Martin Luther's Religious Problem

Luther’s religious problem started because he always believed he was going to be damned. It all started when Luther had an unexpected life change that made him to become a monk in order to be close to God. Surprisingly, even after becoming a monk, he still felt like he was not worthy in God’s eyes. “Even the church's promise of grace in the sacraments and “good works” of the church brought him no comfort” (329). This led him to research the bible, and analyze how to find peace. “Luther interpreted this statement as meaning that people were saved only through God's mercy, not through their own efforts to live as good Christians” (329). He stated that Christ already sacrificed for everyone so people did not have to do anything besides have faith in believing in him. This led him to question about life and challenged how Catholicism was practiced. First, Martin Luther was challenging the church in the issues of people’s atonement. People were criticizing how the church were selling these indulgences, so they can contribute money. One example stated in West of the World textbook, “In 1517, Pope Leo X had issued a special indulgence to finance the construction of a new St. Peter's Church in Rome that would replace an old, smaller one” (331). This made Luther criticize the

“With Luther's strong words “It is foolish to think that papal indulgences … can absolve a man,” the battle lines were drawn” (331) The fact that his argument got the attention of many people, they started to question the church and felt bitter about giving them money. Luther should be considered lucky because people would get in trouble or even killed for questioning the Church. Luther got lucky because he grabbed so many people’s attention that they needed him alive. Also, thanks to the printing press, Luther was able to get his argument around in public for many people to