The particular abuses which led Martin Luther to challenge the Roman Catholic Church and post his 95 Theses were the sale of indulgences. An indulgence was a payment made to the church made so that the payer could have forgiveness for a sin without doing the penance called for by church doctrine. Indulgences had arisen during the Crusades as a way for Knights facing death to avoid dam.nation when they risked dying without the opportunity to perform penance. In the centuries that followed their used had been expanded and had become a source of corruption in the church which some, including Luther, thought undermined the Church's moral teachings.