Martin Luther and the Begining of the Reformation

The worst sin for early Christians was to renounce Christ under threat of torture or death by the persecutions by the pagans. They believed that according to the book of Hebrews, that Christians who fell away from Christ once they have tasted of the "heavenly gift" could never be pardoned. .
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             During these early years of the church persecutions from the pagans were common and in the face of persecution many Christians fell away. When the persecutions ended, many fallen Christians wanted to be readmitted to fellowship and they were seeking forgiveness and restoration. There were many people who believed restoration was not possible, that those who had rejected Christ during persecution could not expect salvation. Because of social issues and the needs of the church there was a strong need to address this problem. So as time went by the sacrament of penance would develop slowly. It would give fallen Christians a chance for reconciliation. And over the years the sacrament of penance would go through many changes.
             By the Middle Ages penance involved steps. First the sinner must feel genuine sorrow for their sin. The next step was confession to a priest, with the priest being the mediator between God and man. The priest would hear the confession, and judge how serious the sins were and how sincere the person was and how deep his sorrows were and then pronounce God's forgiveness. Sometimes the priest would impose a satisfaction to be performed, which would be some sort of a long hard task for the person to do that would show his true sorrow. In the barbarian age it was hard to get some of these tuff chieftains to perform these tasks, so the priests in those days accepted substitutions, such as pay a fine.
             At first indulgences were given to truly contrite people, and in gratitude sometimes these people would give money. The power of indulgences came from the merits of the dead saints. The church believed that the merits of the saints were built up and stored, they believed that all the good they had done and all the blood they had spilled earned merits and the excess merits could be directed to the person who receives an indulgence.