Martin Luther

          Martin Luther was a very corageous man in the 1500's. He became a monk in 1505 after almost being struck by a lightning bolt.  He had many bold ideas that went against the Catholic church, and he was not afraid to share them.  For example, in 1517 Martin nailed his 95 thesis on the church door at Wittenburg accusing the Roman Catholic Church of herasy.  The Emperer declared Martin Luther an outlaw, so he went into hiding.  In his hiding, he took on the job of being the first person to translate the Bible in any language than Latin.
          Martin Luther was born November 10, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany.  His father, Hans, sent Martin to many schools, and at the age of seventeen, he entered the University of Erufurt and recieved his Bachelors degree in one year.  Later, he recieved his Masters degree and entered law school, only to drop out and join the monastary.  He learned alot about God and he devoted his entire life to serve him.  The more he tried to do for God, the more he realized how much of a sinner he was.  He was deeply convicted and some say that he wrestled with the devil in his mind.
          He became a teacher, and his radical ideas came out.  He believed that the Catholic Church was wrong for selling indulgences.  Indulgences were supposedly merits you could pay to help get your relatives out of pergatory faster.   He believed that they were just a way of tricking peasants and taking their money, but the church officials did not like this.  They needed to raise money some way, and no one had ever challenged their authority before.  He nailed his 95 Theisis, which dealt with the selling of indulgences among many other things that the Catholic church were doing that he were wrong, to the Church door.  The door of the church was a place where anyone could come and read and see what was going on.  Soon his thesis was published and almost everyone knew his views, and many peasants agreed.  The Pope condemed his non-catholic opinions and summoned him to either renounce or reaffirm his writings.  He owened up to his writings and the Pope declared he was an outlaw.  Martin had some powerful friends and he arranged one of his prince friends to kidnap him on the way to the Diet.  He, then, grew a beard and  changed his name so that he could not be recognized when he rarely went out into public.  He focused mainly on translating the Bible into the language of the people, German.  Before Martin Luther did this, Monks, Popes, and other officials were the only people who were considered holy enough to read the Bible.  The peasants had to hear the storys second hand from the officials, but now they could see God first hand.  Later in life, Martin married Kathrina von Bora, a former nun, which broke the tradition of monks and nuns flying solo their whole lives.
          Martin Luther was very brave and he stood up for what he believed in.  This, I would say was one of this strengths.  He could voice his opinions in his teachings, and he could write succesfully on them.  His weakness would be that he struggled to find peace with himself and God, and was open with his emotions and frustrations.  He debated alot on whether his love for God was true. He said, when asked do you truely love God, "Love God? Sometimes I hate him!"  I think the movie portrayed him and his ideas correctly.  The only thing I found that differed was that he grew a beard when he was in hiding at the castle, but he did grow out the circle of baldness in the center, so it makes up for it. The movie was probably biased to Luther because it showed the Roman Catholic officials as bad guys.






http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/martin-luther.html