The Bible says it is hard for a rich man to get into heaven. Why someone would face such hardships is beyond me. For playing eternity on hard mode the rich have my respect.
The means are more important than the ends for some. How one becomes wealthy is more important to me than how much wealth they have. A pursuit of wealth absent of moral and ethical boundaries tends towards evil rather than good. I respect those that acquire wealth without profiteering, fraud or other criminal misconduct.
Matthew 19 (YLT) "23 and Jesus said to his disciples, `Verily I say to you, that hardly shall a rich man enter into the reign of the heavens; 24 and again I say to you, it is easier for a camel through the eye of a needle to go, than for a rich man to enter into the reign of God.' 25 And his disciples having heard, were amazed exceedingly, saying, `Who, then, is able to be saved?' 26 And Jesus having earnestly beheld, said to them, `With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'" In the time of Jesus, it was common for towns to be surrounded by defensive walls. These walls would have a large gate that facilitated easy passage into and out of the town, for things like camels and wagons to enter for trade. During times of war or in a siege or just at night, the main gate would be closed. Though typically, the wall also had smaller opennings for a person to go through when the main gate was closed. Sometimes someone would need to try and get their camel through one of these openings, such as someone who arrives to a town at night or during a war and the main gate couldn't be openned. So they would end up trying to coax their huge camel through this tiny man-sized opening, which usually requires the camel to sortof crawl on its knees, something camels can do, but often don't want to. Trying to squeeze a camel through one of these side doors in the wall was often called 'threading the needle.' Thats all to say- there may be a bit lost in translation here. It seems to me a rather oddly specific thing for Jesus to compare getting into heaven with liquifying a camel to funnel it through a pinhole. More likely its a reference to this practice that was common in His time and culture, but not ours. A difficult practice certainly, but one that was successful enough to be commonly attempted, not quite as impossible as it literally sounds.
I always thought the idea was that if they were exceptionally moral, they wouldn’t stay rich because their money would have gone to help others. I don’t agree with that, keeping wealthy to continuously do good is more viable. But some people are wealthy because they cleverly step on others, and that’s what he likely had in mind. I respect earned wealth, but only as one facet of a complex being, like being good at math wouldn’t make me lionize everything about them, but I can respect that aspect of them as praiseworthy as a skill.
99% of us either strive or wish to be wealthy. I see nothing wrong with that. That ambition is what got us out of the caves and into our temperature-controlled homes. So how is that supposed to keep us out of Heaven?
