Have you noticed occasional stories and word studies that border on the sensational? Something is presented in a way that arouses interest through inflated details that may in fact prove to be false. For example, you may have heard that the meaning of the names in genealogies up to Noah create a sentence that tells the gospel story. Or perhaps you have heard that every time we breathe, we are saying the name “Yahweh.” Don’t buy it.
One story often passed around is based on this statement of Jesus: “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (Matt 19:24). The assertion is that the “eye of a needle” is not referring to a “sewing needle,” but is instead referring to a gate called the eye of the needle that had a little door through which people would pass, and a camel could go through it only with great difficulty once it sheds its burden. This might make an interesting illustration, but for one problem: there is no evidence of this in the first century world. I’ve noticed that when things like this get passed around, they lack references by which we can fact check them.
This can easily happen with archaeological finds, and I’ve been guilty. Something is found and a theory is put out that seems to support something important, but before it is fully vetted and tested, we are passing it around like it’s absolute. Later it turns out to be fraudulent (shades of the James Ossuary or the claim that first century copy of Mark was found). There are legitimate findings, but we need to let things get worked out before jumping on board too soon. And we should always be modest about such claims, for things can quickly change.
Be careful. This kind of thing can hurt credibility in our efforts to teach truth. Test and verify before charging ahead with something that sounds cool or seems almost too good. Better, tell the gospel as presented in Scripture and let it do its work.
Doy Moyer
From the blog Searching Daily