John Masterson
History
Dr. Szromba
12-18-16
The Reformation Era In the middle ages, the church was the main picture of society. People were living life not through how they truly wanted, but by how they thought the church would accept their ways of life. By the sixteenth century people were beginning to see flaws in the church. These flaws were apparent through both spiritual and political points of view. The amount of authority that the church had in the fifteenth century had strongly diminished by the time the sixteenth century came around.
For most people that were questioning the church, the most troubling practice of the church was the sale of indulgences. An indulgence, was a piece of paper signed by the pope, that would eliminate the penalty of living in purgatory due to sin after one’s death. During the late fifteenth century, the taking away of sin was apparent in both the living and the dead. One could cleanse the soul of the dead, such as a passed relative, by purchasing an indulgence. This was very troubling because people were …show more content…
Leo X had renewed this indulgence in the year 1513. Other officials within the church began the sale of indulgences to faithful members of the church. In response to these sales, a young monk named Martin Luther began protesting and he posted his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Wittenberg church.
Luther established that the main issue with the question of the sale of indulgences, was the issue of salvation. Luther argued that the sale of indulgences completely cheapens both the church and the Christian faith. By being able to sell and by indulgences for your own sins or your passed family members’ sins, it will make people put into question why they should be good followers in the first place, if they can just purchase an indulgence and make everything sinful they have done just
History
Dr. Szromba
12-18-16
The Reformation Era In the middle ages, the church was the main picture of society. People were living life not through how they truly wanted, but by how they thought the church would accept their ways of life. By the sixteenth century people were beginning to see flaws in the church. These flaws were apparent through both spiritual and political points of view. The amount of authority that the church had in the fifteenth century had strongly diminished by the time the sixteenth century came around.
For most people that were questioning the church, the most troubling practice of the church was the sale of indulgences. An indulgence, was a piece of paper signed by the pope, that would eliminate the penalty of living in purgatory due to sin after one’s death. During the late fifteenth century, the taking away of sin was apparent in both the living and the dead. One could cleanse the soul of the dead, such as a passed relative, by purchasing an indulgence. This was very troubling because people were …show more content…
Leo X had renewed this indulgence in the year 1513. Other officials within the church began the sale of indulgences to faithful members of the church. In response to these sales, a young monk named Martin Luther began protesting and he posted his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Wittenberg church.
Luther established that the main issue with the question of the sale of indulgences, was the issue of salvation. Luther argued that the sale of indulgences completely cheapens both the church and the Christian faith. By being able to sell and by indulgences for your own sins or your passed family members’ sins, it will make people put into question why they should be good followers in the first place, if they can just purchase an indulgence and make everything sinful they have done just