Confession for $$$ & Martin Luther

[Tony_B]

Hello,

  In an argument with a protestant friend, he mentioned that the Catholic Church use to or was planning on charging $$ for a person to have their sins confessed to a priest.  

  He then mentioned that that is the reason for Martin Luther and the separation from the Catholic Church, and founding the Lutherans.  (Mind you, my friend is not Lutheran).  

   Would any of this be true?  Any help? 

  thanks.

 

[Ghosty]

No, that’s not true. Confession is and always was free.

Martin Luther had an issue with SOME bishops selling indulgences, or penances. Basically, after confessing, the person could put a little money in the bishops jingle-purse and they’d call it an indulgence, or a penance paid for sin. Bishops basically made themselves into charity cases.

These abuses were duly punished by the Church long before Luther died, and were not the reason he left the Church. He left for dogmatic reasons, which is very well documented. The abuse scandal was just an added complaint that kind of got the ball rolling (and he was absolutely right in complaining, and the Church agreed with him on it).

 

[WanderAimlessly]

Nenver heard of that one. Besides, Luther’s gripe was with the selling of Indulgences not Confessions.

PF

 

[threej_lc]

There was an abuse going on at the time of Martin Luther: Selling of indulgences. Martin Luther spoke out against this abuse, and rightly so. The abuse was not propogated by the church itself, but by its members, similar to scandals we have today. Indulgences are not confession, but rather a recognition of holy work.

For more information:

catholic.com/library/Myths_About_Indulgences.asp

Josh

 

[Roman_Army]

Tony B.:

Hello,

In an argument with a protestant friend, he mentioned that the Catholic Church use to or was planning on charging $$ for a person to have their sins confessed to a priest.

He then mentioned that that is the reason for Martin Luther and the separation from the Catholic Church, and founding the Lutherans. (Mind you, my friend is not Lutheran).

Would any of this be true? Any help?

thanks.

As the other preceding posters put it, it was the abuse of selling indulgences as if they were hotcakes. That is what sparked Martin Luther to go out of control. He then started challenging the doctrine of indulgences and Purgatory. Then he challenged the Papacy and the entire magestirium. He basically tried to make the entire Church look like a completely corrupt human institution so corrupt that there needed to be a reformation. Then he had followers and the way the secular authorities handled it further fueled the heretical movement. Now you see protestant denominations that are completely anti-Catholic, such as the Seventh Day Adventists. The only thing that he accomplished was further disunity and heresy, he could’ve dealt with the indulgence abuse much more peacefully. He really didn’t found any church, he just wanted the Catholic Church to adopt his theology. The Lutherans were his closest followers and are among the most orthodox protestants.