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a most precise and nuanced look into the
life of the man legend and visionary
martin luther
sir
one day when luther is 21 years old he
experiences something which will affect
him for the rest of his life
suddenly a thunderstorm up a wild
violent one
luther is terrified of being struck by
lightning and dying because all his life
he has been told that he must earn a
place in heaven when he dies and he
doesn’t think he has done that quite yet
so he falls to his knees to pray not to
god but to saint anna so that she might
ask god to look after him
and luther promised that if god would
see him safely through the thunderstorm
he would offer the rest of his life to
god by becoming a monk
luther cannot understand it if god’s
intention is really for poor people to
spend all their money buying their way
out of punishment so they can go to
heaven and why should it be easier for
the rich to avoid a long time in
purgatory than it is for the poor he
thinks it’s way too much about money and
too little about god when priests sell
letters of indulgence with slogans such
as when the coin in the coffin clings
the soul from purgatory springs luther
wants to discuss this with other monks
and priests so he writes 95 theses and
nails them to the church door in
wittenberg where he lives the church
door you see acts as a form of bulletin
board and is a completely normal way to
put things up for debate
luther is allowed to defend himself at a
trial in the city of warmth the church
hopes that luther will withdraw what he
said and wrote so that everything can
return to normal
but luther will not he maintains that if
no one can prove him wrong through
arguments or quotes from the bible he
must be right
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i cannot and i will not regret what i
have said
i cannot act against my conscience
luther says
not many in the audience have heard the
word conscience before but they are in
no doubt as to whether luther stands
firm on his beliefs or not as a result
they declare him an outlaw
this means that anyone now has a duty to
catch him and hand him over to the
authorities
luther has been outlawed he is forced to
hide he hides in his friend elector
frederick’s castle vargboard
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up until then the bible has only existed
in greek and latin
while hiding at fordburg luther
translates the entire new testament into
german luther wants people to have the
opportunity to read the bible in their
own language so they do not depend on
the priests and the church’s
interpretation
because luther sees the bible as god
speaking to all people
when people get access to reading the
bible themselves they also begin to use
the words of the bible as an argument
for all sorts of things
luther has started something he cannot
control his new thoughts are used as
arguments in the power struggles of
princess in revolts and in the struggle
between kings princess and the pope
about who actually decides what soon
everyone is quarreling and fighting some
even go to war
luther had dreamt about changing the
church he knew
but his thoughts ended up splitting the
church in two the catholic church and
the protestant church
and that soon becomes important for many
other things than the church
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