Interpretation of scripture

[vulcanlogician]

The Narrow Way
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." - Matthew 7:13-14

First point: Christianity is the most popular religion in the world. (so... yeah).

Second point: It's a rather vague verse to begin with. I mean, I guess "most people are going to hell" is something you could confidently gather from it. But to what does the "narrow gate" refer?

Is it an elaboration of the previous point about good vs evil believers? If so, then the verse has little to do with having a correct doctrine (as many presume) and has more to do with the fact that self-involved "evil" people are a dime a dozen, and truly good natured people are rare.

Does it mesh with the next item: a warning about false prophets? If it does, maybe we're back to thinking the verse is about doctrine. After all, a false prophet has a false doctrine. Except that (according to the verse) what separates a true prophet from a false one is "being inwardly a ravenous wolf"... so now we're back to good-natured vs evil-natured people.

I guess what I'm saying is: it's all rather ambiguous. And different sects and different people take different things away from it. Which is the topic of the thread, anyway. So what is your response to this, Mercyvessel? It's fine if you want to give your interpretation of the verse, but I'm more interested in hearing about how something so ambiguous can be said to have a definite meaning... or (if you prefer)... how do you handle the ambiguity yourself?