Martin Luther Project By Hazel Jacob
Storyboard Text
- Scene 1
- Saint Anne, Help me! I will become a monk
- Scene 2
- I am lost, how can I escape? God have mercy on me do not forsake me.
- Scene 3
- The just shall live by faith.
- When Luther was twenty one, he narrowly escaped death. During a storm, lightning struck nearby, knocking him down. Afraid for his life. Luther cried, Saint Anne, Help me! I will become a monk." Luther's father, who wanted his son to be a lawyer was furious.
- Scene 4
- Letters for Indulgence
- As a monk Luther tried to desperately win peace of mind. He confessed his sins at great length. He faster regularly. He slept without a blanket until he nearly froze. Nevertheless he still felt sinful, lost, and rejected by God.
- Scene 5
- Please God take me to heaven
- Forgive me Lord, for I have sinned
- Sometime between 1512 and 1551, Luther was alone in his study puzzling over a phrase in the Bible: "The just shall live by faith." In a flash, Luther thought he understood. Praying and fasting were not the keys to salvation. Instead, a strong faith in God was all that mattered. He wrote later, Therefore I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise."
- Scene 6
- I am going to write a 95 theses!
- Print the 95 theses
- With many other citizens of Wittenberg, Luther was offended by the deeds of a friar named Johann Tetzel. Tetzel was raising money to rebuild St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. He did this by selling letters of indulgence, or pardon that released the buyer from time in Purgatory.
- That's very bad
- How much does a letter cost? I need one
- Strictly speaking, an indulgence could free a sinner only from the penance a priest had set, such as saying a certain number of prayers. The sinner will still have to pay the penalty set by God. Unfortunately, Tetzel was overeager to collect money. He gave people the impression that they could buy their way to heaven.
- I have so much money now
- Luther was deeply troubled by Tetzel's tactics. On October 31, 1517, he took up his pen and wrote 95 theses (formal statements) attacking the "pardon-merchants." He posted his these on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg and invited fellow scholars to debate him. Excited by the challenge, someone copied Luther's words and took them to a printer. Within six months Luther's name was known all over Germany. The Reformation, or religious crisis in the Roman Catholic church, had begun
- What is this that is hung on the wall?
- This is the 95 theses
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