Taiwan Church Press
3416 Edition
August 14 – 20, 2017
Church Ministry
A Declaration On Human Rights By PCT, 40 Years Ago, Still Stands Firm As An Audacious Guardian For Taiwan
Reported by Simon Lin
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of A Declaration On Human Rights By PCT, Rev Chang Chon-rong, one of the main drafters of this historical PCT statement, was invited by the Church and Society Committee of Taichung Presbytery to give a sermon at Chong-Hsaio Road Presbyterian Church on August 13.
Rev Chang expressed that, from a biblical point of view, “the present situation of Taiwan is very similar to the story, described in the Chapter 18 of the Gospel of Luke, about a poor widow kept crying to the unjust judge to reclaim her justice.” Therefore Rev Chang encouraged Taiwan Christians to learn the audacious spirit of the widow, especially facing those snobbery cold-shoulders or even ignorant repulsion from some major international communities, insisting and persisting to cry for justice as “God will grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night!”
In the statement of A Declaration On Human Rights By PCT, Rev Chang reminded the audience there were two significant meanings which should never be forgotten. The first one is the Biblical verses, Psalm 85: 10 – 11, proclaimed solemnly at the end of the statement as “Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other / Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky!”; the second nuance is the meaning of “new”, specified in the last sentence of text as “we urge our government to face reality and to take effective measures whereby Taiwan may become a new and independent country”, referring to a country with a mindset to overhaul and reform.
Translated by Peter Wolfe
