A story:
I'm not a Christian by any means (I grew up Jewish and became a Deist, and my Catholic mother is very private about her religion), but I've always liked some of the stories the Christians had to tell each other. There's a lot that can be said about Jesus. I don't believe he was a messiah or anything, but I personally think he and his disciples had a lot of cool things to say.
This is one of them. Probably one of my favorite parables, too. Evidently, looking it up, I either got a different version told to me or got some details wrong, but the point's the same. Some of you might even recognize it right off the bat.
Basically, once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there was this master who had three servants. Now, the master was going away for awhile, so he decided to entrust his three servants with a few talents (huge discs of gold). When he came back, he got together all his servants and asked them about the talents.
The first servant said, "Master, I invested your talents, and I made double the amount you gave me."
So, the master said to this servant, "You did well. I'll reward you." And he promised the first servant a bunch of perks. Probably land or something. I can't really remember and don't want to lace someone else's version with this one in my head.
Anyway, the second servant said, "Master, I'm sorry. I tried to use your talents to start a business, but the business didn't do so well. I spent all the talents you gave me but only earned the same amount back."
But the master said, "That's no reason for you to apologize. You did well and learned your lesson. I'll reward you for your efforts." And the servant got to keep his talents, plus a little more.
The third servant, however, wanted to impress his master with how loyal he was, so he buried the talents his master gave him. When the master came along, the servant said, "Master, here are the same talents you gave me. I kept them safe for you."
But then, the master said, "You are lazy and ignorant. For squandering your talents, I'll punish you." And he took the talents away and gave them to the first servant.
The moral of the story is, from what I understand, that we're all given the gift of life. We can either take a chance and learn from experience, or we can spend all our lives doing nothing with ourselves. While it's possible to be perfectly happy doing the latter, you don't really learn how to live by doing that. Personally, I don't care one way or another what you do with yourselves. I'm just saying it's not evil to take a risk now and then, and you shouldn't try to tell other people it is. There are, of course, limitations here. I'm not saying everyone's above the actual state law. I'm just saying it's okay if someone wants to cut loose once in awhile and do something that would make their grandparents frown.
Long story short, God, if you believe in this kind of thing, gives us life and lets us go and do whatever we should with it. It's our freedom to find fulfilment in figuring out how to use it to its full extent, you know?
And headed out for the night to do exactly this for once.
This is one of them. Probably one of my favorite parables, too. Evidently, looking it up, I either got a different version told to me or got some details wrong, but the point's the same. Some of you might even recognize it right off the bat.
Basically, once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there was this master who had three servants. Now, the master was going away for awhile, so he decided to entrust his three servants with a few talents (huge discs of gold). When he came back, he got together all his servants and asked them about the talents.
The first servant said, "Master, I invested your talents, and I made double the amount you gave me."
So, the master said to this servant, "You did well. I'll reward you." And he promised the first servant a bunch of perks. Probably land or something. I can't really remember and don't want to lace someone else's version with this one in my head.
Anyway, the second servant said, "Master, I'm sorry. I tried to use your talents to start a business, but the business didn't do so well. I spent all the talents you gave me but only earned the same amount back."
But the master said, "That's no reason for you to apologize. You did well and learned your lesson. I'll reward you for your efforts." And the servant got to keep his talents, plus a little more.
The third servant, however, wanted to impress his master with how loyal he was, so he buried the talents his master gave him. When the master came along, the servant said, "Master, here are the same talents you gave me. I kept them safe for you."
But then, the master said, "You are lazy and ignorant. For squandering your talents, I'll punish you." And he took the talents away and gave them to the first servant.
The moral of the story is, from what I understand, that we're all given the gift of life. We can either take a chance and learn from experience, or we can spend all our lives doing nothing with ourselves. While it's possible to be perfectly happy doing the latter, you don't really learn how to live by doing that. Personally, I don't care one way or another what you do with yourselves. I'm just saying it's not evil to take a risk now and then, and you shouldn't try to tell other people it is. There are, of course, limitations here. I'm not saying everyone's above the actual state law. I'm just saying it's okay if someone wants to cut loose once in awhile and do something that would make their grandparents frown.
Long story short, God, if you believe in this kind of thing, gives us life and lets us go and do whatever we should with it. It's our freedom to find fulfilment in figuring out how to use it to its full extent, you know?
And headed out for the night to do exactly this for once.