What change to Christian Church practice was suggested by Martin Luther?

Answer 1

The changes that Martin Luther "suggested" were contained in the 95 Theses, a collection of 95 complaints that Martin Luther had about the Church which he wished to debate on, they are at the link below. A quick perusal of them suggests that Martin Luther, despite being an Augustinian Friar and a reputed doctor of Theology knew little of his Catholic faith as most of these Theses are and were already the common teaching of the Church, while a few of them were totally off the wall, so to speak. One explanation might be that the changes he was actually suggesting were to better educate the laity, although one can only speculate. For instance in # 16 Luther suggests that "There seems to be the same difference between hell, purgatory, and heaven as between despair, uncertainty, and assurance. These is manifest heresy as anyone in purgatory is certain of heaven and joyful as they are being purged solely for the purpose of entering heaven. One wonders, while reading the theses exactly what Luther was really suggesting, that people didn't understand, that he didn't understand; it seems beyond credibility that he could suggest that the Church was teaching manifest heresy. And then in 52 he suggests "It is vain to rely on salvation by letters of indulgence, even if the commissary, or indeed the pope himself, were to pledge his own soul for their validity." Again, one wonders what Luther was suggesting here, as a priest he would know better than anyone that indulgences have nothing whatsoever to do with salvation, and only apply to penance for already forgiven sin.

Answer 2

The changes that Martin Luther "suggested" were contained in the 95 Theses, a collection of 95 complaints that Martin Luther had about the Church which he wished to debate on, they are at the link below. A quick perusal of them suggests that Martin Luther, despite being an Augustinian Friar and a reputed doctor of Theology knew little of his Catholic faith as most of these Theses are and were already the common teaching of the Church, while a few of them were totally off the wall, so to speak. One explanation might be that the changes he was actually suggesting were to better educate the laity, although one can only speculate. For instance in # 16 Luther suggests that "There seems to be the same difference between hell, purgatory, and heaven as between despair, uncertainty, and assurance. These is manifest heresy as anyone in purgatory is certain of heaven and joyful as they are being purged solely for the purpose of entering heaven. One wonders, while reading the theses exactly what Luther was really suggesting, that people didn't understand, that he didn't understand; it seems beyond credibility that he could suggest that the Church was teaching manifest heresy. And then in 52 he suggests "It is vain to rely on salvation by letters of indulgence, even if the commissary, or indeed the pope himself, were to pledge his own soul for their validity." Again, one wonders what Luther was suggesting here, as a priest he would know better than anyone that indulgences have nothing whatsoever to do with salvation, and only apply to penance for already forgiven sin.

Answer 3

Initially, Martin Luther did not object to the sale of indulgences but sought the reform to the practice, to remove opportunities for corruption. When the Church refused to countenance his proposal, Luther began to realise that the only option was to eliminate the sale of indulgences altogether.

After his excommunication, he began to translate The Bible into the vernacular and remove books and passages from the Old Testament that he knew were not in the Hebrew scriptures. He believed the use of icons in churches leads to practices indistinguishable from idolatry.