The Reformation

My classmates and I were assigned to read this hymn written by Martin Luther: From Depths of Woe I Cry to Thee and while I was reading it, my mind was going in a million different directions. Two of the topics that caught my attention were Luther’s lament on how worthless man is with respect to God, and being saved by grace. I personally grew up with an LDS perspective on religion, and the way we view these doctrines are much different than the way that Luther views them. For example, most Latter-day saints would describe God and their loving Heavenly Father, who is there to comfort them while they are weak. Most of the protestants I have run into described God as the creator of the universe. Not that either of these statements are incorrect, but it is just two different ways of describing the same person. One view immediately brings the need for a personal relationship with our Creator. The other automatically inspires awe in a loving Heavenly Father who created everything for us.
With regards to faith and works, Dallin H. Oaks, a member of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, gave a wonderful talk on this in a speech to the church on in April of 1998. This talk can be found here. Now please do not misunderstand me, I am in no way trying to refute or rebuttal anything that Martin Luther said in his hymn. I personally have great respect for the man and believe he was a key player in the Restoration that lead to the establishment of my own religion. I just thought that the difference in views (and not necessarily opinions) were something worth mentioning.