Greetings in that Divine and Most Precious Name of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
The word [i.e. "repent from number 1"] cannot be properly understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, i.e. confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.
Two
Wait, what? That is ridiculous attempt to remove the Sacraments from the Scriptures, contrary to the inspiration and interpretation of the Fathers.
Yet its meaning is not restricted to repentance in one's heart; for such repentance is null unless it produces outward signs in various mortifications of the flesh
Three
I don't like that even as a priest how Luther is judging peoples' repentance by outward appearance, it can lead to folks trying to one up each other in self-righteous efforts.
Death puts an end to all the claims of the Church; even the dying are already dead to the canon laws, and are no longer bound by them.
And what of the Communion of the Saints?
The indulgences, which the merchants extol as the greatest of favours, are seen to be, in fact, a favourite means for money-getting.
Nevertheless, they are not to be compared with the grace of God and the compassion shown in the Cross.
Let him be anathema and accursed who denies the apostolic character of the indulgences.
Sixty-Seven, Sixty-Eight, Seventy-One
Aren't this in contradiction to each other?
Meanwhile he redeems innumerable souls for money, a most perishable thing, with which to build St. Peter's church, a very minor purpose.
While I am quite critical of the history of papal indulgences, in premise, we shouldn't dismiss fundraising efforts for the building of Saint Peter's in the Vatican. Indulgences I disagree with completely, but not the concept of Offerings and donations to the Church for building funds. This is as much a part of our faith as is charity or repentance. The Church has to pay the bills. Did the Popes go too far? Yes of course, but sometimes it seems Lutherans went too far in the other direction.
Why should funeral and anniversary masses for the dead continue to be said?
Why not? Commemorations and funerary Liturgies are perfectly Orthodox, and an appropriate way to celebrate death in the Church community. It is a healing process for grief, that the Church has a full cycle, from birth and Baptism to death and funerals/commemorations.
All in all, the 95 these come across as the crude and emotional tirade they are, a personal rant against papal indulgences and the followers and preachers and sellers of these papers. In all honesty, I don't think Luther had any intentions of leaving the Church, rather he seems to just be venting his grievances, however, in my opinion, his reform/critical movement was hijacked by folks with more political and economic motivations to break away from the political/economic constrictions of the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy.
stay blessed,
habte selassie
