Here is a FACT for you. Luther never wanted to leave the church. It was the Pope who excommunicated him and the Pope who did excommunicate him was a very flawed individual. Luther wanted to reform the church but the church was in no mood to listen to an upstart priest.The selling of indulgences and one way tickets to heaven for contributions was an example of how things got out of hand.Luther also got married. So thank God for Luther. He had his role to play.Have to go now but I enjoyed the exchange. God Bless You.
I still maintain that ultimately it was Luther's choice to leave the Church. Ultimately he had a choice: To continue to stay to try to improve and/or reform from within, or go out and start his own church. I believe history showed he elected the latter. So, by his own actions, he excommunicated himself; the Pope may have formalized this in a statement, but Luther evidently didn't want to stay. Again, he was quite hotheaded and arrogant, as I believe some of his own writings show.
The last word is yours, if desired. I've enjoyed our exchange as well. God bless!