Martin Luther was not the first person of the modern age to diagnose or denounce the

corruption that had overtaken the Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages.

But he was certainly the most effective.

And while he may have never nailed his 95 Theses to the front door of a church as some

grand dramatic statement, the persistence and provocative nature of the legend is a testament

to the historical impact of one Augustinian friar submitting a point-by-point refutation

of incorrect yet commonplace belief teachings and practices plaguing Western European Christianity

in the year 1517.

Luther always claimed he never set out to question the integrity and authority of the

Pope or other higher clergy.

His intent was to question and remedy what he perceived as bottom-up misunderstandings

of fundamental doctrine by organizing a scripturally based argument with which he was most confident

any honorable Pope would agree.

Because for the Pope to disagree with Luther's scripturally based argument would mean there

was not, in fact, a bottom-up misunderstanding.

It would have to be a top-down problem, a product of church leadership having been infiltrated

nearly a thousand years earlier by the noble families of Europe.

Who cynically and godlessly employed the assets and institutions of Roman Catholicism

primarily toward amassing more wealth, prestige, and political power for themselves instead

of administering spiritual and humanitarian aid to the masses.

In my opinion, it seems fairly evident Martin Luther, a professor of philosophy, very

well-educated for his time, used subtext to convey all of this to every informed person

...