His propaganda against the practice of the Pope to have the authority to read and interpret the Bible only and make people believe and follow it. Luther said that everyone can and should read the Bible for themselves, and have their own conclusion and faith. He had a strong criticism about the church's wealth, called its leaders corrupt and immoral. He strongly disagreed with selling indulgences and simony, when people after facing and regretting their sins had to pay large fees to be able to get to haven instead of hell. This was a e very old “tradition” of the Catholic church, but by the 16th century it became abusive.
These things helped make a lot of changes in the church. Some reasons why the ninety- five theses is so important is because, he addressed a lot of hierarchy issues within the church. The focus was no longer about God, but it was about men, a lot of which shouldn't have been in the positions they were in. It was also because people felt as if they had to pay to in order to not have to go to purgatory. They felt they had to pay in order to go to heaven, but Luther tried to explain that you don’t have to pay indulgences to go to heaven, all you had to do was have faith in god and truly believe in
Since most of the Catholic church lost many of their followers in the north of Europe, converting Protestants back to Catholicism proved to be a much harder task than gaining new followers from across the world. Nevertheless Jesuits were a key role in the Counter-Reformation by being the voice of the Catholic church across the
He was unimpressed and outraged at the deceitful actions of the Church. His views were that "the Bible was explained by the New Testament epistles of Paul, with their emphasis on Christ as victor over death and the grave" (Marius 460). Luther strongly disapproved of the sale of indulgences, or absolution from punishments of sin. Indulgences were being sold so Pope Leo X could build the basilica of Saint Peter. In 1517, indulgence salesman Johan Tetzel came to a town near Wittenberg.
He especially reacted against the sacraments of penance and purgatory. Luther built his case based on his studies of Paul’s letters to the Romans and the Galatians. For him, saving grace comes not from the righteousness we perform, but is entirely an alien (foreign) righteousness from Christ credited to our account. He called this the doctrine of Justification by Faith alone. While Luther understood faith as the means of justification, he also understood the ground of justification to be nothing more than the grace and mercy of God shown to sinners because of the perfect life and work of Christ.
As the need for orthodoxy became paramount, democratic religion transformed itself in the late 19th century, and the eighth and final chapter catalogues many practical issues. The Baptist church grew phenomenally, from “under 1 million in 1870 to 3.6 million in 1926,” as people flocked in multitudes to Baptist churches. The main woe that churches consistently voiced is the lack of discipline, as many Baptist churches lazed on disciplinary matters. Wills notes “the man who paid $100 toward the pastor’s salary “can go father into the world without anger to his church relations, than a poor man.”” Money, pride, and overlooking offenses all contributed to the problems that the churches in this time recognized. A chief problem that many people in the church saw is dancing, an issue that spiraled to a prohibition of things like billiards, card tables, circuses, dancing parties, and chess.
Luther’s theology marked a break with the Roman Catholic Church, because he was greatly disturbed by their act of selling indulgences. Indulgences were grants made by the pope that excused the time of temporary punishment in purgatory. He instigated his rebellion against the Catholic Church by attacking John Tetzel, a priest and commissioner of indulgences. Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses, which claimed selling indulgences as an unfaithful practice, on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church. Luther never had the intention to defy or overthrow the Church.
He also felt that the best way to learn is by close observation of a teacher’s action. By staying in a close group the students were able to learn and find comfort in the fact that the skills being taught to them by Luther were being lived out daily by him their teacher. Luther wrote of his teachings in some of his works; “In the second tract, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, Luther laid out his teaching on the sacraments, the rituals through which the medieval Church claimed to convey grace to the believer. Luther reduced their number from seven to just two: communion and baptism. Only these, he argued, had biblical foundations and only these two consisted of bota a visible sign - bread and wine or water and a promise of the forgiveness of sin.” Luther’s reduction of the sacraments to two simplified the ritualist requirement to bring it more in line with the way the Bible mentioned it is done.
Although Luther was not the kind to crave attention and to be involved with other issues, he was able to help others understand what side he took with social controversies. With the assistance of the printing press, he was able to spread his message all across Germany, and greatly boosted his popularity. German Peasants sided heavily with Luther, after his writing, “A Christian man is the most free lord of all and subject to none.” In his writing Luther goes into detail about how Christians were,” (Travis Loeslie) chained to christ and beings must serve him to attain salvation, which soon to be Christian Freedom. The peasants sided with his writing on the Twelve Articles, and claimed, “They took the land from villagers, and increased taxes. So they decided to side with Luther since they thought he proved their demands worked alongside the scripture,” In response, they rebelled.
The message, then, that it was not up to him to earn righteousness, but that it came as a free gift from God, was a tremendous relief for him. This is the central Lutheran doctrine of justification by faith alone, and it lies at the heart of everything Luther said, wrote, and did. Faith for Luther was the confidence that God had graciously forgiven his sins. It had several important consequences that determined the Lutheran sacred narrative of