Response 8: Martin Luther’s 95 Theses
Question: What do you see as the two or three main issues Luther has with the Catholic Church? Response: Martin Luther’s 95 Theses wasn’t an attack on the Church, Catholics, or even the pope. The 95 Theses were more of an observation Martin Luther did of actions the church was taking, and they were more of critiques to fix what he saw were incorrect actions by the church and pope. One of these issues was the pope accepting money to relieve people of their sins. He talks about it extensively in his theses, how accepting indulgences is not what Christianity is about and not what the pope should be about. He says instead of the person passing the starving poor and giving the money to the pope and church; instead Christianity teaches that man should give that money to the poor. Along with this he doesn’t like that the pope does not use any of his own fortune for his personal spending and the spending of the church; this mainly comes from the People indulging the pope and church. Another huge issue Martin Luther has with the Catholic Church is the overstepping of power by the Church officials. This is also talked about extensively; he talks about how the pope does not have any power over the souls in purgatory; only god has power over those souls. And the pope should not be accepting indulgences from people to pardon souls of the dead that may be in purgatory. This goes for bishops and other clergymen who have power over their church; but only their church and should not be trying to be the ultimate ruler and take power from the leaders of the State. They are the voice of god not the arms of god; and they need to stay within their bounds.
Logan