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The Lutheran Church's Indulgences In The Middle Ages

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The Lutheran Church's Indulgences In The Middle Ages
Indulgences were being sold during the Renaissance to take out and lessen the time souls had in purgatory. After the souls would be brought out of purgatory, the souls would then immediately get a “free pass” to heaven. The indulgences did not only benefit the person who bought them, but could also be for a deceased friend or relative, and be passed down to his or her heir. Pope Leo X was selling indulgences to earn money to build St. Peter’s Basilica. He also needed the money to pay back every bank in Rome and other associates. People in the Middle Ages accepted the power of the Church without a doubt. The Church had granted indulgences only for good deeds in the Middle Ages, but by the late 1400’s, indulgences could then be bought.
Martin Luther was a German monk and a theology …show more content…
The head of the Lutheran Church is someone from the elected councils. It is an important difference from Catholicism because Catholics have the Pope as their head leader meanwhile Lutherans do not think it is necessary to have someone to assist God. An elected council is a group of members that discuss many problems or give suggestions on how to improve in certain areas. The Pope is the bishop of Rome as head of the Roman Catholic Church. Lutherans and Catholics believe salvation is achieved through faith, yet Catholics believe the good works are involved with salvation as well. Catholics accept all the sacraments and priests perform all seven sacraments or rituals. Lutherans accept some of the sacraments but do not perform a few because they believe that rituals do not erase sin, only God is able to do such thing. The Bible is a source of truth for both religions but for Catholics, church tradition is a source that has been practiced for centuries. Catholics have a priest to read and teach the bible for others, meanwhile Lutherans believe that they themselves should read and interpret the
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