3150 Edition
July 9-15, 2012
Headline News

Reported by Chen Yi-hsuan

Written by Lydia Ma

The 3rd “Make Everybody Believe In God” (MEBIG) camp was held at An-Shun Presbyterian Church in Tainan on July 4-7, 2012 and this year’s theme was “The Value of Life”. The theme was inspired from a Japanese children’s musical that will soon be performed in Taiwan, which ponders on the meaning and value of life. However, one day prior to the beginning of this camp, the church hosted a seminar on the theme “A Manual on Being in Love”. Rev. Uchikoshi Tsuyoshi, the senior pastor of Japan’s Airin Chapel Christian Church, was the main speaker at the seminar.

Rev. Uchikoshi Tsuyoshi spoke on the kind of courtship that pleases God during the seminar and drew examples from his previous letters to his wife. “The real experts on courtship are Christians because the Bible is a book about love!” he said. He added that his letters to his wife were written in 1996 and he wrote them with the intention that they would one day provide good counsel to younger generations.

Rev. Uchikoshi Tsuyoshi spoke to youths about courtship and what it entails from various angles. He underscored that it is normal to like people and to be curious about intercourse. However, when the mind becomes completely obsessed with images of a person one admires, then, it becomes an illness.

“If you do not date during high school, you will have a happier future,” he said , adding that teens who are still in high school lack self-control and are not completely able to take responsibility for their actions. Therefore, if a boy and a girl are too romantically involved at this time, it might further compromise their judgment. Uchikoshi Tsuyoshi also underscored that every boy and girl is a prince or princess in God’s eyes and urged young people to see and treat themselves as such.

Uchikoshi Tsuyoshi also shared some examples from his church in Japan. He said that the church asks youths not to wear skimpy clothes during fellowship meetings or worship services. It does not allow teenage boys and girls to sit together nor text messages to each other. These are some of the preventive measures the church is taking to prevent teenage boys and girls from becoming too close with the opposite sex.

“You must have patience! You will have very happy marriages in the future!” he reiterated in the seminar. He also challenged these youths to ponder on whether they want happiness on their own terms or true happiness on God’s terms and according to God’s will.

In related news, in a 2012 survey conducted by Taiwan Fund for Children and Families on teens ranging from age 12 to 18 throughout Taiwan, 93% of respondents said that maintaining physical boundaries were important. They said that setting appropriate boundaries regarding physical contact was also important when dating. However, upon further questioning, 1 in 5 of these youths said that, “as long as both parties like each other and one party issues an invitation, it is okay to have sexual intercourse.”

This survey was given to 2,431 people and carries a 95% level of confidence. From the results of this survey, it is evident that what teenagers think and how they act is vastly different. Such a trend has many people worried about the cost of ignorance among young people, especially when sexual acts carry legal responsibilities and also leave physical and emotional repercussions.

The survey discovered that 40% of teens were unaware of the “Offences Against Sexual Autonomy Law” and 22% of them believed that as long as both parties consented to sexual intercourse, there would be no legal repercussions. However, according to Section 227 of the Penal Code, intercourse with people under 14 years of age carries a minimum of 3 years to a maximum of 10 years in prison. Furthermore, Section 229-1 of the Penal Code states that teens under 18 years of age who have intercourse with teens under 16 years of age can still be prosecuted. In short, many youths’ unfamiliarity concerning sexual intercourse with minors may land them in trouble with the law without their knowledge.