#95 thesis

My AP Euro Teacher is making us make memes, so expect a lot of those on here

*smiles* Martin Luther had OCD

In this age where technology and innovation multiplies in terms of months rather than centuries, it will not take hundreds of years for Bitcoin or the Blockchain to invoke change at every level of society like it did for Martin Luther's ideas to spread across Europe.  And with this in mind, the world will not have to wait long to see changes manifest before their eyes, and where many will even live to see these changes usher humanity into a similar paradigm shift like we experienced 500 years ago.

And who said the 95 Theses aren’t relevant today?

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Martin Luther on the wholesale of Indulgences and Papal authority (from his 95 Thesis): "47. Christians are to be taught that the buying of pardons is a matter of free will, and not of commandment. 48. Christians are to be taught that the pope, in granting pardons, needs, and therefore desires, their devout prayer for him more than the money they bring. 49. Christians are to be taught that the pope's pardons are useful, if they do not put their trust in them; but altogether harmful, if through them they lose their fear of God. 50. Christians are to be taught that if the pope knew the exactions of the pardon-preachers, he would rather that St. Peter's Church should go to ashes, than that it should be built up with the skin, flesh and bones of his sheep. 41. Christians are to be taught that it would be the pope's wish, as it is his duty, to give of his own money to very many of those from whom certain hawkers of pardons cajole money, even though the church of St. Peter might have to be sold. 52. The assurance of salvation by letters of pardon is vain, even though the commissary, nay, even though the pope himself, were to stake his soul upon it. 53. They are enemies of Christ and of the pope, who bid the Word of God be altogether silent in some Churches, in order that pardons ay be preached in others. 54. Injury is done the Word of God when, in the same sermon, an equal or a longer time is spent o pardons than on this Word. 55. It must be the intention of the pope that if pardons, which are a very small thing, are celebrated with one bell, with a single processions and ceremonies, then the Gospel, which is the very greatest thing, should be preached with a hundred bells, a hundred processions, a hundred ceremonies. 56. The "treasures of the Church," out of which the pope grants indulgences, are not sufficiently named or known among the people of Christ. 57. That they are not temporal treasures is certainly evident, for many of the vendors do not pour out such treasures so easily, but only gather them. 58. Nor are they the merits of Christ and the Saints, for even without the pope, these always work grace for the inner man, and the cross, death, and hell for the outward man. 59. St. Lawrence said that the treasures of the Church were the Church's poor, but he spoke according to the usage of the word in his own time. 60. Without rashness we say that the keys of the Church, given by Christ's merit, are that treasure; 61. For it is clear that for the remission of penalties and of reserved cases, the power of the pope is of itself sufficient. 62. The true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of the glory and the grace of God. 63. But this treasure is naturally most odious, for it makes the first to be last. 64. On the other hand, the treasure of indulgences is naturally most acceptable, for it makes the last to be first. 65. Therefore the treasures of the Gospel are nets with which they formerly were wont to fish for men of riches. 66. The treasures of the indulgences are nets with which they now fish for the riches of men. 67. The indulgences which the preachers cry as the "greatest graces" are known to be truly such, in so far as they promote gain. 68. Yet they are in truth the very smallest graces compared with the grace of God and the piety of the Cross. 69. Bishops and curates are bound to admit the commissaries of apostolic pardons, with all reverence. 70. But still more are they bound to strain all their eyes and attend with all their ears, lest these men preach their own dreams instead of the commission of the pope. 71. He who speaks against the truth of apostolic pardons, let him be anathema and accursed! 72. But he who guards against the lust and license of the pardon-preachers, let him be blessed! 73. The pope justly thunders against those who, by any art, contrive the injury of the traffic in pardons. 74. But much more does he intend to thunder against those who use the pretext of pardons to contrive the injury of holy love and truth. 75. To think the papal pardons so great that they could absolve a man even if he had committed an impossible sin and violated the Mother of God -this is madness. 76. We say, on the contrary, that the papal pardons are not able to remove the very least of venial sins, so far as its guilt is concerned. 77. It is said that even St. Peter, if he were now Pope, could not bestow greater graces; this is blasphemy against St. Peter and against the Pope." Whereas before he had just restricted his criticism to the wholesale of Indulgences and other Catholic practices. Now, he switched gears, pointed fingers directly at the papacy, also scolding Christians who believed that the Indulgences were enough to absolve them or their loved ones of their sins, or make them forget their moral obligations as Christians. Luther believed that faith alone could save someone and while he did value charity, he believed that most of the people who participated in this, like those who sold and bought indulgences, just did it out of some misplaced narcissist sentiment to show off, and virtue-signal to their peers. Basically 'look how good I am, helping the poor and speaking for those who can't speak for themselves.' Luther also thought it was one of the worst kinds of hypocrisies that run contrary to Christ's teachings. Nevertheless, as you will see in the other thesis I will post here until we get to October 31st where we will be celebrating 500 years after he nailed these to the university of Wittemberg, his intention was not to separate from the church but rather to reform it. Had things not gone too far, Luther would have faded into obscurity with a handful of followers to continue his work like the Lollards in England who followed the teachings of John Wycliff (which John of Gaunt, the grandfather of Europe and 1st Duke of Lancaster was a sympathizer of); or burned at the stake like the Dominican Friar Giacommo Savonarola. But he preserved thanks to the German Princes sponsoring him. And if you read some of his later works, you will see that he wasn't as radical as some of his enemies made him out to be and much of his views stayed the same. It was the people that came after him, who wanted to separate themselves from the church from the very beginning, that he disagreed the most with. But he supported some of them because Protestants had to stick together and if he didn't, the Protestant Reformation would not survive. In regards to some of the kings that took his advice on kings on being the heads of spiritual matters in their kingdom seriously, he railed against some of them, most notably Henry VIII of England whom he considered a bigger hypocrite than the pope. For better or for worse, he changed the course of human history. Centuries after his death, he continues to generate controversy. Many religious and social leaders have cited him as their main source of inspiration while others believe that without him, Western civilization would not have gone as far as it did. The Victorian era, more than the Renaissance itself, did a lot to boost his image and elevate him to saint status. An irony in itself and if there is an afterlife, Luther would probably have considered this sacrilege. Picture: 1521 woodcut of an indulgence seller