I am writing this on Halloween, October 31, 2017. Five hundred years ago, to the day, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenburg, Germany. Of course, virtually everything in that statement is disputed: the date seems to be accepted but nailing? Maybe. Maybe just sent. People had challenged indulgences before Luther. He was disputatious and maybe that is what made him go "viral" in the manner of his times.
Luther advised people to enjoy sex and considered it a natural appetite, to be engaged in for the purpose of pleasure, not just procreation. Since among natural, undrugged states from say, alcohol or caffeine or other special substances, physical orgasim is one of the most powerful, if not the, most powerful body experience, I have always felt it curious that virtually all societies seem to have combined shame and reluctance in regards to sex. I imagine they know what they are doing but I wonder.
Other people are reported to figure church, that is, Roman Catholic Church, indulgences might be handled better. One of the two speakers yesterday, compared both Catholic and Buddhist thinking to a bank or fund of merit built by especially meritorious people, much as scholarships or a fund for the poor might be created by those who could afford it. The goal of being sufficiently worthy of admission into heaven could met in some cases but adding some of that accumulated merit to one's own.
Luther was kidnapped by the local government and put in a lockup for his own safety. The local authorities wanted to prevent him having the same fate as William Tyndale, translator of the Bible into English, who was hanged by ecclesiastical authorities, once he fell into their hands.
Of course, much bigger changes resulted from Luther's work than merely the handling of favors in the matter of indulgences. The whole structure of Christian religion was shaken to its roots as Protestantism was invented.
