People could relate to the stories that Jesus taught them. They could see how difficult it was for the camel to get through the small enterance through the wall.
It would be impossible for a camel to pass through the sewing needle.
If that was the picture, then no rich man could enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus didn’t say impossible, He said harder.
Unfortunately though alter that doesn’t make the hole-in-the-wall interpretation any more true.
Besides, a rich man can get in by becoming something other than a rich man (giving away everything he has, as Jesus says). So he’s not saying that it’s impossible for some people to come in, only that it’s impossible to come in while you insist on clinging to the things of this world; if you let go of the ‘stuff’ then you are no longer a camel. (which, interestingly, turns out to be not all that different in essence to the hole-in-the-wall interpretation).
Somebody told me that in Luke’s account, he uses a different Greek word for ‘needle’ - the word to describe a surgeon’s needle as he was a doctor; can anyone shed any light on the veracity of this claim.
You mean, they call people “idiots,” “drooling morons,” “dolts,” “braindead,” and “evil” in a public forum? Yep, I could see where that would be pretty intolerant, intrusive, and hateful.
You have a problem with Paul? Why is that? He considered himself as a sinner saved by the grace of God, and he most certainly viewed himself has having seen the risen Christ:
*Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. *
– 1 Cor. 15:7
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. – Ephesians 2:8 - 9
This is an interesting matter. The gist of it is that salvation is a gift from God; it cannot be earned or paid for. Faith is the means by which we take hold of the proffered grace. Good works, then, are the means by which our faith is played out in the world. There have been whole books written on these subjects, so I can not do it justice on a message board. Besides, I’m still learning.
RR
What are you insinuating? I do not resort to name-calling on the boards, and I often try to put a stop to it when somebody does it one of my threads.
Besides, I do not despise religion, or religious people in general – only the ones who are intolerant, intrusive and hateful. 
I just find it interesting that most of the New Testament was written by, and the Christian religion de facto founded by, a guy who never met Jesus when he was alive. (I think even Cecil said this one time: that Paul founded Christianity.) Maybe we should call it “Paulianity” instead of “Christianity”.
Maybe Paul SAID he saw the resurrected Jesus, but why did so many people BELIEVE him???
Letter from James! Letter from James!! Letter from James!!! Gawd, please don’t make me type it again!!!
You know, in contrast to Paul, James DID know Jesus the living man. So, who you gonna believe? This guy, or that guy?
Or maybe we can just accept that the Bible is contradictory.
As are we all.