Quote:

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Matthew 25:14 - 30

For your comments .......

Gnashing of teeth is bad Mkaaay

I have gained no other wisdom from your pair of bulls

Sprintcyclist wrote on Jan 25^th, 2014 at 10:41am:

Matthew 25:14 - 30 For your comments .......

Though God does encourage us all, to be kind to the poor, and to be generous to those who are worse off than ourselves, the Matthew 25:14 - 30 parable suggests, very directly, that God is not a socialist.

???

And that God does not hold with socialist ideals [which is in fact thievery, as a means 'to help the poor'].




Is Jesus suggesting that God is in fact a capitalist ?

Matthew 25:24
......he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:



Do Jesus parables suggest that God is a capitalist ?

Matthew 21:33
Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
34  And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it......

To me it says when you have a gift, a talent, an ability at anything, you should utilise it as best you can.

Do not dig a hole and hide it in there. Take it out, use it, get the most from it.

The Master was wise to entrust different people with different amounts. Don't put all your eggs in the one basket. Allocate your eggs as you see fit. Not everyone gets an equal share, not everyone merits an equal share.

To the guy who was rightly allocated only one bag of gold, did nothing with it, then blamed someone else on his inaction .........  well, that's common behaviour amongst losers.

How oftern we see that "......those that have will be given more.....".
Often the beautiful women are rich with a happy family.

It's your life. Use your talents to your best ability.
It's your choice. Take the 5 bags of gold, give it a whirl.
Do something with your life you can be proud of.

Nice analysis Sprinty. A good, positive message when read in that context.

hhhmmm, this one may not be so good.


Quote:

Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.” Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

Luke 13:18-20

Anyhow, see what becomes of it...............

Or it could also read:


Quote:

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and and lost it all in a bad business. So also, the one with two bags of gold lost it all But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have lost it all. “His master replied, you idiot. “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; I lost it all. “His master replied, you idiot. “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ “His master replied,  you have done the right thing as you have not wasted my money. “‘So take the bag of gold & give it back to me. And throw those other worthless servants outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

I need to learn more about religion, it's fascinating.

Bobby. wrote on Mar 12^th, 2014 at 12:00am:

Or it could also read: Quote: “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and and lost it all in a bad business. So also, the one with two bags of gold lost it all But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have lost it all. “His master replied, you idiot. “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; I lost it all. “His master replied, you idiot. “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ “His master replied,  you have done the right thing as you have not wasted my money. “‘So take the bag of gold & give it back to me. And throw those other worthless servants outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

I imagine the original form of the parable (as posted by Sprintcyclist - even then how close to the very original telling one could never know) was given as a lesson for a certain circumstance.

Under a different circumstance (with a very different lesson required) your mirrored version could just as well serve.  I do like it! lol

So what seems important to me ... is the circumstance of the telling and actual matter or activity being addressed at the time - with some parables this is relatively easy to discern with others more discrimination may be required. 

This points to a distinct problem with ancient texts etc ... much is lost over time and many editors and revisionists have had their chance to either add, change or delete information to suit their own purpose!

Some involved may have claimed divine inspiration justified their editorial activities, others were most likely or more wholly concerned with power, influence and control!    

Although adherents may claim God's (always and ever) guiding hand has precluded any meaningful/essential changes from being made ...

and ... Muslims consider the Qur'an to be the only book that has been protected by God from distortion or corruption ... (yet it was at first only memorized and then only written down sometime after Muhammad's death) ...

Early in my life - a primary school class exercise/lesson in Chinese whispers laid a solid foundation of doubt as to the validity of this pervasive and seemingly very convenient, God's (always and ever) guiding hand/corruption-less claim!

      

Sprintcyclist wrote on Mar 11^th, 2014 at 11:35pm:

hhhmmm, this one may not be so good. Quote: Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.” Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.” Luke 13:18-20 Anyhow, see what becomes of it...............

just as I thought, this parable not so good.

Still, the mustard tree looks like a classic tree.

http://anabsolutefortoday.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/mustard-tree_mist.jpg

And comes from a VERY small seed.


The yeast the woman mixed into 60 lbs of flour.
That's a lot of flour, a lot of work.
She'ld make a HUGE amount of bread from such a small amount of yeast.
100 loaves or so ?