There are places where people argue about religious matters. Their arguing sounds, from outside those places, like the gnashing of teeth, and when they are viewed within it appears as though they are tearing each other's clothes apart, while their atmosphere causes pain to the flesh of the teeth and the gums. A man came to me from one of those places, dressed at first like a monk, and he told me he was Luther. He also spoke with me, saying that he likes to be among the kind of people who argue over what is to be believed, because he has with him from the world a persuasive speech and authority as a result of the consent accorded him by many in his own time. I noticed that he had a communication with those who believe that they know everything and that nothing at all is hidden from them, and who do not wish to learn but to teach, saying often this or that is the absolute truth and cannot be contradicted. Such people take away from others all freedom of speech, by imposing their own opinions as if they were from God, and by assailing all who contradict them, unless it is for the sake of being instructed. Luther said that he loves to reason about faith and also about the good of charity, but that he rarely finds people with whom he can enjoy this delight. The reason is that he hatched that doctrine out of his own thinking and he is therefore conversant with the connection of the arguments. Not so those who only learn the doctrine and afterward confirm it. They cannot share in the same delight, because they are not so conversant with the connection of the arguments. Luther said that they do not long endure the ardor of his speaking, but withdraw. * Martin Luther, 1483-1546, German leader of the Protestant Reformation and founder of Lutheranism. Born a Roman Catholic, he left the study of law in 1505 to become an Augustinian monk, and later became a priest and a professor of theology. He agonized over the problem of salvation, finally deciding that it was not won by good works but was a free gift of God's grace. Luther's beliefs led him to object to the sale of indulgences (which remitted penalties for sin) by the Roman Catholic Church, and in 1517 he posted his 95 Theses in Wittenberg. So began a quarrel between Luther and church leaders, including the pope. Luther had hoped to reform the church rather than start a new one, but his doctrines led him to a complete break with the Roman Catholic Church. He believed that the Bible was the sole authority in religion and rejected the supremacy of the pope and the powers of the hierarchy of bishops. He held that grace cannot be conferred by the church but is the free gift of God's love. He objected to the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation - that, in the Eucharist, the bread and wine are actually transformed into the body and blood of Christ. Instead, Luther taught the real presence of Christ "in, with, and under" the bread and wine. Luther declared the Bible to be the true source of authority and renounced obedience to Rome. He maintained his stand in debates with Johann Eck and at the Diet of Worms (1521). For this he was excommunicated, but strong German princes supported him, and he gained followers among churchmen and the people. Thus began the Protestant Reformation in Germany. Luther wrote hymns, catechisms, and numerous theological treatises, and translated the Bible into German. He married a former nun, Katharina von Bora, in 1525 and had six children.