I'm not bashing the parable, I just never got it. It is the parable of the ten talents. As I read it, a rich man gave 3 servants different amounts of talents (money) and he said he was going away. While gone, take the money and make more of it. It makes sense...
One guy, who was given 10, made 10 more. One guy, who was given 5, made 5 more. One guy, who was given 1, made ... no more. The boss comes home, and guy number one doubled his money, boss says he is a good guy. Guy number two doubled his money, and he is counted as a good guy too. Guy number three was afraid that the master being a harsh boss, was afraid and simply kept what he was given, and the Master thrashed him, (I think he threw him in outer darkness...ewww)
Pause...
Nope, I never got it. If it is money (which I know it isn't) then the master is looking for a 100% return on his investment. Even using the rule of 72, we are talking about 7.5 years to do that! If we are talking about money, it is a very hefty sum indeed. Each talent is about 75 lbs. Multiply that times 16 ounces, times $782/ ounce we are talking $9.3 million for 10 talents.... not a light sum o' cash.
If, like my Sunday school teachers always said, he was using an English pun (talent = money vs talent = gift from God) then taking our talents and not making them bigger/ better is a crime punishable by death. (no I am not taking it too far, it is exactly what the parable says...)
So if we take our talents (making bread, playing piano) we are commanded to make them better, to magnify them. Do we have to double them as well? That doesn't make sense... so I don't think that is right.
Our Father gives us talents, but he wants us to grow by using them... (closer I think....). So making bread and playing the piano are only good in as much as we also learn to make yummy soup bowls and sing 4 part harmony....Because we have to take our talents and double them.
That doesn't sound right either...
Sigh, I don't get it, and because I don't get it, I don't buy it. That can't be what he was referring to! I think (pronounced Robert-Doctrine here....) that it means.... Father gave us.... situations, strengths, weaknesses, gifts and troubles. To some, he gave more opportunities (learning, access to education, strong bodies, good economies....) to others he gave less (less educated, no priesthood, physical/mental handicaps, poor upbringing, prejudices...) But the point isn't to simply double your money, I think that the point (even though not stated) is to take what you have with life.
- The good and the bad
- The talents and the handicaps
- The strengths and the weaknesses.
I am always (honestly always, 100% of the time...) amazed in the temple at the veil. The test of our knowledge and implementation of our covenants is done by Jehovah. One on one, Him and me, no one else. He is my judge, my tester, my advocate. But the very hand of Jehovah is what tests me. So there you have it. Our lives, our situations, our blessings, our trials, are administered not by a distant ghost like god that will try us at the end of our lives, but rather one on one by Christ himself, right this moment, now till the moment I die, I am being tested by Him. He is the one who paid for my sins, by enduring all the trials, pain and suffering that I could go through, he did it himself and he knows perfectly what the measure of my trials should be, and therefore the return on the investment made on me.
So, for me, I don't look at the talents as talents (making bread/playing piano) but rather my life, my situation, where I am at and what I have to work with. What I have gained (through work and diligence) what I have lost (through carelessness or sin). It is not the gifts that life that are being measured and weighed, in stead, it is my life! It is, what I have become.
Many of you probably already knew that, or at least understood it better than me, but that is how I look at it.
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