An Open Letter to Martin Luther: A Description of Fallacies

To the Venerable Martin Luther, whom I respect and hold with the utmost esteem

We have not met; I am but a poor student attending the University of Brigham Young in the United States of America. I am neither wise nor learned. I have not the scholarly knowledge of the scriptures, or the expertise with language, which you possess. In comparison to you I am but a child, finger-painting in an attempt to produce fine art. However, I too have a love of doctrine and seek earnestly to understand God’s love, grace, and power. I do not wish to have a battle of wits, or to have a debate over scripture—surely I would fall far short of your prowess in that area. But rather I wish to suggest another perspective as a humble seeker of truth. I fear that the things you have learned and assumed are not an accurate depiction of God and his love. All mankind must know of God in the way that He truly is, or else they will live their lives in delusion. For that reason I feel I must dispute your claims and show you the mercy and compassion of our Father in Heaven.

My naïve inexperience allows me to see the plain and simple truths of the gospel that, in your complex and convoluted scholarly study of the scriptures, you appear to have overlooked. You seem to believe that because God loves us, He chooses our path for us and decides whether we return to Him or abide with Satan for the eternities, regardless of our actions and decisions. Because of your hatred of certain practices of the Catholic Church, you have closed yourself off to any truths they might hold within their doctrine. You also have shut your doors to insights of truth any believer in free will might have. You admitted yourself that you were inferior to Erasmus, yet you completely ignore the truths he spoke because of one issue of particular disagreement. Due to my inexperience, I take the knowledge I can from all those around me. There is much to be learned from even those who are not wholly correct in their ideas. You are unwise not to listen to people with more experience and different ideas than you have.

I intend to assert God’s love and compassion, thereby proving the necessity of free will; and second, to censure your behavior towards others with different opinions and levels of competence than you have.

You express the idea throughout your diatribe that God’s grace is omnipotent. I commend you for that; it is. The book of Revelation describes God as omnipotent; grace is of God, so God’s grace therefore must be all-powerful as well. But let us first define grace: to show favor and grant pardon for wrongdoings. God’s grace is omnipotent, so it has the ability to overcome all the shortcomings and wrongdoings of humans. Without grace, no man would have even a hint of a possibility of meriting the glories of heaven. So, in agreement, I congratulate you on your understanding of the potency of grace and its necessity.

However, you misunderstand the concept of love. Love is not making decisions for someone—when a man asks for a woman’s hand in marriage, does he decide for her that she will become his wife? Out of love, he allows her to make the decision, because he cares more for her wellbeing and happiness than his own. Another example: the parent of a young child may choose when to put the child to bed, but it is entirely up to the child when he actually lies down and goes to sleep. Just as the man gives the woman the opportunity for marriage, and the parent gave the child the opportunity for sleep, so God gave us all grace. He gave us all the ability to come back to Him. However, like the woman or the child, it is our choosing that decides the outcome. Our actions are testaments to that choice—they show what we really want and where we really want to go after mortality. Because God loves us, he does not make the choice for us. He lets us choose for ourselves.

In part, I believe your misunderstanding of this doctrine stems from your inability to listen to people with ideas other than your own. All people have some sense of truth within them—this is known as the light of Christ. All churches have some degree of truth because they are made of individual people. That is not to say that all of their practices or teachings are correct; I know they are not; but rather to suggest that there are little pockets of truth in their teachings that will be overlooked if the whole person or church is disregarded or ignored. You make a grave error in discounting the Catholic Church, Erasmus, and so many others who disagree with you. You have discovered the miraculous grace of God, yes, but because of your refusal to hear other opinions you have prohibited your understanding of the greater half of the bargain—love and thus, free will.

Oh Luther, abrogate your pride and futile attempts to prove wrong the ideas of truth! Open yourself to God’s love, and accept both its existence and importance! I only wish you to come to the knowledge of the mercy and compassion of God. You claim that “all the things contained in the Scriptures, therefore, are made manifest…the contents of Scriptures being set in the clearest light.” The truth of God’s character is held in the contents of the scriptures. I urge you to read the Bible with a heart and mind open and willing to accept concepts which are apparently so foreign to you. Read the scriptures and pray in earnest and you will know with certainty God’s love, and thereby the reality of free will! Cease to merely exist and wait in standby for the inevitable! Choose! Act! Employ your free will, believe in God’s grace, and truly live!