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âEye of the needleâ is not a gate in Jerusalem. That was a lie, probably fabricated by a âman of the clothâ to assuage his guilt surrounding his greed.
When Jesus said that itâs easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven, the disciples didnât say, âOh yeah, tough, but not impossible. Camels go through the gate all the time.â
No, they were shocked. They thought that wealth was a sign of Godâs love and wondered then WHO can possibly get into heaven? Jesus was talking about the impossible.
The important thing is what comes next. Jesus looked at them and said, âWith man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.â
Lewreader,SQLMamma is correct about the âEye of the needle.â When Jesus said it, he meant it to be understood in those terms. Ultimately, what he meant was, those who have great wealth are condemning themselves because they love it more than pretty much anything else. Certainly, they love it more than the poor.
Regardless of your faith or lack thereof, love of wealth will kill your soul (or whatever life-giving force you choose). Say what you will about Jesus, in the gospels he is far more concerned with how the poor and disenfranchised are cared for than about sex. I recommend his approach.
Oh, and Clark, I assume you donât believe in heaven. Fine, but then itâs disingenuous to say what heaven is like. Generally, neither scripture nor the church say anything about what goes on there or what it looks like - only that it is a place of joy.
I know too many people who have all the goodies and parties and sex they want and are still miserable. So Iâm assuming joy doesnât reside there (even though I like those things okay).
and yet just by changing one letter in Koine Greek, camel becomes rope. âIt is easier for a rope to pass through the eye of a needleâŠâ Makes more sense. Nobody has the original to checkâŠ
Abundantley blessed? Then retirement in a gated community with like minded people. Supersinner and I will be ib the smoking section somewhere else. Amen!
In Mark 10:21 Jesus is reported as saying âGo, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.â
In 24:25 he says âChildren, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.â
26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, âWho then can be saved?â
27 Jesus looked at them and said, âWith man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.â
Itâs pretty clear from that this Jesus meant something impossible - not a rope, and not a gate. He clearly didnât think greed was good, and didnât think economics should be based on capitalism.
I donât care how much money you have, the only things that matter to me are how you got it, and what you do with it once you have it. Iâm hoping you did, and continue to do, good things. For the record, Iâm somewhere between atheist and agnostic.
âIn Mark 10:21 Jesus is reported as saying âGo, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.ââ
Yâknow, that sounds like a pretty good argument, from a Christian perspective, for an estate tax; a fairly hefty one at that. Iâm sure the GOP (Greedy One Percent) would never see it that way, of course.
There was a translation/transcription error by some scholarly scribe many centuries ago. The words for âropeâ and âcamelâ differ by only one character in whichever original language he was working from..
SayhowurfeelingâŠ.. I think that you are having a little problem with the concept behind this corporate entrance exam. Your suggestion would be putting the eye of the needle through the camel. It is supposed to be the other way around. Donât worry, a lot of businesses make that mistake. I think the original instructions were fairly specific, even if Wiley didnât repeat them.
Based on the comments and to fulfill all translations the rest of it might read:
2.) find a rope and attach to camel.
3.) pass the rope through the eye of the needle.
4.) drag camel through needle with the rope.
That would keep everybody happyâŠâŠexcept the camel.
I didnât get the strip, Iâve never heard of this eye of the needle business and I donât know what the camel has to do with it so I thought Iâd read the comments to clear things up.
It is easier for a rope to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
This from ~ HOLY BIBLE From Ancient Eastern Manuscripts transcribed by George M Lamsa, a native Assyrian born and raised in a part of the ancient biblical land from which Abraham migrated to Palestine.
Jesus is supposed to have repeatedly condemned being wealthy and caring about moneyâ and also condemned divorce and remarriage as being equal to adultery. Someone explain to me why so many âChristiansâ have ripped out those verses and fixated on homosexuals and abortion, which Jesus never mentioned.
We can tell you made up your god when he hates everybody you hate.
Mark Twain also said something to the effect of heâd probably enjoy hell better than heaven be cause the people would be more fun to be with and the conversations would be betterâŠ
I was taught the Eye was a gate in Jerusalem, but that it was so narrow that the only way a camel can get through is to shed whatever packs it is carrying. That would go along nicely with how Jesus was telling the guy to give up all his worldly possessions.
But letâs just yell at each other about religion instead. Itâs much more fun.
its a frickinâ cartoon, sakes. get a life all you christers.
yeesh.
oh: mistranslated from the latin from the greek from the aramaic: rope. not camel. passing a rope throught the needle eye. makes a lot more sense, eh?
camel. sort of like the mistranslation of poisoner. it became witch. and a young woman became a virgin mother in the same way. catholic monks couldnât translate worth a bleeep, and now you have a rather ludicrous religion based essentially upon bad writing. uck.
My idea of the perfect afterlife is one in which there is no literal heaven or hell; each person gets, instead of what they hope theyâll get, what they fear they deserve.
Personally, Iâm not sure Iâd care for the traditional notion of an afterlife. While I would really like being reunited with my late wife, Iâd hate to have to put up with my sister for eternity.
Wow! A simple wry commentary on the corporate raiders âpayingâ for their actions, at some point , and all the âthumpersâ go nuts, again. Considering how many âhypocrhristiansâ are actually just greedheads trying to cover their assets in the afterlife, which well, doesnât really exist as described in the âtoon, or âthe bookââ too funny. Belief and faith donât have to include interpreting myths literally.
If there is a heaven or hell, I hope Georg Cantor or David Hilbert designed them.That way, if youâre in heaven, all youâd have to do is sing for about a minute once a day EVERY day for Eternity. Thus you would do in infinite amount of signing and still have the rest of the day to enjoy yourself.
Same as with Hell: you get a tiny poke with a hot needle once a day for Eternity and get an infinite amount of suffering, but get to enjoy yourself the rest of the time.
A: The reason for the biblical discussion is because the cartoon makes a biblical allusion.
B: It is not a mistranslation. It says camel (kamilos), not rope (kamĂȘlos), and it mesa camel, not rope. This is a classic case of hyperbole, which is an accepted rhetorical style of the time and culture. It is intended to make the impossibility of the situation more obvious, since the camel is the largest land animal common to the area. In the Babylonian Talmud there is a similar saying, but with elephants.
C: The point of the aphorism is still basically the same as that of the cartoon: The very rich (here represented by the corporate exec whose sole function is to make money for those who already have money, and especially for him or herself), live lives that are antithetical to the Gospel - or to anyone who cares for those who have less.
My husband (we being of the Jewish persuasion) needed me to explain this one this morning. I said it was a New Testament thing. Nonetheless, this gets entry into the Death Cartoon Collection at The Family Plot Blog!
http://thefamilyplot.wordpress.com/category/death-cartoons/
another turn of the spoon: I thought the âEye of the Needleâ was a gate in the wall where ONLY people could go in or outâŠ
Wiley, youâve hit another outadapark!
Iâve been taught that heaven is all around us at this moment. Our priest (a female) conjectures that Jesus may have said the camel through the needle part with a sense of humor, plus Iâve also read/learned about the narrow gate.. In any case, weâve learned that Jesus didnât condemn people who had surplus money; he did, however, tell us that itâs not to be worshipped. We donât usually attribute a sense of humor to Jesus, but he probably had one.
As the guy who first mentioned the rope not camel, I doth repent in ashes
Glad I didnât mention that stauros and xylon were originally upright stakes, pole ot tree and not a crossâŠ
Woops, just did
and @ cdward, thanks for the translations. What have you got on stauros and xylon?
Iâm surprised the right-wing tea partiers are reading this comic strip in the first place! After all, they HAVE no sense of humor! And most of those with no sense of humor, have no sense, period, as far as Iâm concerned. Non Sequitur is one of the best strips!
As this string of comments demonstrates, there is no certainty to any quotation from 2,000 years ago. This one is, however, consistent with others attributed to Jesus regarding the danger that wealth will be a barrier to the kingdom of heaven.
It is the distinction between âmoney is the root of all evilâ and âthe love of money is the root of all evil.â
you need to broaden your imagination, and information, about what Heaven will be like. Your waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off.
comicgos almost 14 years ago
Hmmm⊠I think Hell would be more interesting!
EarlWash almost 14 years ago
He wouldnât fit even without the camel.
rayannina almost 14 years ago
A lot of people think that. It isnât.
thirdguy almost 14 years ago
excuse me Clark but when the lightning hits, I really donât want to be this close to you.
lewisbower almost 14 years ago
Oh CLARK It might be standing for eternity knowing there was a great party and you refused the invitation.
As for the âeye of the needleâ, it is a gate in Jeruselem a camel may enter by kneeling. Allegory, perhaps. You got forever to decide.
SQLMamma almost 14 years ago
âEye of the needleâ is not a gate in Jerusalem. That was a lie, probably fabricated by a âman of the clothâ to assuage his guilt surrounding his greed.
When Jesus said that itâs easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven, the disciples didnât say, âOh yeah, tough, but not impossible. Camels go through the gate all the time.â
No, they were shocked. They thought that wealth was a sign of Godâs love and wondered then WHO can possibly get into heaven? Jesus was talking about the impossible.
The important thing is what comes next. Jesus looked at them and said, âWith man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.â
Monkmunk almost 14 years ago
Haha! This is so true! How stupid is it that we donât take everything the bible says completely seriously?
cdward almost 14 years ago
Lewreader, SQLMamma is correct about the âEye of the needle.â When Jesus said it, he meant it to be understood in those terms. Ultimately, what he meant was, those who have great wealth are condemning themselves because they love it more than pretty much anything else. Certainly, they love it more than the poor.
Regardless of your faith or lack thereof, love of wealth will kill your soul (or whatever life-giving force you choose). Say what you will about Jesus, in the gospels he is far more concerned with how the poor and disenfranchised are cared for than about sex. I recommend his approach.
cdward almost 14 years ago
Oh, and Clark, I assume you donât believe in heaven. Fine, but then itâs disingenuous to say what heaven is like. Generally, neither scripture nor the church say anything about what goes on there or what it looks like - only that it is a place of joy.
I know too many people who have all the goodies and parties and sex they want and are still miserable. So Iâm assuming joy doesnât reside there (even though I like those things okay).
grapfhics almost 14 years ago
What will the GOP think now. SQLMomma? Does God love them or not? Tune in tomorrow, while the Government reassesses the budget and revenues.
black_knight15_au almost 14 years ago
and yet just by changing one letter in Koine Greek, camel becomes rope. âIt is easier for a rope to pass through the eye of a needleâŠâ Makes more sense. Nobody has the original to checkâŠ
Elaine Rosco Premium Member almost 14 years ago
Pray for the unbelievers that they may believe!
Marblypup almost 14 years ago
To quote âKehlog Albranâ, âit is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle⊠if it is lightly greasedâ.
roctor almost 14 years ago
Abundantley blessed? Then retirement in a gated community with like minded people. Supersinner and I will be ib the smoking section somewhere else. Amen!
peter0423 almost 14 years ago
You do get to choose, roctor, right now and every day you live. Your will be done.
Yukoneric almost 14 years ago
Arenât the words for camel and rope the same? Take your pick for the most sensibleâŠâŠâŠâŠâŠ..
bbHhh almost 14 years ago
In Mark 10:21 Jesus is reported as saying âGo, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.â
In 24:25 he says âChildren, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.â
26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, âWho then can be saved?â
27 Jesus looked at them and said, âWith man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.â
Itâs pretty clear from that this Jesus meant something impossible - not a rope, and not a gate. He clearly didnât think greed was good, and didnât think economics should be based on capitalism.
Packratjohn Premium Member almost 14 years ago
I donât care how much money you have, the only things that matter to me are how you got it, and what you do with it once you have it. Iâm hoping you did, and continue to do, good things. For the record, Iâm somewhere between atheist and agnostic.
alan.gurka almost 14 years ago
Clark, maybe thatâs your hell.
wicky almost 14 years ago
Thatâs all it is, an allegory.
DavidGBA almost 14 years ago
and that is a BIGGGGGGGGGGGG needle!
Can't Sleep almost 14 years ago
All this religious and political discussion has overlooked one thing â a very funny strip.
Sandfan almost 14 years ago
Always entertaining to have people explain exactly what Jesus meant 2000 years ago. So what was up with Muhammed and those virgins?
MobyD almost 14 years ago
bbHhh said:
âIn Mark 10:21 Jesus is reported as saying âGo, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.ââ
Yâknow, that sounds like a pretty good argument, from a Christian perspective, for an estate tax; a fairly hefty one at that. Iâm sure the GOP (Greedy One Percent) would never see it that way, of course.
Digital Frog almost 14 years ago
So Camelot is next to heaven? Did Authur finally find the Holy Grail? Tune in next week whenâŠ
rmbdot almost 14 years ago
Rope, not camel.
There was a translation/transcription error by some scholarly scribe many centuries ago. The words for âropeâ and âcamelâ differ by only one character in whichever original language he was working from..
aerwalt almost 14 years ago
There is nothing wrong with being wealthy.
What you do with it is what counts.
I prefer my heirs to use whatever is left when I go rather
than the govât.
Nelly55 almost 14 years ago
stirred the pot all the way around today, eh Wiley?
Iâm with NightshadeâŠâŠâŠvery funny strip
CUTTERMALONE almost 14 years ago
SayhowurfeelingâŠ.. I think that you are having a little problem with the concept behind this corporate entrance exam. Your suggestion would be putting the eye of the needle through the camel. It is supposed to be the other way around. Donât worry, a lot of businesses make that mistake. I think the original instructions were fairly specific, even if Wiley didnât repeat them.
Based on the comments and to fulfill all translations the rest of it might read:
2.) find a rope and attach to camel. 3.) pass the rope through the eye of the needle. 4.) drag camel through needle with the rope.
That would keep everybody happyâŠâŠexcept the camel.
ilsapadu almost 14 years ago
I didnât get the strip, Iâve never heard of this eye of the needle business and I donât know what the camel has to do with it so I thought Iâd read the comments to clear things up.
Believe me, things are not clearer now.
TaurusLady almost 14 years ago
St Mark 10:25 ~
It is easier for a rope to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
This from ~ HOLY BIBLE From Ancient Eastern Manuscripts transcribed by George M Lamsa, a native Assyrian born and raised in a part of the ancient biblical land from which Abraham migrated to Palestine.
Kevin Parker Premium Member almost 14 years ago
Jesus is supposed to have repeatedly condemned being wealthy and caring about moneyâ and also condemned divorce and remarriage as being equal to adultery. Someone explain to me why so many âChristiansâ have ripped out those verses and fixated on homosexuals and abortion, which Jesus never mentioned.
We can tell you made up your god when he hates everybody you hate.
cocoonministries almost 14 years ago
At THIRDGUY: as if He could miss!
kirbey almost 14 years ago
@NightShade09, I also think this is a really funny strip today as always !
cheers !
hitman4cookies almost 14 years ago
âThe elevator to the bottom floor is to the left sirâŠâ
Varnes almost 14 years ago
Mark Twain also said something to the effect of heâd probably enjoy hell better than heaven be cause the people would be more fun to be with and the conversations would be betterâŠ
Varnes almost 14 years ago
Ok, I looked it up, it was Heaven for the climate and Hell for the company, but I thought he said it the other way, tooâŠ.
TaurusLady almost 14 years ago
billdog ~ I am just sayinââŠ..am a recovered Catholic and have no interest in organized religion or people who claim to know what God thinks!
Ernest Lemmingway almost 14 years ago
I think everyone is reading too much into this. The sign says, âCorporate Entrance Exam.â It applies only to corp execs.
GeraldTarrant almost 14 years ago
I was taught the Eye was a gate in Jerusalem, but that it was so narrow that the only way a camel can get through is to shed whatever packs it is carrying. That would go along nicely with how Jesus was telling the guy to give up all his worldly possessions.
But letâs just yell at each other about religion instead. Itâs much more fun.
dfowensby almost 14 years ago
its a frickinâ cartoon, sakes. get a life all you christers. yeesh. oh: mistranslated from the latin from the greek from the aramaic: rope. not camel. passing a rope throught the needle eye. makes a lot more sense, eh? camel. sort of like the mistranslation of poisoner. it became witch. and a young woman became a virgin mother in the same way. catholic monks couldnât translate worth a bleeep, and now you have a rather ludicrous religion based essentially upon bad writing. uck.
sleepeeg3 almost 14 years ago
If you have to explain itâŠ
Something religious, Wiley ripping on corporate America again - I think I got it. >yawn<
runar almost 14 years ago
My idea of the perfect afterlife is one in which there is no literal heaven or hell; each person gets, instead of what they hope theyâll get, what they fear they deserve.
Personally, Iâm not sure Iâd care for the traditional notion of an afterlife. While I would really like being reunited with my late wife, Iâd hate to have to put up with my sister for eternity.
Dtroutma almost 14 years ago
Wow! A simple wry commentary on the corporate raiders âpayingâ for their actions, at some point , and all the âthumpersâ go nuts, again. Considering how many âhypocrhristiansâ are actually just greedheads trying to cover their assets in the afterlife, which well, doesnât really exist as described in the âtoon, or âthe bookââ too funny. Belief and faith donât have to include interpreting myths literally.
dflak almost 14 years ago
There comes a point when you stop owning things and they start owning you.
DonVanni almost 14 years ago
If there is a heaven or hell, I hope Georg Cantor or David Hilbert designed them.That way, if youâre in heaven, all youâd have to do is sing for about a minute once a day EVERY day for Eternity. Thus you would do in infinite amount of signing and still have the rest of the day to enjoy yourself. Same as with Hell: you get a tiny poke with a hot needle once a day for Eternity and get an infinite amount of suffering, but get to enjoy yourself the rest of the time.
MatureCanadian almost 14 years ago
Wow, Wiley, sure stirred it up today! Love it.
Yes, Mark Twainâs Letters from the Earth says it all.
cdward almost 14 years ago
A: The reason for the biblical discussion is because the cartoon makes a biblical allusion.
B: It is not a mistranslation. It says camel (kamilos), not rope (kamĂȘlos), and it mesa camel, not rope. This is a classic case of hyperbole, which is an accepted rhetorical style of the time and culture. It is intended to make the impossibility of the situation more obvious, since the camel is the largest land animal common to the area. In the Babylonian Talmud there is a similar saying, but with elephants.
C: The point of the aphorism is still basically the same as that of the cartoon: The very rich (here represented by the corporate exec whose sole function is to make money for those who already have money, and especially for him or herself), live lives that are antithetical to the Gospel - or to anyone who cares for those who have less.
COGNIZANT almost 14 years ago
Very good, âDarke Forceâ
GailRubin almost 14 years ago
My husband (we being of the Jewish persuasion) needed me to explain this one this morning. I said it was a New Testament thing. Nonetheless, this gets entry into the Death Cartoon Collection at The Family Plot Blog! http://thefamilyplot.wordpress.com/category/death-cartoons/
Justice22 almost 14 years ago
To make it short,,, Worshipping money is the true evil, not having some.
treered almost 14 years ago
another turn of the spoon: I thought the âEye of the Needleâ was a gate in the wall where ONLY people could go in or out⊠Wiley, youâve hit another outadapark!
lin4869 almost 14 years ago
Iâve been taught that heaven is all around us at this moment. Our priest (a female) conjectures that Jesus may have said the camel through the needle part with a sense of humor, plus Iâve also read/learned about the narrow gate.. In any case, weâve learned that Jesus didnât condemn people who had surplus money; he did, however, tell us that itâs not to be worshipped. We donât usually attribute a sense of humor to Jesus, but he probably had one.
black_knight15_au almost 14 years ago
As the guy who first mentioned the rope not camel, I doth repent in ashes Glad I didnât mention that stauros and xylon were originally upright stakes, pole ot tree and not a cross⊠Woops, just did and @ cdward, thanks for the translations. What have you got on stauros and xylon?
artybee almost 14 years ago
Well, which is it, rope or camel??? I thought The Good Book was supposed to have been written all perfect in the rough draft.
1OldDude almost 14 years ago
@Digital Frog: A used camel lot next door to heaven? Lack of money is the root of all evil!
wacorley almost 14 years ago
Iâm surprised the right-wing tea partiers are reading this comic strip in the first place! After all, they HAVE no sense of humor! And most of those with no sense of humor, have no sense, period, as far as Iâm concerned. Non Sequitur is one of the best strips!
michaelrafferty over 13 years ago
As this string of comments demonstrates, there is no certainty to any quotation from 2,000 years ago. This one is, however, consistent with others attributed to Jesus regarding the danger that wealth will be a barrier to the kingdom of heaven.
It is the distinction between âmoney is the root of all evilâ and âthe love of money is the root of all evil.â
kaystari Premium Member almost 13 years ago
you need to broaden your imagination, and information, about what Heaven will be like. Your waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off.