...Martin Luther nailed his theses against that door and he confronted the issue of indulgences and indulgences alone. Nothing else. At that time, the Pope was reconstructing St. Peter's and he needed a lot of money, and he made a good deal.
He made a deal with the government, a deal with the bankers and with a agents that acted as salesmen, and he sold indulgences. And one of the great salesmen at that time was the monk, Johann Tetzel, and this was an indulgence box.
He would tie two of these boxes to a donkey and then he would go and he would sell indulgences,
extremely legal documents. Here's a copy of one of those indulgences, and you can see there are various stamps of approval on it, because everybody got a cut. If it was sold in a particular district, the government got its portion. The banks that handled the money got their portion, and the salesman got his commission and the rest went to Rome. So it was a good business.
But the question is what is an indulgence? And this is very important, that we understand what an indulgence is, because the question we have to ask ourselves is, is that issue dead? Is it something that existed in the days of Martin Luther 500 years ago and people today are no longer involved in this kind of thinking? Or is it something that is alive and well? And if so, what does it mean?...
...Rome claims that it has a treasure chest and this treasure chest does not consist of money, it consists of good works. Now let's read; "The treasury of merit consists of the super abundant merits of Christ, as well as the merits of the saints; the treasury of merit is one because of the communion of the saints in the Body. Christ being the head. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches the following about the treasury of merit: - We also call the spiritual goods of the communion of the saints the
Church's treasury, which is not the sum total of the material goods which have accumulated during the course of the centuries. On the contrary the 'treasury of the Church' is of infinite value, which can never be exhausted, which Christ's merits have before God. They were offered so that the whole of mankind could be set free from sin and attain communion with the Father."
If you look at the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and you read the following article, you will see: "In Christ, the Redeemer himself, the satisfactions and merits of his Redemption exists and find their efficacy. This Treasury includes as well the prayers and the good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are truly immense, unfathomable and even pristine in the value before God. In the treasury, too, are the prayers and good works of all the saints, all those who have followed in the footsteps of Christ, the Lord and by His grace have made their lives holy and carried out the
mission in the unity of the Mystical Body."
So that's the Catholic Catechism, we need to unpack this. What does this mean? So this Treasury has the good works of Christ. This Treasury has the good works of Mary which are pristine; and it has the good works of all the saints. And this treasure belongs to the Church. This is what Rome teaches, so let's continue with this Roman Catholic explanation. This is them writing; - "
Merit cannot be transferred, but meritorious acts can make satisfaction for another, by giving to God a gift of greater value than what was taken by the sin. This is how Christ's own actions in his passion and death
made satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. (And you must have a look at the doctrine of the Atonement.) But it is also the way the meritorious acts of the saints can make satisfaction for others' debt of temporal punishment. St. Thomas (this is Thomas Aquinas) writes, "All the saints intended that whatever they did or suffered for God's sake, should be profitable not only to themselves, but to the whole Church."
Okay, so here's a treasure and it consists of all the good works of the saints. Now, the
merit cannot be transferred, but the merit can appease God so that he will forgive because a greater gift has been given him than that which has lost by the other. So let's continue, this is what they write: "...This treasure here He (God) neither wrapped up in a napkin nor hid in the field, but
entrusted it to the Blessed Peter, the key bearer, and his successors, that they might, for just and reasonable causes,
distribute it to the faithful in full or in partial remission of the temporal punishment due to sin." ...Aha. So who is the one who has the capacity to distribute this treasure of merit? The Pope. Peter and his legitimate successors: So only the Pope has the power to distribute the merit. But the merit does not forgive your sins, it only relieves the punishment due to the sin. All right. That's another strange thing. "The Church, by the authorisation of Christ, and through the communion of saints, can draw from one treasury of merit and satisfaction to reduce or remove the debt of temporal punishment for anyone united to the Body through sanctifying grace. And that is just what an indulgence is: -
An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the actions of the Church which, as the minister of redemption..." so who is the Minister of redemption? - The Church. "...dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of satisfaction of Christ and the saints."