November 1, 2009
Translated by Lydia Ma

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg detailing many injustices of the time. Luther argued that many things were wrong in politics, society, and church and listed them one by one and asked his countrymen to discuss these issues. His Ninety-Five Theses gave birth to fundamental ideas such as justification by faith alone, the Bible as the only infallible authority for Christians, and the priesthood of all believers and began the Protestant Reformation.

The Protestant Reformation impacted the world in many aspects and continues to do so even today. One such aspect was making education available for the masses. Once education became common, language abilities among ordinary citizens also improved. The advent of the printing press around that era merely hastened mass education.

The Protestant Reformation isn't merely Luther's legacy, but also a cataclysmic event leading Christians back to God's word. It isn't just a tale, but an event reminding every generation to challenge unrighteousness and injustices using the truths of the Bible.

Though we may be unfamiliar with the Czech Republic, it is often mentioned in tandem with the Protestant Reformation because more than one hundred years before Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses, a Czech theologian by the name of Jan Hus (13691415) had already issued a similar message to the church emphasizing on returning to biblical principles and strict moral values.

Inspired by Jon Wycliffe, Hus was convinced that all believers could commune with God directly through reading Scripture. He used his mother tongue to preach and teach, and Czech peasants supported and agreed with his teachings. However, because his convictions conflicted with the Catholic Church of his time, Hus was ultimately executed and burned at the stake.

Despite Hus' death, his spirit and his determination to promote righteousness still remain in Czech culture. Recent examples of his legacy include Vaclav Havel's Charter 77, which challenged his country to protect human rights, as well as the Velvet Revolution, which was driven by convictions that society could be better and followed by real actions.

Vaclav Havel once emphasized that powerless people were powerful because they knew and lived the truth though they were oppressed. It is this truth that enabled them to unmask tyrants. Havel's ideas resonate with Jan Hus' convictions, as Hus also admonished his countrymen to step out from the Catholic Church's shadows.

Theologian Karl Barth once emphasized that Christians should have a Bible on one hand and a newspaper on the other hand. What he meant was that Christians in every generation must fight against unrighteousness and oppression as mandated by the Bible and this applied to whatever they saw happening within churches and governments.

Though Czechs have been ruled by oppressors and have suffered many injustices in their national history, they have never lost sight of the vision of their forbears and continue to pursue these goals. What about Taiwan? The spirit of the Protestant Reformation needs to be rekindled in this land so that we can build a new, independent, loving, peaceful, and just country.

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