What was one of Luther's major complains against the Roman Catholic Church?

Answer 1

The answer involves a little history, so here you go:

Luther was ordained an Augustinian priest in 1507 and afterwards studied theology and eventually taught it. He was extremely busy with teaching, administration, etc. and was frustrated by his lack of "spiritual progress." He became scrupulous and was whipping himself for penance, yet feeling worse because of it. His doctrine began to emerge between 1513-1517 when he started questioning the conventional wisdom that faith and works were needed for justification. He felt that he was doing everything right but that he was not feeling grace. Eventually he decided that the idea of sanctifying grace was actually the heresy of Pelagianism (which denies original sin). Luther said that original sin wasn't just the darkening of the soul, it was a complete deformity. Thus we are completely bad and incapable of performing any good works. To make this idea fit with scripture, in 1516 he added the word "alone" to John's epistle so it read, "Man is justified by faith alone." He also developed the doctrine of "extrinsic justification." It can be described by saying that the human soul is putrid and vile and when you are saved, the beautiful cloak of Jesus' merit is thrown over you to cover it. Thus, you are just and a sinner at the same time. This contradiction was ignored in the midst of his moral fervor. He used an indulgence scandal in 1517 to unveil his ideas, called the 95 propositions or theses. He hoped to convert the church with these ideas. Since that did not happen, he created his own religion based on the ideas of justification through faith alone and that religious truth is found in scripture alone.