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Influence of the Protestant Reformation
Influence of the Protestant Reformation
Martin luther influence of the reformation
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As the 1500’s came the Roman Catholic Church dominates almost every aspect of European life. The political boundaries were very little, even the kings had to bow down to the church. It has been said that the pope was the ruler of the western world. The Catholic Church was challenging both politically and spiritually. The church would be afraid that if they had a misstep, that they would burn in the Lake of Fire. The church also thought if they were nice and they were doing good deeds, then they would would get to go to heaven. But the church was wrong about both of those thoughts. According to Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT, “8God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not …show more content…
Martin Luther started out becoming a lawyer, but then an accident happened. Long story short, he became a monk. When a friar named John Tetzel came into Wittenberg, he was selling indulgences (indulgences means a donation to the church that came with a promise from the Pope to reduce a sinner’s time in the purgatory). Martin Luther felt that was not right. Martin Luther felt that the indulgences were meaningless and was not right. So in response Martin Luther wrote Ninety-Five Theses against the indulgences and everything that was wrong with the Roman Catholic Church. The Theses led to a series of debates with other men of the church. One of the Ninety-Five Theses states that Christians were saved only through the Grace of God and he also stated that the church’s rituals did not have any power to save souls. Martin Luther also said, “The church and the Pope made errors all the time.” The argument between the church and Martin Luther became heated when Luther denied that the officers of the church and the church itself had any spiritual powers. Martin Luther said, “Christians do not even have to hear the priests to receive the Grace of God.” That is when the Ninety-Five Theses created a
Martin Luther, was “temperamental, peevish, egomaniacal, and argumentative” (Hooker, www.wsu.edu), but played a pivotal role in history. During Luther's time as a monk, the Catholic Church was selling indulgences. Luther took notice to the corruption and began to reason that men can only get their salvation through Jesus Christ, not the Pope or indulgences, let alone the Church itself. Luther began ...
The 1500’s were a time of reformation and also a time of corruption in the church. The pope, Pope Leo X was one of the most corrupt popes because of his greed for money. The church was very wealthy during the protestant reformation promoting false beliefs to many people, but one man named Martin Luther changed that with his 95 theses because of his dislike for the wrongdoings from the Catholic church.
He was the man that formed the base of the Protestant Reformation. Luther knew he had to take action on this convictions immediately. So on behalf of the rebellion against indulgences and other Catholic doctrine, Luther created a “ Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences” or more commonly known as “The 95 Theses.” The 95 Theses were a list of topics to discuss and propose the idea of indulgences. Or as some people would say to protest the sale of the indulgences of the Roman Catholic Church. The main seller of these indulgences was a man named John Tetzel who had promised the Christians that by paying they were “instantly” saved from sin. Legend says that on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther’s 95 Theses were nailed onto the doors of the Wittenberg Castle Church. Luther knew that this revolt was not violent, but was only intended to educate
Martin Luther was a former Priest/Monk and that saw some corruption in the Roman Catholic Church. Luther tried to bring his concerns to the Church in his writing of the “Ninety-five Theses on the Power of Indulgences.” When these question that Luther proposed to the Archbishop of Mainz went unsatisfactorily unanswered in 1517, Luther started defaming the Roman Church and pushed for the utter destruction of the Roman Church. What started out as an internal reform of Church’s discipline, turned into a war against the Roman Church for their total destruction. This was the intent of Luther’s sermon of 1521.
God has become angry with his people. He complains in the fifteenth century English play Everyman about humans and their obsession with material items, riches, and wealth. Men and women, he feels, have taken for granted their blessings. God wants to reprimand Everyman for his sinful life and sends Death to summon him. At the beginning of the allegorical work where figures and actions symbolize general truths, a messenger shares God’s concerns. The messenger tells the audience to watch and listen closely to the morality play so they can learn a lesson about life. Everyman fears Death, and he desires to know what one must do to earn salvation and enter heaven. The writer then implies that the way to achieve salvation is by doing good works. Through positive deeds, a man has the capability of enjoying communion with Christ (McRae 306-307). Everyman’s author wrote the play before the Protestant Reformation, so the piece of literature shares the view of Roman Catholicism during that period. Roman Catholics often rely on a spiritual leader’s interpretation of the Scriptures and some additional texts, while Protestants believe the Bible alone should studied by each individual believer. Biblical Christianity teaches something different from what Everyman does. The Bible stresses that salvation occurs through faith and belief in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for humankind’s sins on Calvary’s cross. St. Paul in the book of Ephesians writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (2.8-10). When Christians...
Luther uses harsh words to describe the popes and the bishops by calling them names such as “humbug”, “block head”, and “hypocrite”. According to Martin Luther’s Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, it states “He might well make a man into a hypocrite or a humbug, and block head, but never a Christian or spiritual man”. Martin Luther believes that the priests, bishops, and popes are not different from the Christian people. Martin Luther points out that Christians were baptized and read the Bible, so why do the popes receive so much authority and power than Christians. In the Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, Luther questions “Why are your life and limb, your property and honor, so cheap and mine not, inasmuch as we are all Christians and have the same baptism, the same faith, the same Spirit, and all the rest?”. Therefore, Martin Luther believes that the popes, bishops, and priests are given too much authority and power even though the popes, bishops, and priests do not possess that many special abilities. Martin Luther claims that everyone is a priest since the Christian people can interpret and read the Bible, carry the same faith and spirit, and were baptized just like the popes, priests, and bishops
The influence of religion is so powerful that it had spread like wildfire across many parts of the region. This changed people way of thinking, giving them a second thought to judge their lifestyle they’re living. The renaissance contributed to this new ideology, how there’s more to life than just death. How there’s good in the earth just as there’s evil and the explanation of natural disasters. Some people figured out there’s a force field of good hovering the earth. Leading people to encourage everyone to accept the most good and powerful God; in order to be saved from their evil self. This made sense to everyone. That realization urges people to follow the pathway to heaven .Chaucer wrote “The Canterbury Tales” to describe the system the
Martin Luther was not fond of the practices the Roman Catholic church of indulgences. Indulgences are a practice where worshippers would pay their priest which granted remission for their sins (“Indulgences."). This practice became increasingly corrupt. In the 95 Theses, Luther, became prominent in the Protestant Reformation due to its humble and academic tone (A&E Television Networks, LLC.). For example, in the second theses he states, “The word cannot be properly understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, i.e. confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.” This means that only god can give salvation, not a priest. He is questioning why we must pay to re...
The messages Jesus wanted to reach his disciples were this: brotherhood, equality, elevation of the poor, and anti-materialism. He preached a lifestyle that changed mankind, and gave people hope. Jesus gave the people of the Late Roman Empire some hope, and guided them through times of need. On the other hand, you have the Catholic Church in Medieval Europe, with a lot of power in the medieval society. The Catholic Church was the western counterpart to the Eastern Orthodox Church and it slowly became a very strict religion.
Martin Luther was a friar very devoted to the Church but after analyzing all these aspects he decided to do something about it. On October 31, 1517 he attached to the door of Wittenberg Castle a list of 95 theses or propositions on indulgences. These theses criticized papal policies and were objections about he church put on hold for discussion.
Before the 16th century Protestant Reformation, Christianity it Europe was in a questionable and somewhat corrupt state. During the mid 15th century central and western Europe was set up in the form of a hierarchy, which was headed by the pope. At this period in time the pope claimed all spiritual authority over Christians, as well as political authority over all inhabitants of the Papal States. In addition to the claims the pope made, the church also owned close to one-fourth of the land in Europe that lead to a strong centralization of papal authority. Close to all of the Europeans at this time were Christian and would pay taxes directly to the church as a result of this ownership. European Christians were taught in their upbringing that without the guidance and rituals of the priests and the church, there would be no path for them to salvation. Despite the church attempting to teach morality among members, the clergy started to become greedy and full of corruption that fueled their desire for ...
On October 31, 1517 Luther nailed his critiquing of indulgences and the corruption of the catholic church on the door of Wittenberg castle catholic church.These writings were very detailed statements Luther had thought to be wrong about the catholic church. Some of the most famous are:
Nearly every theory agrees that this church goes from the Edict of Milan in 313 A.D. to the rise of the Papacy in 538 A.D. The letter that Paul writes praises the church for its faith in Revelation 2:13 by saying, “And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.” This fits the idea that the last church fought the trials of the persecution before the Edict of Milan. “But I have a few things against you,” Paul continues in revelation 2:14, “because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.” In our timeline, it is believed that this works with the history of the rise of the Roman Catholic Church during this time period and the idea that the church led them astray.
Also then the church embrace the practice of praying to saint on behalf of the dead. Salvation was considered then to be a lifelong progress and those who died had not finished the process. Later, the church believed that one did not have the power o save oneself but with cooperation with God they would gain salvation. The Reformation came with Martin Luther and the doctrine of salvation by grace returning.
The church taught them everything they needed to know; they told them right from wrong, they were the gateway to the afterlife, and they even taught them that boiling an egg took as long as a prayer! They relied on the church for everything, so whenever the black plague hit, people ran to the church. The people assumed the plague was God’s punishment, but they had hope because they thought if they were saved by the church they would be cured. However, the church had no idea how to cure the disease, thus losing a lot of the reputation and trust they had been building for the past centuries. Many people turned to God during this time, but just as many people believed that since the church had broken their trust, there was nothing left to live for, and so they turned to sin and wickedness. Doctors stopped treating patients and told them to go to a priest and confess before they died, only to have the priests reject them or not properly execute the procedure. These people legitimately thought they were going to go to hell because their priests would not complete the procedure, and so people turned even further away from the Catholic Church and all of its beliefs. (“Black Death and Church”) Worse even than many churches turning away people, some churches grew rich off of many sinful practices such as Simony or selling of indulgences. This brings us to our next