We went to 天草 at fourth day by boat. The famous event was 4 young men were sent to Rome to learn western culture and religion at 1590. When they returned Japan, they brought back the first printing machine of Gutenberg. It played a role to solve the problem of illiteracy in Japan.
In order to apply Japan Christianity Churchs for cultural heritage of the world, Japan government pushes greatly. If this year the application could pass翻譯社 I believe many Japanese will change their traditional concept about Christianity. This nation’s martyr stories will also attract thousands of tourists to visit Japan. Thank God翻譯社 in history of preaching the gospel, Japanese play an important role in the future.
They had 3 children among these 26 holy persons. 14 year-old Thomas wrote a letter to his mother to encourage her to keep faith in God. 13 year-old Antony sang hymn on the cross, and his mother wept in the distance. 12 year-old Louis refused to be released for renouncing Jesus. I read a famous doctor永井隆wrote a psalm describing this boy’s experience, I wept also, since they were persecuted for Christ in such young ages.
Japan government have applied cultural heritage of 長崎 Region to United Nation. If it could pass this year, we were the first Taiwan team to visit these places.
Pastor Chen and her two sisters had finished a book “Footprint of Silence” last year. Through their cooperation in data search, historical research and transportation arrangement翻譯社 this book had the value of travel and research of Japan’s Christian martyrs.
All we visited were Catholic Church, and they were declared by Japan as cultural monument. One thing I discovered that Catholic Church members in Japan read the revised edition Bible, and they are encouraged to read Bible regularly. In the church weekly report, I found the next week’s Bible schedule was 2 Samuel meaning they emphasized on reading Bible every day.
During this 5 day’s trip, the first stop we visited was遠藤周作’s Literary Memorial, who was the famous writer of “Silence” at 1965. He wrote this novel based on real historical data. The book mentioned德川家康wanted to cut off the influence of Christianity eternally, he oppressed Christians and expelled missionaries severely.
I got a copy last year翻譯社 and I overviewed it. Even though it touched my heart, I couldn’t have time to read it completely. When I received the message about Pastor Chen and her sister wanted to lead a group to visit Japan again翻譯社 I decided to go with them immediately. To go with the author is the best way to learn from them, because they had paid their effort, money and time on it.
The Exploring Experience of “Footprints of Silence” in Japan
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Every year翻譯社 citizens had to tread upon a Christian image to prove they had denounced their faith. If they refused, they were identified as Christians and made to convert to Buddhism. This novel influenced many people very much, and pastor Chen also mentioned in her book: “The strong person did not tread on the image翻譯社 their deeds should be praised; yet the weak person’s denounce of their God, their guilt should be redeemed also.” Our group had 20 persons. We also discussed on the trip if we face the same situation, were we the weak or the strong?
During the 250 years of prohibition of Christianity in Japan, especially without any priest or Bible, how did they keep their belief? Maybe they secretly worshiped God in the way of certain images. Though they worshiped the holy images, we cannot easily criticize them because they risked their lives to worship God.
If 德川家康did not prohibit Christianity in Japan, Japan probably become another Jerusalem in the East. Many people claimed they were Christian, so they experienced severe persecution at that time. The most famous event and touched my heart maybe the “26 holy persons.” In the beginning翻譯社 there were 3000 persons were accused to be sentenced, but the numbers were reduced to 26. This 26 persons walked on foot from京都to長崎 in winter, total distances were 800 km. After walking 28 days翻譯社 they came to長崎finally. They were exposed publicly in order to punish one as warning to others.
If you have interested about the book of “The Footprints of Silence”, or wanted to know more about Japan martyrs history, you can call Pastor Chen:0988-160477，yichunblog@gmail.com
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