Martin Luther's "Ninety-Five Theses" is a list of grievances regarding the sale of indulgences to the faithful. Luther offers Biblical support for his argument, in which he states that the sale of indulgences in exchange for a)penance for present and future sins or b)penance for the dead's sins is a practice which goes against the foundations of the church's doctrine on eternal salvation or damnation.
             At the time, Pope Leo X was employing men such as Johann Tetzel to convince the peasantry that indulgences were vital to their salvation and the souls of their dead family members. The profits from these papers were reaped largely by the papacy, and used to fund, among other things, the building of St. Peter's Basilica. The church was effectively draining money out of the German economy by taking advantage of the peasants' fear of the hereafter.
             Luther was an Augustinian monk and the vicar of his district. He was offended by the papacy's policy of taking money out of his congregation, and by the idea of buying salvation. Martin Luther never criticized the papacy, however, and never called it out. He said that he understood the purpose of the sales, but disagreed with them, and thus was looking for reform within the church. Initially, he had no intention of leading the second permanent schism in Christendom.
             Although Luther did not start out with the hopes of leading what became the Protestant Reformation, his suggestions to the pope began a series of events that made it somewhat inevitable. The consequent split in the church began generations of religious discrimination by adding many new sects of Christianity, each just as intolerant as the next.
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