Regarding the picture of the Ten Commandments Building put up by Grace Galindez-Gupana in Baguio, which was on the front page of the Oct. 24 issue of the Inquirer, I am just wondering if the Vatican has made a pronouncement to change the numbering of the Ten Commandments. I studied in a Catholic school and my two children are in Catholic schools right now, and the Ten Commandments we have known all our lives are:
1. I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have any other gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
3. Keep holy the Sabbath day.
4. Honor thy father and thy mother.
5. Thou shalt not kill.
6. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
7. Thou shalt not steal.
8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.
I have noticed a few years back that people have started writing Commandment No. 2 as “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.” But that is already covered by No. 1, which states that “Thou shalt not have any other gods before me.”
In other words, their No. 2 is a restatement of No. 1. The result is that all the other Commandments would be moved down one number, and the coveting of the neighbor’s wife and goods, which are supposed to be separate, are now combined into the 10th.
I don’t know if the Protestants number the Ten Commandments differently, but I do know that the Philippines is 80-percent Catholic. I wonder if the bishops have anything to say about this.
—MARIA ESTRELLITA REYES,
emrrlaw@yahoo.com