Taiwan Church News

3331 Edition

December 28, 2015 - Jan 3, 2016

Editorial

What Is The Christian Voter Guide For Taiwan's 2016 Election?

After three presidential candidates exchanged their ever strongest criticism against each other in a national TVdebate on December 27, a more heated discussion in the media was thus generated. At the concluding speech of this debate, Mr Eric Chu, KMT's presidential candidate, revealed the real reason why he changed his mind to delve into this election: it was all due to a critical warning, delivered by a Tamsui grandma, that Heavenly God won't forgive if you(Eric Chu) chose to get away with it! After Chu's remarks was delivered, many netizens started to hold kinds of events to "Search Tamsui Grandma" or even modified pop songs to make fun of Chu's confession. It is really a great piece of satire in this campaign!

In the same TV debate, DPP candidate Ms Tsai Ing-wen made her conclusion quoting from current KaohsiungMayor Chen Chu's political will, which was forced to write down as a death row inmate during her custody due to her "treasonous" participation of the Kaohsiung Incident in 1979, saying to all Taiwanese people as the receiver of her will (as she didn't know whom her will letter would be sent) in the head of the letter that: "May all the suffered, the chained and the oppressed could be liberated as soon as possible! May my beloved home land - all Taiwanese people could enjoy real just, fair, free and democratic lives! May the justice could be incarnated as the law, not as the means of the ruler - nonsensical and ridiculous".

What a brave and encouraging statement delivered by Mayor Chen Chu! Especially, it was fearlessly outspoken under the shadow of death! After the Tsai's conclusion of TV debate, lots of young people were very surprised to ask: why such touching stories of their respected "Hwa-Ma"(nicknamed) Chen Chu were never published in the textbook?

As a Christian citizen, what is our voter guide? How to express our social concern? How to cast out the ideals of "The Kingdom of God" in our secular world through voting? In the times of medieval Europe, once the world was dominated by the Roman Catholic Church; yet the harsh religious laws and ultra conservative thoughts made innumerable heinous prosecutions and killings, like the famous crime of witch-hunt and many more. And this is why the time of medieval Europe is usually called "Dark Age".

In the same vein, the charismatic influence promoted by modern church authorities should not be our Christianvoter guide. As shown by the history of medieval Europe, the church could not realize the ideals of "The Kingdom of God" simply by gaining the power. So, the ideal voter guide for a Christian citizen should be focused on the closeness between the candidate's ideas and the ideals of "The Kingdom of God".

There are two periscopes of the scripture for us to have a glimpse of "The Kingdom of God". The first one is specified in Luke 4:18, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."; the second is the Lord's prayer, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. For the kingdom and the power and the glory are yours forever. Amen!"

Dear Christian citizen fellows! Do we have sufficient wisdom to elect candidates conforming to the ideals of "TheKingdom of God"?