What Happened In The Book Ninety-Five Theses

Naturally when a person gets power over a whole religion just in the through the words they speak, they will abuse the privilege. That is exactly what happened before the 16th century, priests used their power over Catholics to their advantage. They turned religion into a business; they told believers to pay for salvation, and forgiveness. Of course, wanting the best in their current and after life, the believers blindly did as they were told. Their faith in the priest was used against them as they were tricked out of their money. Eventually someone was going to come along and point out the preposterous teachings, and protest against them. Which is exactly what happened around the 16th century. “Luther is said to have posted his Ninety-five
These on the door of the Castle Church, Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31, 1517, the eve of All Saints’ Day- the traditional date for the beginning of the reformation.”(Reformation Encyclopedia) Luther called out on the twisted act of the priests, which then started the Reformation. The Reformation was a time where Protestants, believers who took of their blindfolds of faith, protested against the power of the priests. They taught that religion was as one perceived it, not something that others could teach to do. Protestants main goal was to stop the indulgences, to spread the idea that religion is based off of how you interpret it, and that priests are there as guides, not to dictate how a person should worship. Luther brought up all these beliefs in his book Ninety-five theses.
He brought attention to how the indulgences are wrongdoings, raising a lot of suspicion against the priests. Luther talked about how salvation was something earned through faith, and that scripture is as one interprets it; it’s wrong to against ones own conscience. He also said that a “higher” being isn’t necessary to tell you what to believe; beliefs are based off of how you read and interpreted the writing. Luther believed that your spiritually authority relied on you, and churched were there to guide you to straight the path, saying that each man is his own
priest. Luther’s teachings cause a great conflict between the priests and him. They were displeased with his disobedience to them, so the Diet of Worms took the problems into their own hands. He refused to react, practicing what he preached, thus he was ostracized and paid for his “defiance” with his life. Instead of resolving the conflict by executing the root of it, the Diet of Worms added fuel to the fire. Thus the group of Protestant, Lutherans, began. Martin Luther was able to bring attention to the scandal, teach his beliefs, die for them, and create a cult.
Luther could be considered one of the leaders or roots of the Reformation because of the great impact he had on its growth. Luther put in the idea of individualistic ethic. “Protestants insisted on the individual’s rights and responsibilities to interpret Scripture according to the dictates of his or her conscience,” (How did) which is one of Luther’s teachings. His played a crucial role in the Reformation, helping people get their religious rights by separating them from the Church (even thought that wasn’t his original intention). “Like the Renaissance, the Reformation drew its inspiration from the ancient world… Reformation thinkers aspired to restore the spiritual purity of early Christianity, before the growth of a powerful clergy and a dogmatic theology. “ (How did) The act of using the past to correct the present and shape the future made the reformation very significant. This action was an attempt to return religion to its original beauty and
purity. The Reformation had an enormous impact on how religion and churches are today. Not only did it help religion become more based on faith than power, but it also had a lasting effect on the social and political aspects of society. Socially and politically it provided much more freedom, “indirectly Protestantism contributed to the growth of political liberty – another feature of the modern West. Protestantism accomplished this by providing religious justification for revolution against tyrannical rule.” (How did) Although it did have its downside, “with decades of rebellions, wars and bloody persecutions. The Thirty Years’ War alone may have cost Germany 40 percent of its population” (History.com) The Reformation was a fight for religious freedom, which had a negative effect on population, but in the end it impacted society in a positive way. “The Reformation’s positive repercussions can be seen in the intellectual and cultural flourishing it inspired on all sides of the schism.” (History.com) The Reformation was an uplifting protest. It wasn’t one of a kind, in fact there were many tries before, but it was the most successful. Luther helped with the success of the Reformation by going to the root of the conflict and providing other beliefs and reason, instead of blaming the priests for being corrupt. The Reformation was a very tense time in history, but it started the path to the religious freedom we have today. Splitting up and stopping priests from abusing power was a huge milestone in history, one that we have the honor of seeing the after affects of.