Matthew 25 the story is about faith??

[Poppy]

Matthew 25


14 "For, (the Kingdom of heaven is) like a man, traveling abroad, called his own servants and handed over to them his holdings. 15 And to one, indeed, he handed over five talents. But, to another he handed over two (talents). But, to one he handed over one (talent). (The man gave) to each one according to his ability. And he went abroad. Immediately, 16 having gone out, the one, having taken the five talents, invested the money and earned another five. 17 In the same way, the one with two (talent) earned another two. 18 The one, however, having taken one (talent), having gone out, dug (a hole in) the ground and hid the silver of his master. 19 After much time, however, the master of those servants came and raised the subject with them. 20 And approaching (the master), the one having taken five talents presented the other five, saying, "Look, another five talents I earned." 21 His master said to him, "Well (done), servant, good and trustworthy! Over a few things you were trustworthy. Over many things I will place you. Enter into the joy of your master." 22 Approaching (the master), also, the one with two talents said, "Master, you handed me two talents. Look. I earned another two talents." 23 His master said to him, "Well (done), servant, good and trustworthy! Over a few things you were trustworthy. Over many things I will place you. Enter into the joy of your master." 24 Having come forward, however, the one having received one talent, said, "Master, I knew you are a hard man, harvesting where you did not sow (seed), and gathering where you did not winnow. 25 Being afraid, I, going out, hid your talent in the ground. Look. You have yours (back)." 26 Having answered, however, his master said to him, "Evil servant and lazy (one)! You knew that I harvest what I do not sow, and gather where I do not winnow. It was necessary, then, (that) you threw my silver to those at the tables. And, having gone, I could earn mine with interest. 28 Remove, then, from him the talent and give (it) to the one having ten talents. 29 For, to everyone possessing, will be given (more) and it will overflow. But, to the one not possessing what he has will be removed from him. 30 And, throw the worthless servant into the outmost darkness. There will be crying and gnashing of teeth (in that place)."

This is about faith isn't it?? Everyone had a different amount of faith given to them and they have to go use what they got given and not to waist it or be lazy.

[NicholasMyra]

I personally think it applies to the whole person in Christ. Talents (innate ability, not the currency), positive dispositions, knowledge, truth, wisdom, understanding, physical acumen, charisma, charismata, etc.

[JamesRottnek]

I - whether or not the Fathers would is a matter beyond me right now - would say (and I think I am agreeing with Nicholas, if I'm not, I welcome him to let me know) that this applies to every gift that God has given us.  Some of us are gifted with great intelligence and wisdom (as evidenced by the existence of this board, some of you who post on here are truly brilliant), some of us are gifted with a great and zealous rethorical (sp) ability, others of us have exceptional managerial capabilities, and still others of us are good at fundraising.  Christ wants us to use these natural gifts to further His Kingdom.  We shouldn't waste them or hide them away (I believe Sirach mentions how useless a wise man is who hides away his wisdom from the world).  We shouldn't use our managerial capabilities to build up strip clubs, and we shouldn't use our retorical (sp) abilities to breed hate in the hearts of men, and we shouldn't use our fundraising abilities to aid groups like Planned Parenthood.  Rather, we should direct our abilities and our lives to building up the Kingdom, whether we work for a Church organization, or just volunteer as time permits, we should be using our talents (it is truly an incredible coincidence that 'talent' was a monetary unit at the time and today means innate ability) to spread the Gospel, and to build up the House of the Lord.

At the risk of talking to much (something Sirach warns about, I think it may be my favorite book of the Bible), I am going to add to what I've written above.  In addition to our natural abilities being spoken of, I don't think we should ignore the fact that the Lord used money in the parable.  As all we have is given by God and can be taken by Him at any time (just look at Job if you disagree, really Job is the ultimate disproof of the Prosperity Gospel), it is certainly to be considered a gift of God.  Like all God's gifts to us, we are to use it to build up His Kingdom.  We are not to squander our money on drugs or pornography or a million beanie babies (or whatever other senseless habit we have - though having a Beanie Baby collection is not bad, as long as we don't devote too much of our resources to it), but rather we are to save our money wisely and to invest our money wisely, not throwing it away but rather multiplying it.  Even if you have no desire to live beyond the most simple means reasonable in today's world (and if you truely have that desire, pray for me, because I certainly don't), by using our physical resources well, we have the ability to build Churches, to endow our Churches with wonderful and a multitude of, icons, to pay our priests a decent salary so that they aren't forced to have full time work in addition to being a priest (how else can we expect them to want to stay a priest?), and help the poor, and the widow, and the orphan.  I think that, just as Christ was telling us not to waste our less visible and tangible resources, he was also telling us not to waste our physical assets.  That we do a disservice to Him when we throw out money into the fire, because of all of the good it could have been used for for His Kingdom.

[Αριστοκλής]

Faith and WORKS, yes.

[David 2007]

Fox News says it's a pro-Capitalist passage, *rolls eyes*

The first clue is that the passage is describing: The Kingdom of Heaven. So that is what it is about.

God does not want us having mystery schools and keeping our faith secret, like some sort of money grubbing fearful person. God wants us to express that fruit.

Love one another.
Love your neighbour as youself.
Love your enemy.

Especially that last part.

Love is what we are called to do, and love is our reward.

The passage is about God's grace/love. Which is the Kingdom of Heaven.

[Poppy]

well that depends on what faith IS... im a bit confused about what it is because people talk about their faith as in Orthodoxy and then there is faith as in trust.... and so if it is trust that this kind of faith is in this passage then its saying to increase it by trusting more.

If its the other kind of faith Orthodoxy then it might be saying to increase the church by telling people and making the church bigger.
IDK

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