Rich people concerned with camels and needles and a guilty conscience are Christians who have no understanding of the point.

This looks like that old tower of Bable...

I guess this was in poor taste. It was a JOKE, folks, a JOKE. The "what the hell" was a hint!

What we REALLY need to do is breed an extremely teeny camel. I'm KIDDING, folks, KIDDING.

To make the theologically valid point: With men, this [a rich man getting into heaven] is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.

Whew!

- Hoytster

Not many know the history of the "Eye of the Needle" that Jesus was talking about. It turns out that there was a doorway through the wall of Jerusalem called the "Eye of the Needle". It was quite small and camels needed to be taken down to their knees in order to pass through the "Eye of the Needle". This has very profound spiritual implications because what Jesus was implying is that a rich man can enter the kingdom of heaven if they get on their knees (and pray). To support this interpretation, the very next verse is where the disciples asked Jesus "then how could anyone be saved?" Jesus replied that "with man it is impossible but with God all things are possible." So a rich man on their knees seeking God can make it possible to enter heaven, just like the camel on its knees makes it possible for it to enter through the "Eye of the Needle". No huge needles are neccessary. :)

It's always possible to dispute facts, esp. with Google, which makes any side of any disagreement immediately available. ;)

I think it's a crock, though that "the needle" was a gate in Jerusalem, that required camels to get down onto their knees. Jesus was making a very explicit point in the Gospels: the rich and comfortable are in trouble, spiritually. The "small gate" theory was invented by the wealthy, I suspect.

Having already offered the qualification that every side of a dispute can be found on the internet, here's a link:

http://www.angelfire.com/wy/Franklin4YAHWEH/camelthroughneedle.html

I'm rich and comfortable, by the way -- perhaps not by U.S. standards, but by world standards, at least 90% of U.S. residents are rich and comfortable. A billion people live on $1/day, and another billion on $2/day. I cannot imagine what that means, but I know it makes Jesus sad.

- Hoyt

1) But where do your get the camel from? When you build your needle - let me know and I'll start a camel renting business.

2) You've got cause and effect mixed up, the bible does not say that if you can get a camel through the eye of a needle (be it a physical, metaphorical or Jerusalem-gate needle) then you would go to heaven!

3) "A billion people live on $1/day, and another billion on $2/day."
WRONG Most of the world's population have never earned a single US-Dollar in their lives, and that includes me. They may earn Ruppees, Yuan, Euros or whatever, but unless they have lived and been employed in the USA, they will not have been paid in US-Dollars and have never posessed a single one!

Personally, the Old Testament states that we shall be besieged with false profits who shall attempt to lead us in the ways of Satan. I'm guessing that Christianity in ALL its versions, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Animism, Hinduism, ... are all purveyors of false profits. They all are not likely right, so most likely most or all of them are wrong. My best guess is that we are all watched over, but none of us are worthy of going to a heavenly demise. We can sin in our thoughts as easily as we can sin in the physical world. If we truely were repentent, we wouldn't do it again; but we aren't truely repentent. I sometimes think there are more false profits up on the pulpits of churches than there are politicians. Maybe they are all brothers and sisters with the same thirst for power. Good intentions have nothing to do with being right or wrong in the religious sense. But that is how I will spend my life; filled with good intentions.

@ChrisF: The 1 dollar a day idea is NOT meant to imply that people in other countries use or see USD. It's just a simple way of comparing apples to oranges (instead of, say, meatballs if is was dollars to rupees). For an apples-to-apples comparison, consumption is converted into Purchasing-Power-Parity dollars. (The USD denominator probably came about because the World Bank is based in Wash DC.)

See, jokes are supposed to be funny. Random stupid crap is not a joke, its random stupid crap.

I think this is an excellent idea :-).

Very creative.

You know what hoytster, I really like your style.

Out of 10, I give you a 9... What the hell, lets make it an even 10!