I was grateful for the comments in your Boxing Day letters page from a group of ladies from various churches.

However, they claimed I had used a misquotation of scripture. They then went on to quote "what Jesus actually said."

Could I respectfully point out I was quoting from the Jerusalem Bible, a contemporary translation by a group of respected Roman Catholic scholars.

Sadly, there is no way of knowing "what Jesus actually said."

Jesus spoke in Aramaic, a local dialect of Hebrew. The Gospel records of His words were written some years later in Greek. Our English translations have minor but important variations, depending on the translators' interpretations of the Greek text.

Fortunately, we have been promised the Spirit will guide us into all truth, and that is of course what we all seek.

My hope is that in so doing, no-one will need to feel "prepared to risk persecution" as the ladies suggest about the Rev Andy Kelso.

Rev Richard Deimel

Studley Vicarage