Luther: ‘Here I stand; I can do no other.’
On the 31st of October, 1915, an unknown German monk nailed his thesis to the door of the Church of Wittenberg. Enclosed within his thesis, were ninety-five allegations of the clerical abuses conducted by priests under the Catholic church. Little did he know that this was only one of a series of revolutionary events that he would partake in in order to reform Christianity.
The name of this monk was Martin Luther. Born in Eisleben in 1483, Martin Luther grew up in a world that revolved around theology. He spent his years studying Christianity, devoted to the Catholic church– until the distribution of indulgences.
With Pope Leo X’s ambition to develop the spiritual home of Catholic Church, it seemed only wise to begin at the heart, which was the St. Peter’s Basilica, which was in neglected condition. In order to accumulate the necessary funds, he appointed John Tetzel to increase the sales of indulgences in Europe through emphatic promotion.
Martin Luther was an erudite fellow. He was adept in theology, therefore could call contrast to actions that were deemed appropriate in the Bible to those by the church. One such action was selling indulgences. Indulgences were documents that could be purchased, which deluded individuals to believe that by purchase their sins would be forgiven thereby their faith justified.
According to Luther, thus the Bible, faith could only be justified by god. Indulgences were issued by the Catholic church, thereby it was indirectly the pope who was justifying the faith of those who purchased. Luther found this form of deceit to be unacceptable. The church were impoverishing those they were responsible for in enticement, while enriching themselves.
Moreover, Luther had observed further misconduct committed by the Catholic church. For example, priests were hiring prostituted in order to provide them with sexual desire, which was restricted by the Bible. These were priests in Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire and the holiest site in all Christianity.