The Protestant Reformation was an inevitable event in history, and it's impossible to pinpoint any single individual as being responsible for its development. However, some credit must be given to Martin Luther and John Calvin, who were both very important leaders of the Reformation. Although they were similar in the fact that they both stood against the Roman Catholic Church, each held their own individual ideas concerning spiritual and secular matters. Luther and Calvin both believed in the concept of predestination; however Luther felt that salvation was brought about by faith alone, while Calvin felt that the actions taken during life had no great effect on God's overall decision of one's destination. Secularly, the two leaders also held different viewpoints; Luther believed one should obey secular authority but not the Catholic Church, while on the other hand, Calvin felt that everyday conduct should be religious.
Although Martin Luther and John Calvin both agreed that one's fate or destiny was predestined, Luther's interpretation of predestination varied slightly from Calvin's. Martin Luther was brought up to believe in basic predestination, the "doctrine that God has elected certain souls to eternal salvation" and Luther, along with several others, assumed that the people not predestined to bliss were damned. However, as the years went by, Luther felt he couldn't feel God's love and began to become uneasy. He began endless confessions, praying, and fasting, but nothing relieved him of his anxiety. As a result, Luther buried himself in his work, and soon realized that salvation didn't have anything to do with the church or suffering, but was based on the relationship between the individual and God. Therefore, God wanted all men to be saved, and the people not predestined to eternal life still had a shot at achieving salvation, and were not involuntarily predestined to eternal damnation.
