Espeut in error again

THE EDITOR, Sir:

Peter Espeut's Gleaner article of April 29 2011, titled 'Misusing the Bible', was another anti-Sabbatarian swipe at the Ten Commandments. Espeut attempted to remove himself from the sidelines of the recent Sabbath controversy and, in effect, lend support to the 'contenders' against both the Sabbath and the Ten Commandments. This he did in the article by relegating them both, ie, Sabbath and Ten Commandments, to an 'old' covenant that he implies is no longer in force.

But this polemic puts Espeut in a problematic position because this, in effect, contradicts the words of his own Pope who, according to Catholic dogma, is "infallible" when he speaks officially, or ex cathedra. The late Pope John Paul declared about the Ten Commandments:

"The Ten Commandments are not an arbitrary imposition of a tyrannical Lord. They were written in stone; but before that, they were written on the human heart as the universal moral law, valid in every time and place. Today, as always, the Ten Words of the Law provide the only true basis for the lives of individuals, societies and nations. Today, as always, they are the only future of the human family ... . To keep the commandments is to be faithful to God, but it is also to be faithful to ourselves, to our true nature and our deepest aspirations."

serious problems

Now this leaves Espeut's thesis in serious problems because here his own Pope declares, in 'infallible' tones (according to Espeut's belief), that the Ten Commandments is not limited to any 'old' covenant, but is for all humanity, even today. Fancy that!

And if Espeut should try to wriggle his way out what his own Pope has admitted, by saying the new covenant frees us from the Ten Command-ments, let him hear his Pope also saying (in the same speech quoted above):

"When St Paul writes that we 'have died to the law through the body of Christ' (Rom 7: 4), he does not mean that the Law of Sinai is past. He means that the Ten Commandments now make themselves heard through the voice of the Beloved Son. The Ten Command-ments are the law of freedom: not the freedom to follow our blind passions, but the freedom to love, to choose what is good in every situation, even when to do so is a burden. ... Sinai stands at the very heart of the truth about man and his destiny."

I am, etc.,

DERRICK GILLESPIE

ddgillespie@live.com

Munro, St Elizabeth