Dear Laws of Silence:
Jesus, that consumate showman, once said:
“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.”
I not sure rich men care about heaven anymore, if in fact they ever did; just as I am convinced you do not understand anything about the world around us.
Who, for example, would smoke this fellow?
Kind regards,
Théophile Prades
Beaupuy, France.
....
You're a funny fellow, Theo, and it's so nice to hear from you again.
ReplyDeleteOf course rich men never cared about heaven--was it Nietzsche who exposed this? Heaven is for the poor, right, a reward to keep them in line here on earth?
I imagine you're aware of the interesting claims regarding the translation of the biblical phrase you quoted. From Wikipedia:
"The "eye of a needle" has been interpreted as a gate in Jerusalem, which opened after the main gate was closed at night. A camel could only pass through this smaller gate if it was stooped and had its baggage removed. This story has been put forth since at least the 15th century, and possibly as far back as the 9th century. However, there is no evidence for the existence of such a gate.
Variations on this story include that of ancient inns having small entrances to thwart thieves, or a story of an old mountain pass known as the "eye of the needle", so narrow that merchants would have to dismount from their camels and were thus were more vulnerable to waiting brigands.
Cyril of Alexandria claimed that "camel" is a Greek misprint; that kamêlos (camel) was a misprint of kamilos, meaning "rope" or "cable".[2][5] However evidence for such a Greek term is weak, there is little or no Greek manuscript support, and it goes against the standard principle of textual criticism that errors tend to happen towards the easier reading, not against it."
The theme of the gate has been discussed here often.
Théophile is an interesting name...the Greek version of Latin-derived "Amadeus"....combining the words for "love and "god", yeah? So I just realized when we call someone "Theo" we're calling them "God"!
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