Martin Luther
Saint or Sinner?
Saint
Martin Luther started off as a law student. When he was struck by lightning and survived, he vowed to become a monk. He also confessed his sins incessantly. This shows that Luther was a good person who understood the church.
One of Martin Luther's most famous actions was translating the bible into German. Now anyone could read and discuss the scripture. This opened up interpretation of the bible to anyone. This means the church didn't have to tell the people what they bible said. They could find out for themselves.
This image show Martin Luther hanging up his 95 theses. The 95 theses were statements about what is wrong in the church and how it should be changed. Luther really cared about the church and he wanted to get rid of the corruption in it.
Luther had good intentions when writing the 95 theses. He only meant to reform the church and make it better. Luther did not want to split the church. Luther can be seen as a because Luther didn't want to cause all of the conflict.
Martin Luther started his own religion which led to many new religions. This can be see as both a good and a bad thing. He gave the people religious freedom. They could be whatever religion that they believed in.
Sinner
Martin Luther cause a drastic split in the church. This ended the unity of Europe. Before Luther, everyone was brought together around the common religion. Because of the split, unity is lost and other conflicts are started.
Although he seemed to have all good intentions he was antisemitic. He suggested burning their synagogues and books. He also supported the persecution of the Jews.
Martin Luther openly went against the church and had some radical ideas. He claimed that the clergy had no real power. This shocked the people because the church believes that the clergy are appointed by God.
Luther started many new religions. The problem with this is that when everyone has different beliefs there are conflicts over it. This started many wars between religions all over Europe.
Luther's ideas led to the destruction of the church in multiple ways. His ideas started peasant results in Germany. They had riots and burned churches. Also Luther's new radical ideas changed the old ways of the church.
Citation
http://www.tudorshoppe.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=100298
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Bible
https://hcldr.wordpress.com/2015/06/07/95-theses/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Paul%27s_Catholic_Church_(Burlington,_Iowa)
http://crooksandliars.com/2015/09/conservatives-trash-pope-after-his-speech
http://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/kevindeyoung/2015/02/09/what-about-the-crusades/
http://depositphotos.com/25059663/stock-illustration-christian-religious-signs-and-symbols.html