Protestant Reform and Martin Luther

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Protestant Reformation The practices of The Catholic Church during the sixteenth century caused a monk named Martin Luther to question The Church’s ways. Luther watched as families suffered physically, emotionally and economically by the hands of The Church. Luther saw no basis for The Church to charge people for their sins or prevent them from learning to read The Bible themselves. He watched as the money built up The Palace, yet tore apart the fundamental and spiritual reasons one goes to church in the first place. In an effort to change the practices of The Church, he wrote the 95 Thesis. In these, he stated his views on the abuses of The Church. This was the beginning of a large movement that would change religious practices over the world. Martin Luther wasn’t the only person that felt The Church needed to reform its practices. Others that broke off from the Roman Catholic Church include John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli and even England’s King, Henry VIII. Each questioned the practices of The Church uniquely to their own beliefs. Some of them shared similar spiritual theories, others vastly differed. After translating The Bible into German, Martin Luther paved the way for Lutheranism. Luther believed that one must not repent their sins by payment or indulgences. He believed we simply needed to have faith in Christ and that salvation came from God. Luther also believed that priests should not be celibate. His beliefs also rejected the ideas of purgatory. Lastly, Lutheranism did not view transubstantiation in the same way as with Catholicism. Though Lutheranism maintained the closest in practices of the Catholic Church, it was their abuses of those sacraments that swayed Luther to reform. His initial intention was not to d... ... middle of paper ... ...lief that Jesus Christ is the son of God and He died to atone for every man’s sins. The marked difference during reformation was doing away with the authority of The Roman Catholic Church. The Protestants did not have a Pope or Bishop as head of their church. They were happy to have freedom to pray and worship alone or with fellow Protestants. Thanks to the invention of the printing press, the followers of The Roman Catholic Church now had the ability to read The Bible for themselves. They were given a chance to choose their own religion based on educated readings, rather than ignorance on the subject of faith. And though not all Protestant beliefs are the entirely same, they allow for a choice to live outside The Church and have a spiritual life that is not measured by threats and monetary contributions to the betterment of the Catholic Church and its leaders.

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