Do lutheran's follow Martin Luther's 95 Theses?
by 
rebldowney
ANSWERS: 2
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Well, seeing as how the 95 theses really have to do with criticisms of the Pope and the Catholic Church, and especially the sale of indulgences that was being practiced at that time, the simple answer would be, yes. Luther wrote those as a first point of discussion, desiring to reform the Catholic church. He was not yet at the point of breaking away from it. The 95 theses are not really a confession of faith as to what people do believe -- such as the Westminster or Baptist Confession of Faith -- but pointing out the errors of the Catholic church. Of course, Luther, and his church the Lutherans, later broke away from the Catholics -- and so indeed do agree with the 95 theses, having rejected the Catholic church entirely.
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They were just the starting point of the Reformation. The young Luther still held a number of positions that the mature Luther would reject. Lutheran doctrine was debated and decided in a number of documents which are collectively called the Lutheran Confessions and finally adopted 63 years later. The majority of the world's Lutherans do not feel bound to these confessions, unfortunately in my view.
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