Martin Luther's Influence On Religion

Martin Luther wanted to bring to light the truth of the Catholic Church. In 1517, Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Wittenburg Cathedral in Wittenberg, Germany for all to see (). He wrote them in Latin, so only the educated could read it and debate him. Luther did not want the ordinary man to get the idea because it was not intended to be a glamorized document.
To Luther, faith came to those whom God chose. In Thesis 2, Luther explains how only God can grant salvation, not priests. One could not do anything to gain God’s favor. Luther constantly felt undeserving of God’s attention, and he struggled to understand his relationship with God (Suderman). He came to the assumption that he was not deserving of God’s attention. This realization is where he came to his conclusion that faith, understanding, and salvation were not deserved or earned (Suderman). Faith, knowledge, and salvation were a rare gift from God.
According to Luther in Thesis 21; indulgences will not save a man (Trueman). Luther criticized the exploitation of indulgence sales in
Popes gave the option for men and women to buy them for they passed on family members that might be in purgatory. Luther felt that indulgences were useless and disrespectful. In Thesis 37, Luther claims that any real Christian, dead or living, does not need an indulgence to benefit from God, where God has granted these true Christians their faith (Gritsch). Pope Leo X hired Johann Tetzel for promoting the sale of indulgences. Tetzel guilted people into buying indulgences (Pavao). He would ask people if they could hear their dead relatives screaming in purgatory and if they did not purchase an indulgence for they passed on family members, then they were not good family members (Pavao). Tetzel promoting the sale of salvation provoked Luther to write his Ninety-Five Theses