The selling of Indulgences was the spark that ignited the Protestant Reformation. However, it is a terrible mistake to believe the issue of Indulgences is now relegated to the past, so says Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego, August 10, 2004. 

Indulgences are Part of Catholic Dogma. "Those who claim that indulgences are no longer part of Church teaching have the admirable desire to distance themselves from abuses that occurred around the time of the Protestant Reformation. They also want to remove stumbling blocks that prevent non-Catholics from taking a positive view of the Church. As admirable as these motives are, the claim that indulgences are not part of Church teaching today is false.

This is proved by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states, ‘An indulgence is obtained through the Church who, by virtue of the power of binding and loosing granted her by Christ Jesus, intervenes in favor of individual Christians and opens for them the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints to obtain from the Father of mercies the remission of the temporal punishment due for their sins.’ The Church does this not just to aid Christians, ‘but also to spur them to works of devotion, penance, and charity’ (CCC 1478)."

Damnation Awaits a Rejection of Indulgences. The importance of believing in indulgences is manifested with the threat of damnation. Again, Bishop Brom: "Indulgences are part of the Church’s infallible teaching. This means that no Catholic is at liberty to disbelieve in them. The Council of Trent stated that it ‘condemns with anathema those who say that indulgences are useless or that the Church does not have the power to grant them’(Trent, session 25, Decree on Indulgences). Trent’s anathema places indulgences in the realm of infallibly defined teaching."

A Right to be Concerned. There are several good reasons why a Christian has a right to be concerned with the religious threat of eternal judgment for not believing in indulgences. First, there is the late origin of the theological construct of indulgences. As far as I can discover, it was during the First Crusade, in 1095, that Pope Urban II remitted all ecclesiastical penance for the armed "pilgrims" setting off for the Holy Land. Later, as the equally questionable and disturbing doctrine of purgatory evolved the practice and teaching on indulgences shifted to the shortening of punishments in purgatory for oneself or somebody else in exchange for a good deed done in this life. By the late Middle Ages the practice was filled with abuses by such gospel hawkers as the Dominican Johann Tetzel who would proclaim, "As soon as a coin in the coffer rings a soul from purgatory springs." With such techniques money was raised to build St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints so they can obtain the remission of the temporal punishment due for their sins.

A second concern is the lack of clear Biblical teaching on indulgences. If all faith and practice is to be based on Scripture alone, one looks in vain for justification to teach that the church can open to individuals some

"What can wash away my sins?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!"

Third, if indulgences are efficacious, then salvation is not by grace through faith alone in Christ alone. Rather, salvation becomes a synergism of the redemptive work of Christ at Calvary plus the good works of an individual. On this point the Scriptures are crystal clear. Ephesians 2:8, For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

For those who are taught to fear a religious organization and its alleged power to damn, there is this gospel word of comfort. "And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house" (Acts 16:31).