Re: Suspended in Gaffa & religious allusion

[lzfme!lfl@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (L.LARSEN)]

In article <8805080502.AA00667@WONKO.MIT.EDU>,
AGOUGH%F6ACC1@sc.intel.COM ("Andy Gough, x2906, CH3-62") writes:

> The second, "With a camel who's..." also refers to a statement of 
> Jesus, when He said, "It's harder for a rich man to get into Heaven
> that it is to thread a Camel through the eye of a needle."  (Not that
> it's impossible for a rich man to get in, but being cutoff from daily
> need, it is more difficult).

> 	[ Hmmm....  I've never seen anyone thread a Camel through the
> 	  eye of a needle.  Sounds more than just "difficult" to me.
> 	  Maybe with the help of a bassomatic....  -- |>oug ]

Here's hoping (neurons don't fail me now) that my memory is accurate.
The Biblical reference is not to the absurdity of trying to thread a
camel through the eye of a sewing needle.  On a well-traveled caravan
trail there was a narrow pass called the "Eye Of The Needle" where the
camels had to be unloaded, led through and then reloaded with the
goods they were transporting.  That, according to my parochial school
education, is what Jesus was referring to in this comment. You might
think of it as a theological "You can't take it with you." adage :-) ,
:-).  The point of the comment being that the possessions of the
wealthy man are as a much of a hindrance to him when trying to enter
heaven and the camel's burden is to it when trying to get through a
tight squeeze.

Unfortunately, I can't remember which caravan route this formation was
on, or where it was located.

Lance Larsen	ihnp4!lzfme!lfl		"You know where to send the flames"