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Some Church leaders had become corrupt. Pope Alexander VI, for example, admitted that he had fathered several children, also, many Popes were pursuing worldly affairs. Priests and monks were so poorly educated that they could scarcely read. Others broke their vows by marrying, gambling and drinking to excess.
Luther decided to take a public stand about reformation because of the actions of a friar named Johann Tetzel.

Tetzel

was raising money to rebuild St. Peter's cathedral by selling indulgences. An indulgence was a pardon. It released a sinner from the penalty that a priest imposed for sins. Indulgences were not supposed to affect God's right to judge. But Tetzel

gave people the impression that by buying indulgences, they could buy their way to heaven.

Answer

All of the above is what is commonly put in books these days, the reality is quite different. Indeed there was more than a little ignorance on the part of the clergy, monks, and friars, unfortunately, Martin Luther was one of them. When he issued his 95 Theses it was a collection of Luther's objections; however, they are pretty equally ignorant of the Catholic Church. Some of them called for things that were already Church doctrine, others were so off the wall as to be ludicrous. Martin, himself, was an example of what needed to be reformed in the Church, he voluntarily took lifelong vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, but then left his friary without even trying to seek permission, and proceeded to lead a sinful life of drunken debauchery. Fr. Johann Tetzel

did none of the things that Martin Luther said that he did. One could always earn an indulgence for the three works of penance: fasting, prayer, and almsgiving.

Due to the stink that Martin Luther raised, you can no longer get one for almsgiving.

Indulgences are a release from the temporal punishment due for already forgiven sin, and are still regularly issued. Bottom line? Martin Luther never wanted to "reform" the Church. The Bishops and the Pope repeatedly

offered him all kinds of concessions including repeated offers to sit down and talk with him. He pompously refused to talk with them, and made a big deal out of burning their gracious invitations. Martin Luther was never serious, and no more intended Christianity than the man in the moon. From his own pen he wrote that man should sin greatly, Martin Luther threw books out of The Bible, and rewrote the ones that remained.

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11y ago
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12y ago

Martin Luther did not leave the Catholic Church. He was a Pius and holy priest who was probably overly scrupulous about his human desires and the direct conflict that this put him in with relation to his belief about the safety of his eternal life.

It is documented that he went to confession sometimes as many as four times a day.... and when he was finished he found himself in a state of deep concern about whether or not he was truly sorry for his sins and therefor forgiven... back he would go again.

I experienced somewhat the same problem when I was a boy of twelve or thirteen.

I have not read anywhere what the terrible sins were that he confessed so often but I speculate he was obsessed with his purity... and I only say this because I recall in my youth and childhood how obsessed the "holy nuns" of various religious communities were with the sins that could be committed against the sixth and the ninth commandments. I dare say that one or two priests had this same predilection.

As an Irish descendant I've often wondered if this was the fault of Irish mothers.... but for sure... not my mother.

Back to the topic at hand.... Martin Luther and did he really leave the Catholic Church? I believe he saw some real problems with how the Church was raising money and believed it was entirely wrong. I believe he went to his superiors and challenged the merit of buying and selling indulgences.

I think that was only one of the ninety five theses that he found to be offensive ... but while he was at it .... he might just as well straighten out the whole mess.

He was challenging a Pope who was leading an army against the pagans and needed money to pay for this obsession. I can't explain the Pope. I can only guess that it all started out somewhat innocently and developed into some pretty wicked thinking.

Martin wanted to get it straight. He was having enough problems with his sins and confessions and just wanted to get it right.... and as has happened so many times before, he threw the "baby out with the bath water".

Martin Luther knew he was right and the Pope couldn't admit that he was wrong .. probably rested his decision on tradition... and excommunicated Martin Luther.

Luther had no place to go. He had the backing of the princes of Germany who were tired of paying dues to the Church to support Her wars and to entrench her in more wealth and power.

Luther carried on, the invention of the printing press made it impossible to burn him as a heretic, and thus we had the first split from within the Catholic Church and the birth of Lutheranism.

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10y ago

Because Luther and others opposed what they perceived as false doctrines and ecclesiastic malpractice by the Roman Catholic Church, especially the sale of indulgences. The reformers saw this as evidence of the systemic corruption of the Church's Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, which included the Pope.

Catholic AnswerSorry, Martin Luther might, in the very first weeks, have made some effort to "reform" the Catholic Church, but he quickly dropped this façade and immediately moved to start his own church.
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14y ago

Because the church abused the power over indulgences and simony so martin Luther felt it was wrong

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Q: Why did Martin Luther leave the Catholic church?
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What was Martin Luther trying to do to the Catholic Church?

There were (and are) abuses of power by the Catholic church, such as the selling of indulgences and immorality on the part of the church hierarchy..Catholic AnswerMartin Luther attached the Catholic Church because of sin, mostly his own. He was an Augustinian Friar under solemn vows (which he had made voluntarily after years of prayer and reflection) of poverty, chastity, and obedience. He left his Order without even asking for permission or a dispensation from his vows, and proceeded to flaunt all of them - in a rather spectacular fashion. M. Luther had severe problems with Christian morality and rather than repenting, believing in the power of Christ to save him; he rewrote Christianity into something else (now called protestantism and Lutheranism) in which he didn't have to live by the Gospel and could claim he was saved despite himself. He attacked the Catholic Church in an attempt to deny responsibility for his actions. fromRadio Replies, by Fathers Rumble and Carty, 1942221 The power of Romanism was shattered by Martin Luther, of immortal memory.Martin Luther is undoubtedly an outstanding figure in history. But the immortal memory of Luther will become less and less pleasant as the facts concerning him become known. Those who idealize Luther can do so only by ignoring an immense amount of inconvenient information. He was a priest of the Catholic Church, but one who was not faithful to his obligations even as a Christian. On his own admissions he was a victim of both immorality and drunkenness; and he was the most intolerant of men. Far from granting liberty of conscience, he refused to allow anyone to think differently from himself, and coolly said, "Whoever teaches otherwise than I teach is a child of hell."


Why did Luther have a conflict with the Roman Catholic Church?

It's just Catholic, not Roman Catholic. Roman is an epithet first commonly used in England after the protestant revolt to describe the Catholic Church. It is never used by the official Catholic Church."Because the roman catholic church was taking the tithe money and using it for themselves!" This was the original answer posted by someone else, however, it is highly inaccurate and doesn't give the full picture. Martin Luther disagreed with many things. 1: The authority of the Church. Martin Luther did NOT believe in the Pope as the authority of the Church. After the resurrection, Jesus gave the keys of his Church to Peter to be the "physical" leader in His stead. After Peter died, a new leader was chosen and since then, Catholics have always had a Pope. 2: "By Faith alone we are saved" Martin Luther believed that if one just has faith, then he/she is saved and claimed that it was even written in the Bible. When Martin Luther translated the Bible from original Greek to German he added words. Such as, Romans 3:28, "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith {"allein" (English 'alone')} apart from the deeds of the law." Allein, was added in by Martin Luther and even some Protestant scholars have admitted that this is true, though some denied it. Catholics strongly disagree with the "Faith alone" statement and insist that one must also try to be perfect AND faithful. --This also ties in with Martin Luther's disagreement with confession and repentance. He states, "Be a sinner, and sin boldly, but believe more boldly still. Sin shall not drag us away from Him, even should we commit fornication or murder thousands and thousands of times a day (Luther, M. Letter of August 1, 1521 as quoted in Stoddard, p.93)." Yet Catholics firmly believe in the repentance of one's sins. There are many other things that Martin Luther disagreed with the Catholic faith. As to the answer left beforehand, many people have the misconception that the Catholics were "money hogs." In actuality, the Church was quite poor and what little money it did have, was spent on the long and painstaking process of translating and hand-printing the Bible and distributing them among Churches around Europe, during the middle ages. That point of time with the Church does not tie in with Martin Luther..Answer from a Catholic who used to be a LutheranI'm sorry, but people have to stop dancing around the main issue here. If you actually read Martin Luther's own writings, the man had a problem with alcohol and sex. The man threw off his lifelong religious vows of chastity, obedience, and poverty without so much as a by-your-leave and proceeded to trash the Church for anything he could think of to get the attention off himself as he broke every commandment Our Blessed Lord left us. Martin Luther did not want to try to be good and follow God, so he made up his own religion that allowed him to "sin and sin greatly" and God would still save him, in spite of his sin (his words, not mine). Martin Luther disagreed with the Church because the Church had constantly taught the morality of Jesus calling people to "repent and believe in the Gospel." Luther did NOT want to repent, nor did he want to believe in the Gospel, he wanted to believe that he was saved - period. So the Catholic faith that Our Blessed Lord entrusted to St. Peter and his successors had to go. The German princes loved it as they no longer had to send tithes to Rome, so they followed Luther into the gutter, and took the Church away from the common people.


Why did Martin Luther promote anti semitism?

Martin Luther was a horrible anti-semite and this showed through in most of his writings. It probably influenced his decision to leave Catholicism as Catholicism is firmly based on Judaism, and considers the entire Old Testament as relevant to Christian life, and fulfilled in Our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ. Martin Luther did more than reject the Old Testament, he rejected the Ten Commandments and the entire moral and ethical basis for Christianity.


Where did Martin Luther first announced his opposition to the Catholic Church?

The chruch was too rich:The church owned about one third of all of the land in England. An ordinary peasant had to give 10% of their harvest ( a tithe) to the priest every year. Some felt that the bishops, priests and monks lived in luxury whilst the poor suffered.The priest didn't lead a very holy life:Soem priests had a few jobs and neglected their work. Villagers once told the Bishop of Hereford.'The priest put his horses and sheep in the churchyard... he was away for 6 weeks and made no arrangement for a substitute. Sir John (the priest) spends his time in the taverns (pubs) and there his tongue is loosened to the scande of everyone. He is living with a woman Margaret and he cannot read nor write and so cannot look after the parishers' souls'Ordinary people did not think soem priests were setting a very good example to the people living in the village or town.Ordinary people couldn't understand church services:The Bible was written in Latin and the church services were held in this language as well. People said they found it difficult to feel close to God if they couldn't understand what was being said in church.Poor People couldn't afford indulgences:When a person died, they went to heaven or hell. It was thought you passed through a place called purgatory on the way. In purgatory, people believed you were punished for any sins you may of commited whilst you were alive. It wasn't meant to be a nice place to stay very long. When you were alive, you could buy indulgences from a bishop. This meant that you travelled through purgatory quicker. Rich people could buy lots of indulgences. Poor people didn't think it was fair. They thought that they were being punished for being poor..Catholic AnswerMartin Luther basically was angry with the Catholic Church because he was a very misguided soul who could not reconcile his life with the teachings of Christ. So he changed the teachings of Christ in order to not feel guilty about the way he lived. There were things wrong with the Church at the time, but you do not leave the Church that Jesus Christ founded because its members are sinning and form your own. Martin Luther, on the other hand, had, after years of prayer and reflection, made solemn vows of lifelong poverty, chastity, and obedience. He then left his monastery without even asking permission, and proceeded to violate everyone of his vows in a very public, disgusting way: throwing away his salvation with both hands, and dragging others with him. He was angry with the Catholic Church as they were trying to hold him to a moral life that Our Blessed Lord requested of him, and he vowed himself to, and they were holding him to it, and he didn't want to follow it. .from Radio Replies, by Fathers Rumble and Carty, 1942221 The power of Romanism was shattered by Martin Luther, of immortal memory.Martin Luther is undoubtedly an outstanding figure in history. But the immortal memory of Luther will become less and less pleasant as the facts concerning him become known. Those who idealize Luther can do so only by ignoring an immense amount of inconvenient information. He was a priest of the Catholic Church, but one who was not faithful to his obligations even as a Christian. On his own admissions he was a victim of both immorality and drunkenness; and he was the most intolerant of men. Far from granting liberty of conscience, he refused to allow anyone to think differently from himself, and coolly said, "Whoever teaches otherwise than I teach is a child of hell.


What did Martin Luther do while he was in hiding?

While Martin Luther was in "hiding" he translated the New Testament from Greek into German, from the website on his biography:Luther was allowed to leave Worms, but he was now considered an outlaw. Emperor Charles issued the Edict of Worms, declaring Luther a heretic and ordering his death.Frederick the Wise of Saxony favored Luther and arranged for him to be "kidnapped" and taken to Wartburg Castle near the town of Eisenach..Luther disguised himself as a nobleman, grew a beard and called himself "Junker Jörg". He was safe in the Wartburg, a strong fortress on the top of a mountain, under the protection of the local prince.He spent nearly a year there, writing furiously and fighting depression and numerous physical ailments. It was in a small study in the castle in 1522 that he translated the New Testament from Greek into German and profoundly influenced the form and standardization of the German language.

Related questions

Who caused many people to leave the Catholic Church?

Martin luther


The founder of the protestant church left the cathoilic church?

Well, Martin Luther found Protestantism but he never wanted to separate from the Catholic church just change their ways, But yes he did leave the Catholic Church.


Did Martin Luther want to leave the Catholic Church?

He evidently did. When given the opportunity to recant his diatribe and work within the Catholic Church to reform it, he decided to go his own way and was excommunicated. That should have been little surprise to him.


Why was Martin Luther troubled by what he saw in the Catholic Church?

.Catholic AnswerMartin Luther was troubled by his own conscience. He could not abide that the Church, and his religious Order were holding him to a moral standard, so he had to leave the Church to indulge himself. There were various things that he complained about the Church, but as he, himself, is hardly credible, they would all be moot. For a complete discussion about Martin Luther's "issues" please see the book below.


What helped Martin Luther break away from the Catholic Church?

Neither Martin Luther King, Sr. nor Martin Luther King Jr. ever broke away from the Catholic Church. They were both ever Baptists, and never Catholics. It was correctly the man they had been named after, Martin Luther, who had the controversy with the Catholic Church five hundred years earlier. Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Catholic Church. They turned him away. He did not leave them.


Did not martin Luther want to marry a nun which is why he started his protest?

No: he protested how the Catholic Church was at the time...buying indulgences for sin, and the fact that the Catholic church was was very corrupt at the time. He did not reallly want to leave the Catholic Church, but was more or less forced out, because he could not along with a lot of the corruption.


Why was the Catholic Church so concerned about Martin Luther?

.Catholic AnswerThe Church was so concerned about Martin Luther because first of all, he was an Augustian Friar, and supposedly ordained a priest, thus under solemn vows to chastity, obedience, and poverty; and the Church had taken on the responsibility for his spiritual welfare when he voluntarily took those vows. .Secondly, after he left, abandoning his solemn vows without asking permission, and proceeding to violate them, he started to preach heresy and some of the princes of northern Germany were using his preaching as an excuse to leave the Church. At that point, Martin Luther's personal problems were starting to affect large numbers of the Christian faithful who were being denied the Sacraments by their princes, so the Church became very concerned as she was responsible for these people's eternal salvation..Eventually, Martin Luther's personal sins and heresy led to the lost of thousands of souls, denying them the sacraments and the Church, and generations after them. That is why the Catholic Church was so concerned about Martin Luther


What was one source of Martin Luther's conflict with the catholic church?

Another answer from our community:. Martin Luther's primary "gripe" with the Catholic Church was that the Church was holding him accountable for his moral behavior. In addition, M. Luther, supposedly, was a priest in the Augustinian Order. For an Augustinian priest, he was remarkably ignorant of his faith and his theology. Martin Luther objected to his vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and proceeded to leave his monastery without permission, and to break every one of his vows, without bothering to even ask for a dispensation from his solemnly professed vows. Martin Luther had many, many problems, and he blamed the Church for all of them. For a complete discussion of his "gripes" please get the book The Facts About Luther, by Patrick O'Hare:


How many complaints did martin Luther make against the catholic church?

Martin Luther was against the pope's idea of selling indulgences. He was not against the catholic faith. There are no mistakes in the catholic church.Further informationIndeed, Martin Luther was not looking for mistakes: he had been brought up and trained in the Catholic church, and sought earnestly for the Truth as taught by Christ. No one denomination is infallible, for the simple reason that the people who organise and lead the various denominations are not infallible, and Luther died still regarding himself as a Catholic. He did not leave the church because of any perceived "mistakes", but he was excommunicated for his later actions.One of Luther's biggest struggles was with the Church's demands of the time that one could only earn favour with God through good works. Through his in-depth study of the Scriptures, he reached the conclusion that salvation is a gift of God's grace, received by faith alone and by trust in Christ's death on the cross as the only means to that salvation. It was this and his objection to the sale of indulgences that led him to question the teachings of the Roman Catholic church: in particular, the nature of penance, the authority of the pope and the usefulness of indulgences.Luther was not looking for mistakes.


Why was Martin Luther in a position to make judgment in the Catholic Church?

Another answer from our community:Actually, Martin Luther, as an Augustinian Friar, doubly under vows both to his bishop, and to his Order, was in no position to pass judgment on the Body of Christ, which is what the Catholic Church is. Our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, guaranteed the Catholic Church until the end of the world, and set St. Peter (and his successors) over it, sending the Holy Spirit to guide it always. Any such judgment on Martin Luther's part would be presumption of the worst kind of sin.However, I am sure there are those who would say that his being a priest and a religious gave him the position to make judgment on the Catholic Church, but they would all be protestants anyway.


Who was the founder of the protestant religion?

I would not say "Protestant Christianity" was "FOUNDED," to me the best way to explain it would be started by a spark, Martin Luther's nailing the 95 Thesis to the church door in Wittenberg, because of differences he had with the Roman Church [Luther did not want to leave the church... He was forced]. Different Christian denominations began because of their disagreements with Martin Luther and then their disagreements with each other.


What did Martin Luther do to break up the Catholic church?

Martin Luther did to break up with the Catholic church in the time of October 31,1517 in Wittenburg Germany.He made the 95 thesis to stamp it in Wittenburg church castle.The 95 thesis was his allegation against the teaching of the Catholic church.