Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Camels and Eyes' of Needle

There's a fun little note the Biblical note that you should give away all your stuff and spread the word. Stupid advice then, just as stupid now. However there is also another interesting line:

Matthew 19:24 - I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.


Well, as there are many rich people within the religious right, and a good deal of preachers driving fancy cars, so this needs to be defined away. The argument (because it wouldn't be apologetics if there weren't arguments for everything) is that the "eye of a needle" refers to a specific gate in Jerusalem that was just really hard to get one's camels' through. Though not impossible. First, who builds a gate like that? Or narrow pass in the hills, nobody would do that! Also, how do you get around the fact that it's a common place idiom?

They do not show a man a palm tree of gold, nor an elephant going through the eye of a needle. -- Hm?

Why not just redefine the Camel to mean, ant. Camel... that's what they called ants back then. They could do it, it was just pretty rough.

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