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Proper_Lawfulness_37 t1_j3hniv7 wrote

You know what you rarely see bible thumpers preaching? Matthew 19:24.

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Flaky-Builder-1537 t1_j3iirle wrote

That was the first bible verse I memorized as a kid, my dad always told me it was an important one to keep in your heart. Wealth isn’t necessarily a bad thing its just what you do with it and if it changes you. Unfortunately its easy to be corrupted when you become extraordinary wealthy.

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charleychaplinman21 t1_j3jwfua wrote

I love Matthew 19:22. Right before JC said this, a rich kid “went away sad,” then he turns to his disciples and delivers the camel line.

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igotnocandyforyou t1_j3hyrph wrote

Difficult but not impossible. The eye of a needle was just a low height door at the bottom of a fortification. Edit: I now know this is not true. Thanks reddit.

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1000010100011110 t1_j3ia1n0 wrote

Yo that's a bs rationalization made by people who don't want to believe that Jesus meant what he said about wealth. The whole idea of the metaphor of the camel and the eye of a needle is the absurdity and impossibility of such an action. Compare to a similar image that Jesus used when condemning some Pharisees for their hypocrisy about he Law: "You strain a gnat but swallow a camel"- the reference being to the practice of straining water for gnats to avoid ingesting the non-kosher insects, and that they do those sorts of things but violate major principles of the Law of Moses.

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Proper_Lawfulness_37 t1_j3jcd15 wrote

Cite your sources. What evidence do you have for it being a reference to a gate? Or is that just something you heard someone say? Because here’s a pretty sound argument, including textual analysis of the three gospels who mention it as well as an archaeological reference search to debunk that: https://classictheology.org/2021/10/12/through-the-eye-of-an-actual-needle-the-fake-gate-theory/

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igotnocandyforyou t1_j3js460 wrote

Thanks for the motivation to look this up. Amazing how someone told me about the small fortification entrance several years ago, but it was never true.

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mattmelb69 t1_j3jzrz1 wrote

I’ve also heard that the words for ‘camel’ and ‘rope’ are very similar, in both Greek and Aramaic; so it’s a pun, and a clever bilingual one at that.

Also, hyperbole was a big part of Jesus’ speaking style (eg “if your right hand offends you, cut it off” - Matt 5:30)

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