How Did Martin Luther Challenge Loyalty

To The Roman Catholic Church





     In our society today, it is ruled with a firm hand.

Similar aspects of our modern society and how our society



was. Back then in the early fifteen - hundreds were



similar. Such as today the public has the right to free



speech and to build and choose a strong democracy, and a



responsible loyal leader. The people in our life want to



seek independence and live their own life from the ruler.



In a unique way, all things have a ruler for instance the



church in our case for Catholics, Pope John Paul is the



Catholic religion ruler; and as it was back in the fifteen-



Hundreds, a man named Martin Luther became an important



ruler. In the year of fifteen-seventeen, a German monk



named Martin Luther wrote a reformation that changed the



life of the Roman Catholic Church.



     Martin Luther was born in Eisleben on November 10,1483



(Beers, Burton page 246). Luther’s family was peasants



but still being peasants they were wealthy. Luther was



survived by his father Hans Luther his occupation was a



copper miner(Flowers page 27). When Luther got older, his



father sent him out to study law at the University of



Wittenburg; not interested in the idea of law school,



Luther dropped the class sold his learning books and left



school. After Luther left school he later joined a



monastery. The reason why Luther decided to join a



monastery was one night, while walking home a storm began



to brew from up above while not taking shelter, lightning



struck Luther and in fear Luther cried “ Saint Anne, help



me; For I will become a monk”(Beers page 247). Being true



to his words Luther joined a monastery where he taught



Bible studies and studied theology in order to become a



professor. His friends and family were shocked by his



actions.



While in training Luther began to believe



that a person’s sin cannot be removed by just doing good



deeds but to have faith in god. With Luther’s beliefs he



then accuses the selling of indulgences or the removal of



sin after death in purgatory through money which was made



by the church. That is one way Luther is loyal to the



church but in this case Luther can do the opposite.



     Luther challenges loyalty against the church by



composing ninety-five questions for arguments against the



Pope, he also posts his reasons on the church of



Wittenburg, his reforms showed much impact on people’s



lives especially the peasants. These ninety-five questions



were called the ninety-five theses( Chambers page14 ).



Luther firsts starts out challenging loyalty to the Roman



Catholic Church by writing the ninety-five theses which



also were Latin proposals opposing the attitude the church



in raising money to build Saint Peter’s in Rome by selling



indulgences. Since his theses were in another language



they were later translated into German so that they may be



spread all over Europe. He later said that a person’s sins



cannot be reduced or removed by buying indulgences or by



doing good works but by only believing in God. His criticism to the church expanded and soon he battles the church authorities in other cases. He says that a Pope is not more powerful than the Bible’s authority and the conscience of a person. This means that the Pope cannot decide or judge someone by himself. A council of Bishops will decide what to do to the person who is accused. Pope Leo X was frightened at the movements of Luther. The Pope calls Luther and tells him to destroy all the theses he made or else he will be excommunicated. The church didn’t show loyalty to its people so Luther had to protest. The church was selfish. The Emperor Charles V questions him also about dropping his criticism. “But Luther refuses to withdraw his criticism about the church, (p.294).” He was tough like a “bull.” Instead, he declares, “ I cannot … go against my conscience. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. (p.294)." This declaration made him as a leader of reform-minded churches in the Holy Roman Empire. Luther find shelter in Saxony, there he translates the Bible in German language in only eleven weeks, then he became a well known figure in the history.

     Luther coaxes people to agree with him and to turn against the church. First Luther had people support his reforms. Second his ideas were spread by the support of his people. And third Most people liked his movements because they voided paying huge taxes given by the church. Some German princes even sided with Luther’s ideas because they also wanted independence from the Holy Roman Emperor. The Emperor tried to stop the princes from being so rude to the Pope and tells them to remain loyal so the princes began to protest. Luther’s had a great impact on peasants. “ They eagerly accepted the idea that the individual Christian is free to interpret the bible”(pg.295).

     Peasants had a major problem on paying taxes to the church. They wanted to read the Bible and wanted to choose their own ministers. There was a peasant’s war made by the poor people against the church. And Luther gets involved because of his writings he moves quickly and sides with the Princes. Emperor Charles V got angry and wanted to take all the Lutheran princes back to the Catholic Church and he set up a military force against them. But later, he made a compromise not to bother them anymore and divided the nation in fifteen-fifty-five because of the “ Diet of Augsberg.” The Princes later got their independence after the “ Diet of Augsberg.”( Rowan Noble ) As a result of these reforms, Germany was soon divided into two separate parts. Because of this most Lutheran Princes lived in the north part of Germany and most Catholic Princes lived in the South part.

     Martin Luther’s achievements were writing the ninety-five theses that showed his questions and reasons for his accusations, he taught three things to his people first he tells individuals that they cannot achieve salvation by their own efforts, second, he tells everybody that the guide for Christians is the Bible itself, and third, he coaxes people to turn against the Church. These were the things Martin Luther achieved to challenge loyalty to the Catholic Church. Martin Luther later died on February 15,1546. He became a very important figure and up to now people still follow his beliefs such as the religion called Lutheran, the Lutherans practice the teachings of Luther of what he taught back then. If you think about it today not everyone is loyal take the President for an example with the Monica Louinski conflict President Bill Clinton was not loyal to his country by lying to us and loosing our trust. Loyalty is an important factor in all lives.