Matthew 19;24: “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven”. Difficulties understanding this passage led to an early conclusion that inspired much of Catholic Fundamentalism.
When an aspiring young businessman read about the camel and the needle’s eye after having made a personal commitment to take Scripture literally, he was discouraged, and nearly gave up his plans for commercial endeavor. “What’s the point of being rich if I can’t get to Heaven?” was his obvious question.
After thinking, and praying, about the problem, he felt a voice within his mind ask, “How would you put a camel through the eye of a needle?” His best answer, “Incinerate it, dilute the ashes, and pump them through a small hypodermic needle that would fit through the eye of a needle. It might take a couple of months.”
The invisible questioner said that a camel put through a needle’s eye in such a way would no longer be able to walk, and would have lost the essence of “camelness”. “Well, then”, the young man said, “I would make a needle a block long, the eye of which would be large enough to allow a small camel to pass.”
“If you can’t sew a button on a shirt with the needle, it isn’t a real needle.”, the questioner replied. The young man was stumped.
“Here’s what you do.”, came into his mind. “You take an egg from a female camel, and fertilize it. Then, put the fertilized egg, floating in amniotic fluid, onto a microscope slide. While you are watching, you can take a sterilized needle and pass its eye over the fertilized egg. It will be similar to a ping-pong ball going through a basketball hoop. Then, put the fertilized egg back into the womb of the mother camel.”
The young man marveled. “When it is born, it will be a camel that has gone through the eye of a needle!”
He went on to start his business, and spent several decades applying the thought to developing Catholic Fundamentalism.
