In Mexico, Church Unveils Monument to Highlight the Bible at a Public Park

By: Uriel Castellanos, Inter-American Division News

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico, recently unveiled a large monument to commemorate the Bible at Los Cerritos Park in the city’s downtown. The event drew dozens of local government officials, religious leaders, and church members to witness the special ceremony.

“This is a historic moment that marks the greatest of all liberties — religious freedom,” said Jaime Medrano, president of the Soconusco Conference region of Mexico.

Government representative Javier Antonio Morales congratulated the Adventist Church for the project initiative. “This project is representative of what love, faith, and hope means,” Morales said. “It is a message of unity that the municipal government and the churches are sending not only to Chiapas and Mexico, but the world.”

Elvira Avalos López, a representative of the Tapachula mayor’s office, referred to the monument as a community achievement. “It is part of the culture and evidence of the freedom of creed that we have in our country.”

Representing the evangelical community of Tapachula Walas, Peña joined in during the ceremony in support of the focus on the Scriptures. “There is no more extraordinary book than the Bible, none equals it,” Peña said.

Catholic priest Jorge Valente applauded the efforts of the Adventist Church to bring more awareness to society in returning to the Scriptures. Valente referred to the Holy Scriptures as “the one that we share with the most vehemently; that’s why we are glad to be here.”

The monument has an open Bible on top that reads, “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Revelation 22:20.” The sides of the monument’s base include the municipal logo of Tapachula with the inscription: “Faithful to His Word. The Seventh-day Adventist Church recognizes the Bible as the Word of God. Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalms 119:105. 2018, Year of the Bible.”

The Monument to the Bible is an initiative of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Chiapas with the intent to recognize the Bible as the guide of the individual and society and aims to bring awareness to the public in the reading of the Scriptures. It is the last of eight such memorials built by the Seventh-day Adventist Church throughout its eight local church regions, or local fields, in Chiapas as part of an initiative begun in 2018, designated as the Year of the Bible. Monuments were also recently unveiled in the cities of Palenque, Hiuxtla, Malpaso, Pichucalco, Cintalapa, and Usumacinta.

Evangelical organizations, as well as the Catholic Church, supported the petition to build the monument, according to local Adventist leaders, who submitted the petition last year.

As the ceremony concluded, Ignacio Navarro, president of the church in Chiapas, pointed to the world’s destiny. “The world moves at a tremendous speed toward its destruction. The only One who can save us is God, and the only way to know Him is through His Word,” he said.

Navarro challenged government leaders to take God’s Word into account. “Please govern placing the Holy Scriptures in high regard as God has required,” he said.

The original version of this story was posted on the Inter-American Division news site.