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legacy – václav havel

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Since my grandfather passed last week, I’ve been considering legacy and what it means to have a lasting legacy. It’s been rather introspective and I think that it has been healthy for me. Asking yourself questions like, “What do I want my legacy to be?” or “If I were to leave this world today, what would be legacy be, how would people remember me?”, can produce change and resolve in your life. I had begun thinking about this as I sat on the 10 hour flight from Munich to Chicago on Wednesday, but yesterday waking up to the news of Václav Havel passing was another wave hitting me. (Havel was the first president of Czechoslovakia and then Czech Republic after the fall of communism, as well as a notable dissident that helped lead to the collapse of communism in then Czechoslovakia. Here’s a wiki page on him.)

I never met Havel, although I wish I could have met him, but his legacy and life impacted this kid from Lake Geneva, WI that lives, and calls home, Havel’s homeland. Sadly, some over look the impact Havel had and some question it. Or better, some question the man himself. I’m not claiming the Havel was a saint, he was a broken man like you and I, but there have been a few Czechs throughout history (another couple are Jan Hus and Jan Amos Komenský, or John Amos Comenius, to just name a couple.) that I admire and I pray that there would be more Czechs like them. Czechs that exhibit and embody the same values and qualities that made these Czechs heroes!

My director, wrote on Facebook last night, “Where are the Havels of this generation?” I would love to see “Havels” of this generation, “Havels” that aren’t concerned about themselves, but their countrymen and strive for higher virtues than “what’s best for me.” To my Czech friends, and non-Czech friends too, I would challenge you all to honor the legacy of Havel, by striving for, living out and embodying the ideas, values and virtues that made Havel the culture changer that he was! That is honoring his legacy! Yes, mourn and remember him, but remember him and honor him, by being the change that the Czech Republic so badly needs! By the way, my prayer is that the same passion that was seen last night on Wenceslas Square and throughout Prague, and the country, would be put into practice and lived out with passion! Here’s a moving video of last night’s celebrations of Havel, his life and his passing.

I have watched that video several times. As I watch it I pray for the country, I call home now, that something deep will happen. I pray that God would use the passing of this influential man to change the Czech Republic and ultimately draw more people to Himself. Please pray with me to this extent!

Here’s a couple of notable quotes from the man who helped change the course of history in the Czech Republic:

“Love and truth must triumph over hate and lies.”

“The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less.”

“Man is in fact nailed down — like Christ on the Cross — to a grid of paradoxes . . . he balances between the torment of not knowing his mission and the joy of carrying it out, between nothingness and meaningfulness. And like Christ, he is in fact victorious by virtue of his defeats.”

“The only lost cause is one we give up on before we enter the struggle.”

“You do not become a “dissident” just because you decide one day to take up this most unusual career. You are thrown into it by your personal sense of responsibility, combined with a complex set of external circumstances. You are cast out of the existing structures and placed in a position of conflict with them. It begins as an attempt to do your work well, and ends with being branded an enemy of society.”

That’s just scratching the surface of the quotes you can find, click here to find more.

zhtv #26 velvet revolution

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Hello to you my faithful reader out there in zACHhARROD.com land! As promised in the last entry, I said I would get you another episode of zhtv about the Velvet Revolution, which took place last month, the 17th to be exact. It was fun to be part of celebrating 20 years of freedom here in Czech. I hope you enjoy this episode of zhtv, if you’d like to see past zhtvs click here or you can use the view to the right and watch past episodes right here on zACHhARROD.com. Thanks for being you….


Here’s a video I made 5 years ago about the 15th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. Enjoy…

thanks vaclav!

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thanks_vaclav

I’ve said it before, I like former Czech president, Vaclav Havel. I’m not going to lie, I think the man is intriguing. Do I agree with everything he says, or has said, or does, or has done? Absolutely not! He is indeed a broken and imperfect man, like myself, but the man still intrigues me. Some time ago I shared some quotes and thoughts from Havel on Life Post-Communism and recently, courtesy of Bloomberg.com, we have some more thoughts from him. Last week I read an article over at Bloomberg.com, entitled, Havel Laments Czech Future as ‘Consumer Palaces’ Occupy Nation and I was once again intrigued and even encouraged by Havel.

palaces and the new cathedrals

Czechs are building “palaces of consumerism” that will occupy a third of the country in the next two decades, politicians can’t see farther than the next opinion poll and mobsters and money-changers have become the new economic elite, Havel said in an interview yesterday.

“Not many of us thought the door would be opened so quickly to all the mafiosi and back-street money-changers” who have now become “millionaires and billionaires,” he said. “We are living in the first truly atheistic society, and there’s no feeling that there is any kind of moral anchor.”

First off, it must be said, that in much of my reading and study of Czech history, that the cathedrals that you see all over the city of Prague or the country, for the most part were never full, but they served more as political statements of the ruling party, the Habsburgs (whom were Catholics), against Bohemian protestants. With that said, I won’t say that the malls have become the ‘new’ cathedrals replacing the actual cathedrals of this country, but I will say in many ways, Havel’s statement of “palaces of consumerism” is very true. I would even argue that, for the most part, these are the new cathedrals of Czech. They are places, where Czechs now find their identity, their meaning and more, and as the article says they are spreading and consuming the country at a frantic rate. This makes me wonder how the Gospel must be contextualized into this new trend.

It brings me back to something I’ve heard Keller say and I shared with our project this summer. A better way to communicate the need for the Gospel (sin), is in terms of idolatry. (Click here for a pdf from the Gospel Coalition from Keller on Idolatry in a Postmodern Age.) The essence of sin is idolatry when we elevate a good thing (a created) thing to an ultimate thing and thus we worship it. These new ‘palaces of consumerism’ that are taking over this country have been elevated to an ultimate thing, and at the end of the day they will leave the Czech people, and myself, left wanting.

How could I not find it intriguing when Havel said, “We are living in the first truly atheistic society” that lacks any moral foundation. Some might be critical of what ‘religion’ has done to the world, and I would agree. In the name of ‘religion’ or ‘God’ horrible things have been done and I lament over those many things, but something must be said of a culture that lacks “any kind of moral anchor.” When this happens, you see the things that Havel laments over – corruption, greed, lying and more. So my question to my Czech friends, or critics of ‘religion,’ is, “How is it working?” (NOTE: I say ‘religion’ because personally, I’m not fan of religion. Religion is man’s efforts to get to God to appease something above through doing so I will get out of this or that. I’m not down with that. I’m in a relationship with a God who has done what is needed, and in response to his doing, I give him myself.) I don’t ask this smugly, but brokenly, with a longing to see people here turn to something greater than the gods of consumerism, or even a presumed freedom of sorts (yes, even freedom, which is a ‘good thing’ can be elevated to an ultimate thing!). Is it working? And if it isn’t working, what must be done? Is there anything? I would not have relocated my whole life here if I did not believe in the depths of my soul that there is an alternative to all this!

it takes time

“When you have a beautiful table, or a piece of furniture, it can be kicked to bits in half a minute, but it takes weeks, months, to put it all together again,” Havel said.

It’s from this quote that I received much encouragement! Yes, Havel is referring to political change, and to a degree cultural change, but I can take heart in this quote. “Why?” Because it would seem as of late that I’ve been struggling with how hard it is to do “my job” or “work” here. In the midst of life – seeing people leave, being discouraged by not seeing results like I (we) would like to see, the difficulty of learning the language and more – I have felt discouragement creep in because ‘things’ don’t happen here on my ‘American timetable.’ I forget that it “takes weeks, months, to put it all together” and want to do it in a weekend. I was encouraged by this analogy, for this reason. It would be easy to tear the table apart or just throw it away because it would take too much time, or I could roll up my sleeves, get out my sander and other tools and go to work, realizing that it won’t happen in a day or a weekend but weeks or months – i.e. seeing lasting change here in this place isn’t going to happen in a short-term trip, or in a year of STINT, but years invested deeply, where I continue to trust God and roll up my sleeves, grab the lunch box and go to work.

Thank you Vaclav for your thoughts and encouragements! Even if you didn’t attend it (which I know you didn’t), or even if you think I’m a crackpot for what I believe and/or why I am here, my God used your words to give me some more insight on you and your countrymen, more ways to pray for you and your countrymen and also a heavy dose of encouragement. Thanks Vaclav!

religion? here? no thanks!

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religion_no_thanks

If you read my blog, with any regularity, I’m sure you have picked up on a theme about the spiritual climate of the Czech Republic – it claims to be one of the most atheistic countries in Europe, and even the world. Recently, I found a past link about the Czech Republic and religion that I found sad and interesting yet again. It was over at the ABC Prague blog, that I’ve blogged on in the past, but sadly it has gone quiet as of late. I thought this was worth blogging about as well, the post was Religion is not important for Czechs.

The Czech population belong to the five least religious nations in the world, it come from the research published by the Gallup company. Religion represents an important part of everyday life only for 21% of CR inhabitants. More unbelieving are only Norse with 20%, Danish with 18% and Swedish with 17% . Religion plays the lowest part in the life of the Estonians, where only 14% of the asked said it is important.

This research brought us the US company Gallup, they carried it out in 143 countries of the world. The most religious countries, on the contrary, are Egypt, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Those numbers are interesting, however from the point of view of an average Czech: If one comes to Moravia, which is the eastern part of the Czech Republic, there still might be some religious people, but in Prague, I personally met only two people who were active Christians in my entire life.

What I find interesting is that the countries they claim to be less religious than Czech – Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Estonia – all have something common about them? They are all in Europe! According to this poll the 5 least religious counties in the world are all European. I think that is a HUGE indicator about where things are in the world. I’ve said it before, that I think it can be argued that Europe may be the least reached continent in the world (see here also). I think this study from Gallup is further indication of this, but I do wonder how they conduct their studies, because 21% seems like an awfully high number for the percentage of Czechs, whom would say they are “religious.” It must be said, that even though the vast majority of people wouldn’t claim to be religious in any way, they, like all people, are deeply religious. It just isn’t directed to a deity, but to the presumed deities of self, beer, sex and/or the presumed identity of being one of, if not, the most atheistic countries in the world.

Sadly, the last sentence from the author of this post – about only meeting two active Christians in the whole city – is very accurate. Granted, being a Christian means I will know, and know of, many active Christians – both Czech and ex-pat. It’s still an interesting statement though. It makes me wonder. Wonder about the Church here in Prague. It makes me hurt – hurt for the author of ABC Prague, who has only met two “active Christians” in this whole city. Hurt for the many, many Czechs who might know a Christian, who might even be a ‘friend,’ who is a Christian and they may not even know it by word or deed of this Christian. Hurt that that church doesn’t seeming to be loving in word and deed in missional ways to this city. I hurt reading things like this, but I also pray, pray that God would break through it. Pray and long that God would stir the hearts of His people and they would turn to Him and in turn to Him they would be sent on mission, as missionaries, as every Christian is to be (John 20:21). I dream and long for the day that the Church of Prague, and Czech, would go out on mission from God. Some days would seem hopeless, but there is hope in the midst of it all – the resurrection and the empty tomb! I know you have heard it before, but I pray that it would never ever grow stale or boring to us! He, Jesus, conquered death, nothing would stop Him and His mission. So I pray and long in response to this Gallup poll and yet I also cling to the hope and promise of the truth of the empty tomb! Would you join me in praying and longing for this place? Would you join me in longing? Would you join me in pleading? Thank you!

hope for the city, that I love, from the empty tomb

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“He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” 1 Peter 1:3c

As Easter season was upon us, I returned to these words from 1 Peter once again for a fresh perspective in the midst of life and all that is going on for a large dose of hope. Especially in relationship to life here and also the prayer request of a dear friend of mine; it was simple – that God would give him HOPE in the midst of doing life and ministry here. Like my dear friend, I also find myself looking to God for hope in the midst of what appears to be a hopeless ordeal, situation, country, city and etc. After all, this country does claim to be the most atheistic country in all of Europe, and I would argue that per capita it might be the most in the world! In the midst of doing life and ministry, finding hope, and not just a plastic-wrapped, trite, pat super-spiritual hope, but a hope that is deeper than I could imagine. So here I am again, longing and looking for hope, in the midst of feeling somewhat hopeless.

I felt this sense of hopelessness once again a Easter weekend on our most recent road game (we are now 3-0) to the Eastern portion of Czech, Moravia. While on our way, we passed through the city square where there was a reading of the newest Bible translation in Czech. Actually, this is a very big deal. Let me explain this quick, as an aside of sorts. Quite, some time ago, I wrote about Sasa Flek and the new translation he was working on. Sasa’s work has been huge! This new Bible, Preklad 21. Století or 21st Century Translation, is in contemporary Czech, and it is very readable. Sasa’s heart is to get over a 1 million Bibles in the hands of his countrymen over the next 7 years! Please pray for this, please pray for him. Pray that God would use this to reach many Czechs, who might have never read the Bible before. From my understanding this is only the third translation of the Bible into Czech, in hundreds of years! Because of this, a Bible reading(s) commenced throughout the country and in many cities. While I’m excited that this took place, I also have a heavy heart about it, for the reason I’m about to tell you. While, it was admirable to set up Bible readings of the new translation in many town squares, I can imagine the challenge many Christians had with it. Christians and Christianity are very laughable to the average Czech, and from my understanding many of the churches, whom were asked to be part of this public reading were reluctant for several reasons, but the over riding two appeared to be – 1) this isn’t relevant to the Czech heart and/or 2) fear of being jeered at. It didn’t surprise me when a friend told me about the reactions of churches throughout the country; especially, when we drove past the square in Havirov and I witnessed this firsthand. As I said earlier, Havirov, is in Moravia, which is thought to be much, much more religious than Western Czech – Bohemia. This can be a debate for another time, but the scene in Havirov was very telling of the situation on a country-wide level. There were maybe four people on the big town square around the tent set up for the Bible reading – 4! All four, appeared to be there to help with the Bible reading. The square was so hopelessly empty, my heart sank for those four people and for other Czech Christians attempting to be faithful throughout the country, but my heart sank more from the reaction from within the bus.

Laughter. Jeering. And eyes on me.

The sad reality, that was the reaction inside the bus, was obviously very similar to the reaction outside the bus. Was it hard for me, personally? Of course, but that isn’t why I was torn up. I was torn up because of the sad reality of this country – apathy and indifference. Apathetic and indifferent are two words that most of my Czech friends would use to describe this situation/problem here. It is as if this apathy, or indifference, is so thick, so prominent, that you can just feel it, it’s palpable. As we drove past the reading and I listened to the laughs and the things said of the Bible reading, it was once again palpable. One of my teammates, looked at me and said, “Muses byt trpelivy tady.” (“You must be patient here.”) I nodded in agreement, but in my heart, my response to the indifference was hopelessness.

Palpable hopelessness. So thick I could cut it with a knife. I sunk into my seat and felt as if I had the weight of this country of 10.6 million pressing on me. Due to my personality, I often find my self swimming in the deep sea of hopelessness that can be found here in response to the person of Jesus, but this day, this day I speak of was different. I opened my Bible for encouragement and found it once again in 1st Peter. First Peter has been my source of finding hope, again and again over the last year or so. One reason is because of the very, very obvious verse from chapter 1, verse 3, but also because the churches that Peter was writing to were surely in very hopeless situations. Peter talked about suffering, submitting to authorities (whom were only adding to the suffering), living in community in the midst of suffering, and, um, did I say suffering?

Needless to day, the churches of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia certainly needed someone to convey the hope of the resurrection and the hope of Christ to them. Granted, I’m not fearing physical persecution and, by no means, is the jeering I receive anything on the level that the earliest Christians experienced, oh no, but I find hope in this book. I found hope in this book two weeks ago, while in the bus to our game.

“He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” 1 Peter 1:3c

No matter, how bleak, no matter, how palpable the hopelessness may be, it will never be more than hopelessness expressed on the reverse side of the resurrection, the side that appeared to be only one of death, abandonment, ugliness, blood, scorn, and desperation. It is in this side, in this situation, that God moves. It is in the ugliness that God brought life, beauty, and redemption! As I read, 1 Peter 1:3 and reflected on things here, I felt a tidal wave of hope wash over me. Hope that the apathy and indifference, someday, at some point will find an end and God will bring beauty, life and redemption to this city and country I love so much. So now, for about two weeks, I’ve been praying ‘resurrection hope’ for my teammates, Czech friends, Prague and the whole of this country. I would encourage you to reflect on this ‘resurrection hope’ for your city, and for the ‘tribe’ (of people) that God has called you to.


May, as we plead for this hope, God bring resurrections to our cities, friends and countries, and when things are hopeless, may he fill our hearts once again with hope to love the city with all we have for His glory and the city’s good!

czechs’ thoughts on easter

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I meant to blog this right after Easter, but it slipped through the cracks. I did still want to share it with you. I read this survey, Czechs regard Easter as a symbol of spring, from the Czech News Agency, and found it very interesting. Here are two quick portions of the article, that I thought you might find interesting:

Czechs consider Easter rather the symbol of spring than a significant Christian holiday, according to a poll conducted by the Median agency for the daily Lidove noviny (LN) and released in its issue Saturday.

Over 60 percent of them connect the holiday with the Easter whipping of girls with a birch switch, and slightly fewer people connect Easter with decorating eggs. {to read more about Czech Easter custums, i.e. whipping girls with a birch switch, click here.}

Most of the survey wasn’t ground shaking for me, but confirmed what I thought was the case. I do, however, find it interesting that even in a country that claims to be around 90% atheist, there is still a “fairly” (is this word is relative) large majority of people who still connect the holiday with some religious significance. That is somewhat encouraging, I guess. Needless to say, while reading this, I realized I have a measure of job security as I read the results! Much work and love to be done here!

hip hop culture, church & the czech rep.?

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This week, in the midst of things, two items, which are very different but oddly similar, peaked my interest. The first was this,


I watched a few back episodes of TheResurgence.com’s vodcast (I guess, I was trying to catch up to a degree) and I watched an interview with Eric Mason, pastor of Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia. It was a great interview that challenged me to think about context of the place where I live, Prague, and how I do ministry, but more over way I do ministry. Eric talked about hip hop culture, doing church in the city and much more. I’m totally simplifying it, need less to say you should watch it!

What was interesting was that same morning I read an article about hip hop here in the Czech Republic, Hip Hop Hunger Rises in the East. I’ve posted about hip hop on my blog before, because I’ll be honest day in day out, I see American hip hop’s affects on the youth culture of the Czech Republic. This article really peaked my interest. Combine with Mason’s interview, it’s making me ask questions like:

  1. How does this change the way I do things, especially amongst my young guys?
  2. How do I engage this redemptively in the capacity that I’m in now?
  3. How can the Church engage youth in this area?
  4. And more….

So here are some portions of the article that peaked my interest. I would love to share my thoughts, but I will save that, mostly because I might fall asleep at my computer. Needless to say, this all is making me go “hmmmm” and makes me want to lay some beats down. Ok, not really, but maybe encourage others to lay some amazing beats!

When comparing Czech rap to European hip hop from other countries, Abraham said French or Polish rappers were more socially conscious and “a lot braver.” When Czechs rap, it is “more an occasion to express something funny, or something poetic than some sort of ideas or their own ideology,” he said. Marysko agreed that more politically aware rhymes are missing from the Czech scene, something he’d like to see more of. With an increase of wealth in the Czech Republic – from deep recession in the late 1990s to rapid economic growth now – the subject matter of rap is changing, he said.

As the Czech hip hop community grows beyond an initial tight knit group of devotees, it has also fragmented. “If you read what people say on the Internet, I have so many haters,” said Marysko. His eyes narrowed as he recounted malicious threats to him and his family for putting radio-ready rappers like Mike Jones on BBaRak’s cover and including gossip of feuds, called “beef” in its reports. “Czechs are always jealous. I am not Jesus but I am putting out my magazine and living what we dreamed together. What’s the problem?”

As much as hip hop has arrived in this unlikely hub, it may not attract fans and participants forever. “I don’t think hip hop is going to die,” said Marysko. “I’ve had goose bumps hearing kids cheer at shows. But I just know it’s not going to be the hottest thing forever.”

“i like the morals?”

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You might be wondering, “Where did Zach find that quote he used in the teaser video?” Or you may not, but either way I wanted to share it with you. My friends, whom I’ve met in passing, with Avant, used it in a piece they had created at one point and I just had to find the article (thanks for the help Kelly!). The article is entitled, Liberated Czechs find freedom, lose religion, and it’s over at The Age. The opening quote of the article – Saints peek out from alleys. Angels fleck the skyline. In stone and marble, God’s mysteries reside in this city’s architecture. But try finding him in the skeptical Czech soul. – is what I used and it is very fitting of Prague and the country as a whole.

It’s a very interesting article and I don’t want to take the time to blog about all of it, because you should just go read it now! However, I do want to add a little commentary to one portion. The author, of the piece, quotes a woman who previously worked in radio, as a religious programmer,

“What’s lacking here is the aura of Christian morals,” she said. “People have forgotten that right and wrong stem from Christianity.

“People cheat on their employers. They cheat on each other. The egoism is unbelievable. It’s me, me, me.”

First off, (without getting into a huge discussion) “right and wrong” do not stem, merely, from “Christianity” but from God. Who is the source and essence of truth, who has imparted a moral code to each and every human being, because we are each created in His image (see Romans 1:18-31 and Genesis 1:26-27). I think what she was referencing is that this culture, or European culture as a whole, was formed and rose to prominence on the foundations of Judeo-Christian ethics, and now that much of Europe is forsaking Christianity, there is a void there. I agree with that.

I actually hear things like this quote often. Off the top of my head, I can think of two conversations, immediately, that I’ve had, one with a teammate and another with a teammate’s mother. Both conversations (one of which was completely in Czech!!!), hinged on the loss of morals within the Czech culture. Both individuals told me that, my work is valuable because Christian morals are valuable and this place so needs them. It was interesting hearing this from two different generations! One generation, has teenage children and the other generation is that – a teenager. Both were talking about the biggest problem here is the lack of morals and no foundation. The, attempted, ‘removal of God’ from this place has left a moral vacuum, that many, most of which are atheists, acknowledge as terribly dangerous to the culture at large. I was reminded of this last night, as I received a ride home from a teammate, and the joke within the car was that the word ‘verný’ (faithful) doesn’t exist here, or, in their opinion, in many places. Sadly, there probably is truth to that!

It’s a bridge to spiritual conversation for sure, but it is a challenge to help them see past ‘Christian morals.’ This is what ‘Christianity,’ as a system, gets us. I’m talking about more than just a system! I’m talking about God, breaking into the world through human flesh and living a radical life of love and service, that was ultimately in service to me, as God, Himself, hung a criminal’s death on wooden posts! It’s a revolution of the heart. It’s a complete upheaval of the ‘world’s system’ and our lives, not some system of rules or 1+2=3 formula of sorts. It’s vibrant. It’s alive. It blows systems up! Cultural change cannot happen from systems, or laws passed, but from followers of this Radical, known as Jesus, going into the world and being used as part of the revolution, He has already started, through words and deeds! Not systems!

Wow! I got a little fired up there. I hope this all makes sense and it challenges you a bit. I hope it also helps you know how to pray for this place that YOU AND I, TOGETHER, are attempting to reach! Thanks for stopping by….

czechs’ spirituality, life change and the Bible…

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FlekSaturday morning I was doing some prep work on a support presentation and before I could get to it I checked out a few of my morning reads on the net and found an amazing piece over at the Prague Post, entitled The Gospel according to Czechs. Needless to say, that title caught my eye!

The article highlights Sasa (Alexandr) Flek, his story of life change about how his life was turned upside down by the revolutionary love of Jesus and how now he is working hard to come out with an up-to-date translation of the Bible in Czech. Flek’s heart for the Lord and the Czech people bleeds through in this article.

Sixteen years ago, Alexandr Flek lay upon the floor of the church where he worshiped, and he was in agony. It had been four years since he converted to Christianity and became a preacher, and two years since the Velvet Revolution. And still, there was no project under way to translate the Bible into Czech. In the past 400 years, there had been only two Czech translations one archaic if revered, and the other denuded of its figurative force by the taint of communism. “On the carpet, this groaning and travailing overwhelmed me,” says Flek of that day. “I was desperate. The years were passing. There was no Bible.”

I didn’t realize the lack of the translations that are, or aren’t, in Czech. It makes sense to me though because many of the guys that I encountered and had relationships with in Czech who had read the Bible before acted like it wasn’t relevant to them at all. It was an archaic thing to them that didn’t have any relevancy. Thus there was little to no chance they would ever get in it and let it speak into their life. Little did I know, it was because there isn’t a modern translation that is widely distributed. (WARNING – RANT. This happens to make me sick as an American who can go to a Christian bookstore here in America and choose from more translations than I know what to do with. Here is an idea, how about we stop adding to this and stop spending money on all the Bibles for every segment of our culture (i.e. Young Men’s Bible, Teen Girls study Bible, Adventure Study Bible, and more). I think you get the point; when I did a search there are over 670 study Bibles available here in America. Here is an idea, go to this translation page and make a donation to help a country have ONE relevant translation! Thanks for enduring this small rant.) Here are a couple more quotes about why there is an extreme need for this new translation!

The translation is not a matter of proselytizing, he says. It’s a matter of national education. Because of a series of “historical catastrophes” the suppression of the Hussites, reactionary Catholicization under the Habsburgs, the decimation of the Czech language, communism the country has been cut off from its Judeo-Christian tradition, he says.

Talafant believes the project “has the potential to change this country,” and he considers other Bible translations that are now also close to fruition partners in this effort. “Our competitors are atheism, Islam, and the indifference and immorality of our society,” he says.

I was surprised to read that they included Islam as one of the competitors of Christianity. Because in my time in Prague Islam hadn’t made too many inroads into Czech yet, but it seems like that it is only a matter of time. The competitor that is most obvious is the Czech indifference. Sasa hits on this as the article wraps up.

“For most of us, the existence of God is bad news,” he says. “Because, if God is there, we’ll go to hell, because we’re sinners. So the good news is that there is no God and we will not be punished, so we can live as we want. That’s the Gospel according to Czechs.”

I would encourage you to go and read the whole article, click HERE.

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