Cal Mac should repent of their sins 28/6/12
Sirs,
It is with immense sadness and abhorrence that the sanctity of the Lord’s Day, the Christian Sabbath, is once again being eroded by CalMac with a proposed Lord’s Day sailing between Uig, Skye, and Tarbert, Harris, due to commence on 29th June. This is a retrograde step designed to accommodate tourists, and the financial coffers of a ferry operator, at the expense of the views of Christians and, more importantly, the view of God, as expressed in His law.
As representatives of a Church Presbytery we deplore the situation now proposed by your ferry company, and remind you, out of concern for your souls, of God’s displeasure upon such violation of His day .
Rest from Sabbath Work:
God tells you that you are to do no work on His day:
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all
thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt
not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant,
nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD
made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day:
wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:8-
The Fourth Commandment (Exodus 20) reminds us of a number of important points:
- The Lord God is good, and has given us six days to labour and earn a living.
- The commandment specifically condemns those who allow their employees to work on the Lord’s Day.
- The commandment reminds us that God finished creation not on the sixth day, but the seventh – and that ‘rest’ was part of our creation. The ‘rest’ we are to have is one of worship and praise for him.
- This day is to be kept ‘holy’ by resting from all our work – jobs, housework, schoolwork, and so on. So called ‘pleasure activities’ are not part of ‘rest’ and relaxation. ‘Pleasure activities’ are not conducive to such worship and are prohibited on the Lord’s Day – God says to us: turn ‘from doing thy pleasure on my holy day’ and ‘call the sabbath a delight,’ (Jer. 58:13,14)
- The Sabbath is not a day of idleness but a day to ‘rest’ in the things of the Lord and worship Him. We are to rest on the Christ of the Sabbath. ‘Therefore the Son of man [Christ] is Lord also of the Sabbath’ (Mark 2:28). Christ owns the Sabbath day; its is His solely.
- The failure to keep the Sabbath will undoubtedly be a contributing factor to more
of the tensions we now experience in society -
mental exhaustion and breakdown; greater social unrest, and family breakups.
The Presbytery remind the Directors of CalMac that they have no right to desecrate and destroy what God has, owns, and governs. We urge CalMac directors and managers to repent of their sins; to maintain God’s law, and desist from their plans to introduce a Sabbath ferry between Uig and Tarbert
Rev. Raymond Kemp (Moderator)
Rev. Richard Ross (Clerk)
The Free Church of Scotland (Continuing)
Presbytery of Skye and Lochcarron
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