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Martin Luther Motivation

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Martin Luther was born into a Roman Catholic home on November 10, 1483. His father, Hans, initially a peasant miner who worked hard and became wealthy by smelting copper ore wanted him to study law, which he did for a short period of time, but he promptly deviated to theology and philosophy. Two tutors, Bartholomaeus Arnoldi von Usingen and Jodocus Trutfetter, deeply influenced him to be suspicious of even the greatest thinkers and to test everything himself by experience. I believe this advice moulded the searching mind that dismembered every statement and mirrored it against the truth, which, it seems, Martin constantly sought.

Martin vowed to become a monk during a near fatal lightening storm. He entered an Augustinian monastery in Erfurt in 1505, and he became a priest in the Roman Catholic Church 1507. He tried to appease God for his sins because he had a tremendous fear of death and hell. He punished himself for his sins by fasting, praying, even causing bodily harm to find the peace that eluded him. Staupitz, the head of his order, encouraged Martin to trust God and study the Bible. While studying the book of Romans, he came across several verses stating that the gift of salvation is received by faith, not by works, a total contradiction to what the Roman Catholic Church taught. During Martin’s trip to Rome for his monastic order between 1510 and 1511, he was shocked by the immorality of the Roman Catholic Church. As a conscientious priest and recited

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