Why was Martin Luther critical of the Roman Catholic Church?

Answer 1

The short answer is abuse of wealth and power in Rome. He believed that salvation was offered by God, not the church or its emissaries. At the time, the church was selling "indulgences", pieces of paper that got you into heaven, for a price.

He never intended to split away from the church, but he would not be quieted about what he thought the church was doing wrong. He wrote "Disputatio pro declaratione virtutis indulgentiarum", known as the 95 Theses and nailed it to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany. The idea caught on like wildfire. Thus the Protestant Reformation was born.

Answer 2

Because he thought that what some Catholic preachers where doing was wrong because it was not in accord with papal teaching on indulgences.

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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.

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from

Radio Replies, by Fathers Rumble and Carty, 1942

221 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."

Answer 3

He disliked many things. He wrote the 95 theses which all criticized the Roman Catholic church. Some of the things which he disliked were selling indulges in order to repent your sins. Basically, the church was corrupt and money hungry. To see the complete list go to... http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/95_Theses

Answer 4

Martin Luther was a strict literalist. The church had been, in his opinion, straying from the actual Biblical teachings and was using it's position to gain power over the common person.

He set out setting up a religious reform based on very literal interpretations of The Bible. Confessing your sins to the priest, for example, was considered to be an abuse of power by Martin Luther. He felt that the church was doing so to gain access to the inner workings of the local population. He felt that the Bible was clear about confessing your sins to God.

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AnswerHe started by posting his 95 Theses on the bulletin board, which may have been the Church door according to legend. After that, he started questioning everything, and he did a lot of writing, eventually leaving the Church and starting his own.

Answer 5

First of all, Roman is an epithet first commonly used in England after the protestant revolt to describe the Catholic Church. It is rarely used by the Catholic Church. Secondly, the reason he was critical of the Catholic Church is that he was an Augustianian Friar, and, as such, the Catholic Church taught that since he had taken life long vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, he should probably be living according to them. He, on the other hand, did not think that abstinence from beer and sex was something that he could live with, so instead of admitting he was a sinner, and asking for God's mercy, he tried to get the Catholic Church to change God's teaching on these matters. He started by taking potshots at the doctrine of purgatory and the indulgences. As he hadn't a leg to stand on as they are both in Scripture, he removed books of the Bible that taught them. But the basic answer to the question is that he was critical of the Catholic Church because he could not live the moral life that God required of him, and that the Catholic Church, being His mouthpiece, taught. His initial criticisms were contained in his 97 Theses. See below.