[Mrs. Don-o]

"[Doctrine of Indulgences] reached the pinnacle of corruption when Pope Leo needed funds to pay for the Vatican."

The doctrine WAS handled corruptly at the time (11th century). It was simony, "money for spiritual good," always known as a sin. You won't find any Catholic today that denies that simony is wrong, neither Tetzel nor the simoniacal popes were saints, and (on the topic of simony) Luther was certainly right.

What we affirm in our theology is that ANY fruit that we bring forth, is solely because of the work of Christ in us. He is the vine. We are the branches. Without Him we can do nothing. There IS no good work that we can do apart from Christ.

Correctly understood, "Indulgences" is not a heretical doctrine because it does not take away from the work of Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit. On the contrary, it shows how God has graciously accomplished it all in His Mystical Body, in which we are joined to Him and members of one another.

[metmom]

Correctly understood, "Indulgences" is not a heretical doctrine because it does not take away from the work of Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit.

Actually it does because by it's very existence, it states that the blood of Christ is NOT enough to cleanse us from ALL our sins, as Scripture clearly and concisely states.

[ealgeone]

Correctly understood, "Indulgences" is not a heretical doctrine because it does not take away from the work of Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit.

Well, yes it does.

Roman Catholicism is trying to say our puny, worthless deeds, are somehow enough to equal the shed blood of Christ Who died for ALL of our sins.

The whole indulgence concept flies against the testimony of Scripture.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“The doctrine WAS handled corruptly at the time (11th century). It was simony, “money for spiritual good,” always known as a sin.”

It was a false doctrine and USED BY THE VATICAN and other church leaders to raise money.

BOTH are wrong today as much as then.

Heck, Rome split the church rather than admitting it was wrong and going back to truth. They did not care about truth.

And here you find yourself posting a defense today of a false teaching

[HarleyD]

I assume the Catholic Church will be issuing an apology to poor Martin soon. :O)

According to New Advent, the Catholic Encyclopedia, it states what indulgences are and are not:

To facilitate explanation, it may be well to state what an indulgence is not. It is not a permission to commit sin, nor a pardon of future sin; neither could be granted by any power. It is not the forgiveness of the guilt of sin; it supposes that the sin has already been forgiven. It is not an exemption from any law or duty, and much less from the obligation consequent on certain kinds of sin, e.g., restitution; on the contrary, it means a more complete payment of the debt which the sinner owes to God. It does not confer immunity from temptation or remove the possibility of subsequent lapses into sin. Least of all is an indulgence the purchase of a pardon which secures the buyer's salvation or releases the soul of another from Purgatory. The absurdity of such notions must be obvious to any one who forms a correct idea of what the Catholic Church really teaches on this subject. New Advent

Based upon New Advent's definition, I'm not sure how one can construed indulgences is not a work oriented program when the definition states that we are paying SOMETHING for the debt that we owe to God. What are we making payment for? What does "more complete payment of the debt" means exactly?

If I understand your position correction, I suppose one could look upon this like tithing. Some churches will say the more we tithe the greater our "payment" to God for what He has done. It confers blessings to us. God wants us to give to Him so that He can "bless us".

I would suggest this theology, along with indulgences, is misconstrued in many seeker sensitive churches. God is the author of all things and if we have any funds with which to give God, it is because He has given it to us and laid it upon our hearts to give. We cannot nor should we look upon anything that we do or give as "giving back to God" in payment of anything. We are to rest in what Christ has done for us. When God looks at us, He is really looking at the completed works of Christ. There is no debt to be paid.

[Elsie]

Correctly understood, "Indulgences" is not a heretical doctrine because it does not take away from the work of Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit.

It IS heretical because it ADDS to what Christ has done.