I went to many years of Catholic school, during which we studied lots of other religions including Lutheranism. I always thought Martin Luther was correct in his disdain for the sale of indulgences and the accumulation and hoarding of wealth by the Catholic church. The accumulation of wealth is one of the biggest issues I have with organized religion. I Iiked Martin Luther, though he was not looked on fondly by many Catholics.

A few weeks ago, I found out that Martin Luther is my 12th great grandfather. I have been researching Martin Luther more. I know there are many Lutherans and other protestants on here. What are your thoughts on Martin Luther?

Keith

He was a great reformer. He wanted everyone to read and study the Bible and not relay solely on what the preacher says. Watch the movie Martin Luther which is a decent movie about him.

He made some great points about the church and the necessary Reformation.

In old age, his writing was filled with anti-Semitism.

As with most most people I think the good out weighed the bad.

I'm very comfortable with my faith as a Lutheran, a word that was originally used as an insult.

he saw the issues with the Catholic church at the time .where what they said and what they did didn't line up. he brought is well reasoned grievances to the leadership and they didn't listen so he did the only thing a man of strong conviction could do, he parted ways and followed the path he believed was right. I have been Catholic and catholic (Lutheran) until changes about 10 years ago there was hardly any way of telling a Catholic and a catholic service apart except the pastors wife was sitting in the front row.

then the Catholic church changed up the Nicene creed , the peace and a few other things.

I think he was one of the first to denounce Catholic policy of their "men of the cloth" NOT marrying, since it is not Biblically supported.

Like Adam said about Luther, "Don't trust the priests word, read the Word for yourself."

Luther had many problems with the Catholic Church at the time. The biggest ,and the one that started the Protestant church is that he proclaimed that we are saved by grace and grace alone. Good works alone cannot get us to heaven. One fun fact about him : He brewed his own beer. The first great Lutheran ! As far as antisemitism goes , I think that he believed that Jews could not be saved because they don't believe that Jesus is their savior. I don't think that he hated Jews , but that he was concerned about their souls. But I haven't read all of his writings.

His religious and spiritual accomplishments are huge, but to me the really huge gifts Martin Luther gave the world is he brought democracy to Christianity if you are willing and able to adopt it and he brought democracy to the whole world. His ideas spread rapidly as he was smart to use the printing press and his writings to reach millions near and far. He in many ways was a very conflicted human but then many times great change comes from those that have complex lives and personalities.

Bryce

No special thoughts on Martin Luther. He composed a lot of hymns. I deplore the wealth of the Catholic Church, especially in SA countries where poverty is common. Wife just visited a church in Equator that contained four tons of gold. At least the gold hasn’t found it’s was to Rome.

Many of Luther's idealism's we influenced by Ulrich Zwingli. Zwingli was unhappy with the corruption of the Catholic church, and the idea of more or less praying to idols" like the statue of the "Virgin Mary" and other Saints amongst other things. They did much for the reform of religious ideology.

Luther wrote a book called "On the Jews and their Lies" it shows the dark side of the man.

I read some of it and rather than seeing the dark side of the man, I saw his passion and intense regard for the holiness of Jesus Christ and the name of God. I don't agree with him in the political sense of calling for the burning of synagogues, but I completely understand his burning anger at seeing Jesus Christ blasphemed, insulted, and treated with such arrogant disrespect.

He did what had to be done, considering the extreme corruption of the church of that time. I don't agree with him on everything, such as babies having to be baptized. That is not to say that the reformers were all angels. There was plenty of killing on both sides.

As a life long Mo synod lutheran, I see the Mo and Wi synods as the ones still standing against the liberalism that is the churches greatest challange in the years ahead. Luther was a rock and I admire the man greatly, but he was very conflicted, and hated to go against the Roman church, but couldn't stand what they were doing, and had been doing! Good post!