The Ninety-Five Theses Summary Chapter 4

The sale of indulgences was not saving any souls rather yet it was condemning them. The true way to clear away the sin is to as God for forgiveness and repent of the sin committed. Luther objected to the sale of indulgences for many reason. First of all the Pope does not have the power to relive someone from a sin, only God can. Second paying your way out of guilt does not save you in the eyes of God, true repent does. Third many crimes were being committed nonchalant due to buying indulgence. Lastly, the Pope was the making money out of selling indulgence yet not giving back to its people. Rather they

Martin Luther was already questioning his catholic fate and this became worse when the pope allowed John Tetzel to sell indulgences. Luther strongly believed that the Catholic Church was conning the people of Wittenberg into believing they could pay off their sins. Indulgences are a remission of the purgatorial punishment due for sins according to the Roman Church. In acknowledgement to Tetzel’s actions, Luther wrote the “95 Theses”. The 95 Theses was a criticism of indulgences and it had ninety five points attacking the churches practices selling indulgences.

Martin Luther argued that indulgences could not allow a Christian to be saved from punishment in his “95 Theses.” An indulgence was a lessening of a soul would have to spend in purgatory. People of the Middle Ages paid for these in order to go to Heaven, and this did not make sense to Martin Luther. He then read and interpreted the Bible and found nothing about paying indulgences. His twenty-first thesis states, “Thus those preachers of indulgences are in error who say that by the indulgences of the Pope a man is freed

Martin Luther was critical of indulgences because according to the text, "[it] was currently being preached near Wittenberg to help raise funds for the rebuilding of Saint Peter’s in Rome." (pg. 327) People were going out of their way to pay for these so-called "golden ticket ' to heaven and the Church profiting from it all.

In this essay i'm going to be writing about the ninety five theses.The Ninety Five Theses question the Catholic Church's practice of selling indulgences and view skeptically the notion that a papal pardon rather than penance or genuine contrition can achieve forgiveness of sins. Luther argued that Christians were being falsely told that they could obtain absolution for souls in purgatory by buying indulgences.

This fundamental difference from the Catholic dogma that one could buy salvation to Luther’s new ideas as way to Heaven began to transform many people’s beliefs. Supporters of Luther adopted the concept of faith and knowledge of God as a way to repent their sins, and eventually, it reshaped the Christian culture. As Luther personally struggled to be a “perfect” monk, he discovered that faith in the gospel was the only way to be “made righteous by God”(roper 78). In response to his distress for his laity’s desire to buy indulgences, Luther wrote the “95 Theses on the Power of Indulgences.” He knew he was attacking the pope and the values of the church, but records show that he felt “...not fully in control of his actions, but handed over responsibility to a higher power”(84 roper). Cleary, Luther felt a spiritual connection with God and indulgences were in direct opposition to faith. His revolutionary claims in the “95 Theses on the Power of Indulgences” caused a conflict that would eventually be known as the Protestant Reformation.

When Martin Luther wrote the “Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences” in 1517, he was making a bold and unprecedented move: challenging the Catholic Church. As a German Catholic priest himself, Luther was not afraid to condemn the Catholic Church, even publicly, which is how he displayed the original copy of the theses. Luther’s issue with the church wasn’t personal but was instead based on what he saw as violation of the religious morals and teachings of God. For example, he highly disapproved the church’s several claims of salvation and forgiveness on earth. The ninety-five theses acted as Luther’s tool of protest against the church and also acted as enlightenment to the masses. Publication of the theses is also often noted as the spark that initiated the Protestant Reformation after centuries of religious tension buildup. Luther’s overall disapproval was “against the corruption” and dishonesty of the church (Bishop, p.1). In the theses, Luther outlined what and how he believed the Catholic Church was doing wrong and how it should be corrected. He argues against the church’s abuse of power and the way it took advantage of its members. What the ninety-five theses did was outline two major points: the selling and buying of indulgences as well as the issue of purgatory regarding to God, the Catholic Church and the Pope.

The Protestant Reformation was a large transition in the way people understood and thought of the Catholic Church as a whole. The Catholic Church had always had a sizeable amount of power over the people and way of life. The person who truly began the whole movement was Martin Luther. He began his public move when the indulgence controversy became apparent. An indulgence is a free ticket out of purgatory, and purgatory is the place one goes directly after physical death to undergo purification. That purification will determine whether one is suitable for Heaven or not. Therefore, every person wanted an indulgence so there was no chance of them not making it into Heaven. However, these indulgences were solely to gain funds for army, church, and others. Although it was only for money, people still wanted one because they did not want to take any chances with their personal afterlife. Martin Luther was infuriated that these indulgences existed. Luther believed that forgiveness is only given to those that are truly sorry for their mistakes. Therefore, he wrote the Ninety-Five Theses. These were documents arguing and criticizing against the indulgences. He posted these documents on the Cathedral door for the Pope to read. He wrote the documents in Latin originally, but the Printing Press translated them into German for everyone to be able to read. In response to these indulgences, Martin Luther

Martin Luther Made up the ninety five theses.The ninety five theses was a list of complains he had about the church.He didn’t agree with what the church had to say.He basically wrote all of his thoughts on paper.He had ninety five complains about the way the church worked.Hard to believe he wrote down everything he thought about the church.He thought that if he wrote it down then they would listen to him and improve the church.He wrote it down and went to get it all printed out using the printing press.He put it on the church doors so that the church representatives would see.One of the ninety five theses basically says he didnt like the power of the pope.Back then the pope ran your life basically.Luther got tired of it so he complained.He

Lutheranism developed in lieu of the Roman Catholic Church’s high use of indulgences. During the 16th century, indulgences were often used as “offering[s of] forgiveness of sins in exchange for certain payments” (Hillerbrand 7657). This often included paying sums of money to or for the Roman Catholic Church to save the soul from Purgatory. This sparked Luther’s famous 95 Theses in which he questions the use of indulgences and names some of the issues seen with the Roman Catholic Church.

95 Theses Essay: The 95 Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences are the things that Martin Luther, a priest and professor of theology, wrote in 1517 to express what he thought was wrong with the Catholic Church. The 95 Theses were held in one of Europe’s largest collections of holy relics, the All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Saxony, which was part of the Holy Roman Empire.

Luther criticizes how the church takes indulgences to guarantee individuals passage to heaven. The Pope and church claim that through indulgences the Pope could forgive guilt, but Luther argues that only God can forgive guilt. Luther states that you can develop a relationship with God and his scriptures in living a life of repentance and love for God. No one will know whether they will go to heaven until they receive the judgement from God, “No one is sure of the reality of his own contrition, much less relieving plenary forgiveness” (30). Luther expresses the superiority of the word of God and his judgement through 95 Theses. As Luther said, “The true treasure of the church is the Holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God” (Luther, 62). Luther is making a judgement by making a claim and then provides evidence to invite discourse; this then become essential in making judgement in political

Written in his theses was the debate and criticism of the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope. Luther concentrated upon the selling of indulgences, which are extra-sacrament remission of the temporal punishment due in God’s justice, to sin that has been forgiven, which remission is granted by the Church in the exercise of the power of the keys (Knight 1993, 2009) the indulgences replaced the severe penances of the early church. The theses also included the debate of doctrine policies about purgatory, judgment, devotion to Mary the Mother of Jesus, the intercession of and devotion to the saints and the authority of the Pope there are others that were not mention in this paper.

The ninety five theses’ are statements / questions that point out the problems with the Catholic Church that the people see but not necessarily the church itself. More specifically, it challenged the teachings of the Catholic Church on how it punishes for sins, the power of the pope, and its ways of indulgences. One of them is “When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, says "Repent ye," etc., he means that the entire life of the faithful should be a repentance”. By this he means that when we repent that it should not be done by paying money but by asking forgiveness and actually trying to make your faith better. Another one is “This statement cannot be understood of the sacrament of penance, but of confession and satisfaction, which is administered

The Reformation is largely attributed to Martin Luther. And, although he is the most recognized individual, his personal struggles with sin and salvation were not the driving force behind the diverse theologies that emerged during this period. Many others, before and after Luther became the focus of the Catholic Church, desired change and had both the opportunity to introduce their doctrine to a wide audience, and the conviction, although not as personal as Luther’s, to unwaveringly challenge traditional beliefs and demand change. Three such men are Desiderius Erasmus, Ulrich Zwingli, and Thomas Cranmer. For this reason, it is possible that although Martin Luther nailed his controversial The Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgence, (1517) to the door of the castle church in Wittenburg, bringing attention to the need for change and providing a ripe cause for theologians to support and challenge, the subsequent Reformation was inevitable.