Protestantism versus Catholicism

Martin Luther and the Break With Rome Martin Luther began as a simple Augustinian Friar in the Roman Catholic Church, the reigning power of Western Europe for hundreds of years, and he soon became the leader of the most important stand against the Catholic Church. I call Luther’s actions a stand rather than a revolt because he did not willingly mean to disrespect the entire church or even start a new denomination of Christianity, he was only trying to bring truth to it. Luther published writings such as The Ninety-five Theses, Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation and A Treatise on Christian Liberty, all which produced outrage in the Church for the fact that it blatantly accused the clerics, and especially the pope, of many wrong doings in their practice. Luther belonged to a church in Wittenburg, Germany and here he was a scholar as well as a priest. He, like many others, came to notice the corruption in the Church.

He created some turmoil in the Catholic Church community with some of his ideas on what religion should be. Using the printing press as his weapon of choice, Luther looked to spread his ideas around to the common man. One of his ideas that the Church considered to be radical was his theory that there was no need for a priest. Luther also believed in a sort of pre-destination, in which he claims that God has already decided who is going to heaven and who is going to hell. This naturally had upset the Church, because if people had believed that priests were obsolete, they would stop going to Church and making contributions.

Furthermore, the Catholic Church started to sell indulgences during the Middle Ages. When one bought an indulgence for a certain amount of money, it guaranteed that the individual would not have to go through purgatory for a long time to reach God in heaven. Many Protestants disagreed with this idea because they thought that the idea of indulgences were “a bribe” to get into heaven. Another teaching that the Protestants disagreed with the Church was the teaching of being saved by good deeds. The Protestants believed in that one is saved by God’s grace and not by works.

The Roman Catholic Church began to realize they were in trouble, because Martin Luther’s mission to expose the church 's . He said what many people within the church were thinking. The Roman Catholic Church’s faults became impossible to hide and they struggled to keep members. Overall, Martin Luther pointed out the faults of the church and then explained what he believes; he created a movement to end the corruption of the Catholic Church. His belief of having a relationship with god versus developing a relationship with God through a priest made people feel that they could have control over their religious beliefs.

The Catholics counter argument for Martin Luther’s argument about Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide was that everyone needs the scriptures and needs faith but alone one cannot reach salvation because people need to act on God's word and act on their faith; actions speak louder than words. The difference in beliefs caused a separation amount the two groups, instead of working together as one religion and highlighting each others successes they began to fight with another and branch off into two different sects. The separation further complicates matters, it goes even further; the society begins to have doubts about each religion and makes its own interpretations, causing more sects within the Christianity religion. Christianity began in the first century, it was the main religion for many decades, no one fought against the teaching of the church until 1517 AD, when protestantism

Luther thought indulgences had no real base in the bible. An indulgence was thought to be a lessining of time a soul had to spend in purgatory. The Church also got greedy.The Church started increasing fees for things like baptisms, and weddings. Some people may be wondering, why did the Church need so m... ... middle of paper ... ...everything I did involving the Roman Catholic Church was great, not everyone agreed with me. One person who didn't agree with me was Pope Leo X.

Luther knew that the Catholic Church was distorted; he believed that the sale of indulgences, in particular, was the major source of corruption. In response, Luther nailed on the door of the Wittenberg Church a placard with 95 theses, or statements, criticizing the sale of indulgences and attacking other church policies. He also published hundred of essays advocating his idea that a person could be made just, or good, simply by faith in God’s mercy and love. Luther’s idea became known as justification by faith. Consequently, Luther was excommunicated from the Church for refusing to withdraw his teachings and criticisms of the Church.

Martin Luther 's, a Catholic monk, problem with the Latin Church is he believed they weren’t true Christians and were doing things unbiblical. Luther believed getting into Heaven was that the only way to get into Heaven was through to have faith and love in God. He also believed a process the Catholica would use called purchasing indulgences. Indulgences was paying a fee to get yourself or a loved one out of purgatory and into heaven but it really was basically a fundraiser. Luther believed it took money from the poor who needed it needlessly.

He felt it encouraged superstition and pagan thoughts of magic, bringing them further from the true faith of the Christian beliefs. Luther’s most important criticisms had to do with the Catholic Theology. His argument was this: The Church had gotten away from the fundamentals of the... ... middle of paper ... ...lvinists, which was the catalyst to the Hundred Years War. The Catholic church was losing ground physically and in the hearts of the people. While there were still a great many who remained loyal to Catholicism, there were still people like Calvin, King Henry VIII and Luther who felt the need to call the Catholics out on the problems within their faith, and how it was affecting everyone else.

Due to the lack of clearly written doctrines, ideas such as Pelagianism had filtered into the church through philosophies taught by seemingly earnest men. Augustine however, was able see that these ideas diminished the very foundations of the Catholic Church. (Brown, 354) Therefore, Augustine’s wrote to establish a formal affirmation of what the church really believed. Augustine could see that people within the church, even many bishops, did not have a sturdy doctrinal foundation, for they were unable to determine if Pelagius’s ideas really contradicted their theology. They wanted to treat Pelagius by his merits even though they were not sure if his teaching were consistent with traditional orthodoxy.