As part of our “Footsteps of Luther” tour earlier this month, we spent two nights in Wittenberg, also known as Lutherstadt Wittenberg, where Martin Luther lived for most of his life. As I walked down one of the streets, there was a vacant storefront whose windows were filled with posters that said “Unser Buch” and contained quotes from a variety of prominent historical figures.

Checking online I discovered that the “Unser Buch Wittenberg 500” (Our Book Wittenberg 500) project was an undertaking of the Protestant Church in Germany to mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. It involved a national holiday and extensive celebrations in Wittenberg, commemorating the historical event of Martin Luther posting his 95 Theses on the door of the Schlosskirche (Castle Church) on October 31, 1517.

I took pictures of some of the quotes and offer translations for you below.

OUR BOOK. You Christians have in your care a document with enough dynamite to blow the entire civilization to pieces, to turn the world upside down, to bring peace to this war-torn world. But you treat it as if it were just a piece of good literature—nothing more.   Mahatma Gandhi

OUR BOOK. I believe that the Bible alone is the answer to all our questions, and that we only need to ask persistently and somewhat humbly to receive the answer from it. The Bible cannot simply be read like other books. One must be willing to truly question it. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

OUR BOOK, “The Holy Scripture is a little herb; the more you rub it, the more fragrant it is.”   Martin Luther

OUR BOOK: ‘In a hundred years, there will be no Bible left in the world. The last copy will then be lying around in some junk shop.’   Voltaire

It was interesting to read the quotes from both believers and non-believers about God’s Word. Most people have at least an acquaintance with the Bible and everyone has an opinion about it. Ghandi recognized the power (dynamite) of Scripture, even if he did not believe in Jesus as his Savior. Voltaire, an outspoken critic of Christianity, had a vastly different view of God’s Word.

I believe that “Our Book” is God’s revelation of Himself to the world to tell us of His love for us and His desire for us to live as His dearly loved children. He wants us to be with Him forever, and did what was necessary to rescue us from our fallen, sinful state. We have the treasure of God speaking to us and informing us of what He has done for us. It is a message of Law and Gospel, Sin and Grace, and it is the source of my comfort, strength and confidence. In spite of Voltaire and those like Him, it is still here and will be until our Lord returns.

Isaiah 40:8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”