Parable of the Talents (novel) Puns

The expert source from the post who worked for the IRS thinks this could be a big deal but the source for Deseret, a writer who writes about taxes for a magazine, says it's not a big deal. Combine that with the parable of the talents and this is a non issue. Everyone settle your tithing before new year

So has anyone read Parable of the Talents lately? The sequel to Parable of the Sower. It’s an Afro-futuristic story that kind of reminds me of The Road and some other post apocalyptic stories.

I’m only a few chapters in and I’m shook! The bad guy in the story. The president calls to “Make America Great Again” and his fanatical followers are lynching and burning witches and hurting anyone that doesn’t agree with them.

Well, if you haven’t read it. I think you should.

LDS, Inc uses the parable of the talents to justify their growth and hoarding of money. However I don't agree with their interpretation of the parable.

The unprofitable servant stuck his talent in the ground and refused to use it. I believe stashing away this money for it to never be used (even though it grows) obtains the same results as sticking it in the ground.

When we are taught to develop our own talents (music, sports, etc) we display our talents for the benefit of mankind. If I became a concert pianist but never played for anyone I would be like the unprofitable servant.

Brigham Young said, "Now, where a man in this Church says, "I don't want but one wife, I will live my religion with one," he will perhaps be saved in the celestial kingdom; but when he gets there he will not find himself in possession of any wife at all. He has had a talent that he has hid up. He will come forward and say, "Here is that which thou gavest me, I have not wasted it, and here is the one talent," and he will not enjoy it, but it will be taken and given to those who have improved the talents they received, and he will find himself without any wife, and he will remain single for ever and ever." (Journal of Discourses V16, page 166)

I wrote a textual analysis paper for an Early Christianity class I'm in this semester, and in looking at the parallels between Matthew and Luke (what scholars refer to as Q), specifically in verses related to wealth and economic status, I noticed that the general trend is for Luke to interpret the shared source material to condemn wealth/the wealthy, while Matthew tries to soften these condemnations, perhaps out of embarrassment.

See, for example, the inherited beatitude material: Luke writes, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled" (Lk. 6:20-21). Matthew, on the other hand, alters the meaning of poverty and hungry to refer to a spiritualized sense of the terms: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Mt. 5:3, 6).

When I compared the Parable of the Talents found in Luke 19 and Matthew 25, I began to realize that they paint very different pictures of the master, which causes the parable to mean very different things in each of their telling of the story.

From my essay:

> Luke’s interpretation is far more striking in its details, as it seeks to wrestle with the seemingly pro-wealth message embedded within it. This results in the rather confused meaning given to it by the author, which is difficult to understand—indeed, there is arguably no apparent narrative meaning to it in Luke’s gospel. Luke’s telling of the parable begins with the unique detail that the master is “a nobleman,” whose purpose for leaving town is “to get royal power for himself.” It is quite possible that nowhere else in the entire New Testament is there to be found a character whose motivation to attain royal power is something to be commended. In fact, elsewhere in the Q source, the devil tempts Jesus in the desert by offering him this very same thing. Right from the beginning of Luke’s interpretation of this parable we get the sense that this is a problematic figure. After apportioning his wealth to his slaves, it is reported that “the citizens of his country hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to rule over us.’” This detail is unique to Luke, and adds another narrative layer to the parable about a large group of people who are displeased with this nobleman’s rule, thus emphasizing the image of this ruler as a cruel and detestable person. When th

I’ve been struggling with this lately, and feel like its something I need to be focusing on improving... Matthew 25: 14-30. What’s your talent? How will you use it for God’s glory next week?

I revisited the Parable of the Talents on a Social media discussion about the Church finance Revelations:

"The First Presidency cites the Parable of the Talents justification for its investments. If Christ were to come tomorrow, the "servants" managing the money could attempt to boast "we turned our 20Billion talents into 100Billion talents by prudently letting it sit in a hedge fund for decades!"

Despite their very literal interpretation of the Parable, I like to think that even Corporate American Jesus, who probably wouldn't have much use for $100B USD after literally descending from the heavens, would agree that more value was created by the servants who get to say "I turned 20Billion talents into 50Billion talents by prudently letting it sit in a hedge fund while sharing a sustainable portion of my growth with my family and neighbors to ease the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people".

Ask yourself which talents were actually "hid into the Earth" and which servant was actually "slothful".

Again, there's one other interpretation of this: that the brethren are saving up a pile of money for some last-days event. If that's your opinion and view of how things are, or that you shouldn't question The Brethrem at any rate, I get it in principle. It just makes me sad when there is so much suffering to spend money on fixing right now, and that's where I see "greed" while you don't."

The Kingdom of Crypto is like a man, departing on a journey, who entrusted his portfolio to his bots; to one he gave five bitcoins, to another two, to another one, to each according to its ability. Then he went away. The one with five bitcoins traded with them, and made five more. The one who had two bitcoins made two more. But the bot with a single bitcoin put it in Tether. When the master returned, the first bot came forward saying, “Master, you gave me five bitcoins; see, I have made five more.” His master said , “Well done, good and faithful bot; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many; have a new API.” The bot with two bitcoins also came forward, saying, “Master, you gave me two bitcoins; see, I have made two more.” His master said , “Well done, good and faithful bot; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many; have a new API.” Then the one who had received one bitcoin came forward, saying, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter; so I was afraid, and put your bitcoin in Tether. Here, have what is yours.” His master replied, “You wicked and lazy bot! So you knew that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? So you should have put my bitcoin in Gemini, then at least I would have received interest. Take the bitcoin from it, and give it to the one with ten. For to all those who have bitcoin, more will be given, and they will have lambos in abundance; but from those who have tether or shitcoins, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless bot, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

These two books by Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, had a big effect on me. The concept of the "Hyper-Empath" and the dangers involved really opened my eyes. Has anyone read these books? Any thoughts or analysis?

Matthew 25:24-26:

"He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed?

(See the emboldened parts)

Theory: The OA was sent to prevent an apocalypse caused by a technological singularity. This mechanical enemy is controlled by some sort of engineer or big bad, similar to the gnostic creator god, that is not Hap, unless hap is also an avatar. The OA sent herself, in her true goddess form like the gnostic Sophia, she sent an avatar of herself (OA) with limited knowledge and scope to the earth's many timelines to fight this coming apocalypse.)

The Parable of the Sower (sometimes called the Parable of the Soils) is a parable of Jesus found in the three Synoptic Gospels in Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15. In the story, a sower sows seed and does so indiscriminately. Some seed falls on the path (wayside) with no soil, some on rocky ground with little soil, and some on soil which contained thorns. In these cases the seed is taken away or fails to produce a crop, but when it falls on good soil it grows, yielding thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold.

Jesus then (only in the presence of his disciples) explains that the seed represents the Gospel (the sower being anyone who proclaims it), and the various soils represent people's responses to it (the first three representing rejection while the last represents acceptance).

Parable of the Sower is also a science fiction novel by American writer Octavia E. Butler, published in 1993.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Sower

Within the novel is the idea of the Earthseed....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthseed

The word "Earthseed" comes from the idea that the seeds of all life on Earth can be transplanted, and through adaptation will grow, in many different types of situations or places.

The Terasem Movement seeks the development of humanity through technology, and to bridge the gap between science and religion. Terasem comes from the Latin Terra ('earth') and sēmen ('seed'). Like the fictional Earthseed, Terasem Movement attempts to "shape God", but through technology.

Like the book, but through technology: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheOA/comments/b5kng7/the_parable_of_the_sower/?st=jtprmm2s&sh=8709160d

There is also a humanistic pagan website called Earthseed, and a social movement named SolSeed.

The Terasem Movement is a group of three organizations based in the United States. The name (Tera–Earth, Sem–Seed) was inspired by Earthseed, a fictional religion from the works of Octavia Butler. The movement was founded by Martine Rothblatt and Bina Aspen Rothblatt, and is guided by p

OK so I made this list of classics novels for myself to read and I finished Catcher in the Rye the other day. I liked it. I understood the themes in it such as depression, alienation and really sometimes the main character seemed a lot like myself but I couldn't really pick out the underlying themes and symbolism till I read analysis on the internet. In School I never really could go beyond the surface of the novels and this worries me because I'm afraid I won't get the full experience of the book.

Other people could think outside the box tho and make connections with these symbolism and alegory but I just can't. Maybe I don't have the talent. Or just extremely weak in this area. Can I learn to think for myself?

I mean, there are a lot of vague and contradictory stories in the Bible but this one is as clear as could be.

This is an interesting book and a great way to get a lot of fans reading a novel that probably inspires them to create this story and helped them choose Northern California as their place to set the story

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Sower_(novel)

The book that Karim gets for Dr. Rhodes at the books store is “The Parable of the Sower” which is a parable from the Bible but also a novel (part of the Earthseed Series) by Octavia Butler. Here’s part of an Amazon review. Just food for thought!

Lauren explains what Earthseed is about: “Change is the one unavoidable, irresistible, ongoing reality of the universe. To us, that makes it the most powerful reality, and just another word for God.”Along the way, her daughter Larkin extends the explanation: ‘”God is Change,’ she says and means it. Some of the faces of her god are biological evolution, chaos theory, relativity theory, the uncertainty principle, and, of course, the second law of thermodynamics. ‘God is Change, and, in the end, God prevails.’ Yet Earthseed is not a fatalistic belief system. God can be directed, focused, speeded, slowed, shaped. All things change, but all things need not change in all ways. God is inexorable, yet malleable. Odd. Hardly religious at all. Even the Earthseed Destiny”—that humankind will populate new worlds among the stars—”seems to have little to do with religion.” Doesn’t this read like a religion that a science fiction writer might create? And of course it is.

In this parable we are meant to feel that the older brother is being unreasonable and unworthy.

However according to the internal logic of the story he is a fool for working so hard, an even bigger fool if he does not also demand his own inheritance forthwith the instance his brother presents his visage.

His father says "all that I have is yours". This is demonstrably false. The inheritance is already minus one calf, minus one ring, minus one robe and a lot of food given to the younger brother with him only finding out after the fact.

The elder brother is in a losing situation the moment the younger brother arrives, the only rational course of action is to demand his whole inheritance that moment to minimise loss.

If he ever loses everything in the future he can be the second prodigal son since his brother has already set a precident

i know this parable was aimed at the Pharisees and Scribes to value love over works but what about the practical matters

Tax season is beginning and already I'm seeing posts where a spouse starting work on taxes enters one W-2 into tax software and sees a promising "refund" number displayed before all information has been added. Then after adding the other spouse's W-2, there's a disappointing nose-dive of the "refund" number. Confusion ensues about whose withholding is wrong and whether settings at the second spouse's workplace need to be fixed.

tldr: This is an outcome of misinterpreting interim numbers displayed by tax software before you've entered all information.

I've written a parable below that examines why it happens, in the hopes it will ease marital discord about it, and prevent people from taking actions that aren't warranted as a result of buying into this illusion.

Suppose a husband and wife make 60K and 30K, respectively. They file married jointly.

Here is one fact: The tax on married filers with 90K income is 7484.

Suppose they see this and decide it makes sense to arrange things so husband withholds 5000 and wife withholds 2500. Together they pay in 7500, so they won't owe at tax time. They decide it seems fair for them to divide the tax in this 2:1 ratio because their incomes are in a 60:30 ratio.

Would you agree that if they arrange their withholding so 5000 and 2500 are taken out of their paychecks, they are in good shape? Neither spouse would criticize the other's job as not taking enough tax out of paychecks, right?

Suppose everything goes as planned and they do have 5000 and 2500 of withholding. They have actually overpaid their tax by 16, so they'll get a small refund.

Let's look at what happens when the husband sits down with his tax software, TwerpoTax.

A few facts need to be stated about our tax system.

• The tax on a married couple with just 30K income is 560.
• The tax on a married couple with just 60K income is 3884.
• The tax on a married couple with 90K income is 7484.

If you are surprised that those numbers don't add up, you can verify it by learning how the standard deduction and tax brackets shape the tax owed.

So husband fires up TwerpoTax and enters his W-2 form in. His wages are 60000 and his withholding was 5000.

TwerpoTax sees the income is 60000 and filing status is Married Filing Jointly. It thinks the tax is 3884 but he has paid 5000.

"Your Refund Is $1116," TwerpoTax says.

Husband is happy and excited about his refund.

Then he adds wife's W-2 next. Her wages are 30000 and her withholding is 2500.

"You

In part ll e2 when Karim goes to the bookshop to buy Marlon a book he asks the shopkeeper to suggest something and she recommends “Parable of the sower” by Octavia E. butler. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Sower_(novel)

It’s based on a biblical parable though.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Sower

Thoughts?