the head of the Church, and condemned all that would not be under his power and authority. He said, “..although Christ is the head of the Church, there must be a physical head of the Church upon earth.” (Document 5, Luther). As Luther said, this could not be tolerated.
Luther didn’t believe that the Catholic Church was teaching people about their religion in the correct way. He thought that they were hiding parts of the religion from them, and he wanted to make it clear to the people of what they were to be learning and practicing. In wanting to do this, Luther wrote The Small Catechism. The Small Catechism is a document that highlights the Ten Commandments, the Apostle’s Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the sacraments, and the daily prayers of the people. He directly writes what each of these texts is, and then he describes exactly what each of them means.
In document 7 Selections from Martin Luther’s 95 Thesis, it described how Martin Luther said that one cannot buy forgiveness or their way into heaven, and that God will give them salvation for free if they ask. He also said that the Church only wants money and does not care about god. The Church was being immoral by selling the indulgences which led to the corruption of the Church. The people realized the Church was wrong and started to question their
As Luther is fighting the corrupt Papacy he writes this, “Faith is a living, bold trust in God’s grace, so certain of God’s favor it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it.” Luther writes this to show what true religion is, to show what a truly faithful person should do, believe in their God and give him every bit of faith from someone's person. The Papacy hates Luther not because he is wrong, but because he is right, which means if Luther was right and the masses believed him all the power that was held by the church would crumble into nothing; most importantly though the Papacy members personal power would crumble into nothing. During the early phases of the Reformation, Luther wrote the 95 Theses, which described everything he found wrong with the church at this time. The Theses was the catalyst, which set off the ticking time bomb of corruption and irreverence.
A large portion of this pertained to the Catholic church selling indulgences which were, as described by the Church, a full or partial pardoning of sin that could be used to free anyone of transgression, especially late friends and family. One reading explains that a huge problem in Luther’s eyes was that people no longer felt that they had to go any further for forgiveness once an indulgence was purchased because they saw it as a “catch-all” system. People could pay for salvation instead of relying on faith. Luther believed sola fida, that Christ’s salvation should be achieved through faith alone, and not by giving the church money (moodle reading April
Martin Luther was a german theologian who brought on the reformation by demanding changes in the Catholic Church (“Martin Luther”). Martin grew with a father that was a miner and grew up working and being very religious (“Martin Luther”). One year later he followed out his promise by leaving everything behind and being ordained a monk (Martin Luther, World History Ancient and Medieval Eras). Many people believe Martin spoke badly about the church because he was corrupted by temptation. Martin Luther was ordained a monk in 1507 and did this hopefully find inner peace however, temptation made
Martin Luther didn't agree with many of the practices and beliefs of the Catholic Church. He didn't agree on some of the practices of the clergy like simony, the sale of church offices, nepotism, the giving away of church offices to family members, and pluralism, the holding of more than one church office at a time. He also was really against the sale of indulgence, documents sold by the Catholic Church lessening penance or time in purgatory. He thought that the church was only selling indulgences to earn more money and that indulgence didn't really do what they promised. He also didn't like the fact that people didn't read the Bible and thought that
Martin Luther supported the idea of performing good deeds in general, stating that they were not needed for salvation or to receive an indulgence, they were simply expected as a good person (document 3). King Edward VI of England also believed that good works were not needed in order to get into heaven and that they were in fact, not needed at all (document 10). The Church believed that in order to get into heaven you must perform good acts, to please God and help to forgive your sins. Martin Luther in addition, believed that Christ himself was the head of the church, not the pope (document 7), while the Catholic Church considered the pope as the Holy Father and leader of the church (document 5). Luther supported the combination of church and state, while John Calvin and other reformers believed in complete separation of religion and political affairs.
Martin Luther’s reasons for challenging the Catholic church changed after he translated the New Testament. Before the New Testament was translated (document A), Martin Luther had a very respectful tone displayed through his writing. In document A, Luther was bothered by the practice of indulgences, but continued in his letter to say that he was not blaming anyone. 18 years later in Document B, Luther had translated the New testament and realized that the Pope was misinterpreting the scriptures. He was then very disrespectful through his words and blamed the Pope for taking people’s money and by so believing that the person who paid for the indulgence was saved.
Starting from the statement that Christians receive salvation through faith and the grace of God. Luther also stated, “The churches rituals did not have the ability to save souls. ”Also Luther talked about how the Church and the Pope make errors often. This had gone from a need for reforming indulgences to a whole
This is not surprising; a majority of the Catholic world at this time believed in this misconception of God. Luther grows up with this misconception and begins studying theology and philosophy at the university of Erfurt (Ibid. 342). He intends to study law, but after two months chooses to become
In comparison, each document has the same idea on the new concepts and doctrines of Lutheranism. As stated before, the Roman Catholic Church has views that Martin Luther did not agree with. These are clearly shown throughout each document. “They who teach that contrition is not necessary on the part of those who intend to buy souls out of purgatory or to buy confessional privileges preach unchristian doctrine” said in the thirty-fifth thesis expresses the wrongful doing of the Roman Catholic’s indulgences. “When speaking to God, we should plead guilty to all sins, even those we don 't know about, just as we do in the ‘Our Father,’” said in The Small Catechism of Martin Luther indicates the new form of confession that the Roman Catholic Church
Before Luther rebelled against Catholic practices, he has achieved many works
Martin Luther was a leader in bringing to humankind some of the world’s first religious freedoms. Just as our forefathers did for all American Citizens when signing the Declaration of Independence but just as it was for our forefathers under British ruling so it was for Martin Luther when he was excluded in 1521.Luther was worried because he believed that everyone regardless of their good deeds could reach heaven through their faith. His translation of the bible into the popular language had a great impact on the church. Martin Luther was a pioneer of his time because of his brave actions the “Society of Jesus” was born in 1534 and was founded by Ignatius of Loyola and he begins a conquest to counter reform parts of Poland, Hungry and Germany
