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[MetalSlimeHunt]

Could someone explain the meaning of the parable in Luke, 19?

Self-improvement, essentially. The servants are all given different numbers of minas/talents to start off with and are expected to grow their number by their master (hint hint, the master is God, I am just an amazing theologian I know). The first two servants successful go out and manipulate the stock market to double their funds and deliver them to the master, who is pleased that they have taken the gifts he gave them and made more of it. But the third servant, that useless fuck, just went and hid it in his mattress like the coward he is. This cowardice results in him losing what little he has and it being given to the best servant. It's topped off with him killing everybody who didn't want him to be the master, which I think is just an obligatory restatement of obey the Lord or die, which shows up just about everywhere in the bible.

The message is that you have to use what abilities God gives you, even if it isn't much, to make yourself greater. If you don't you will lose whatever you do have, be it small or great. Further, if you show that you are trustworthy then the scale doesn't matter, and you'll be entrusted with better things.

Of course, if I'm going to be all subversive this has the moral problems of God either unfairly or arbitrarily assigning natural abilities, and taking from the weakest to feed the elite, who were born for success anyway.

[Sheb]

And so Luke 19:27 is a call to slay all infidels then?

But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Probably more of a reference to how when God's plan is finished all of those who did not follow him will be thrown into the Lake of Fire, which is sometimes euphemistically refereed to as True/Eternal Death. I guess you could see it in that light though, the Bible condemns infidels plenty of other times.

[Sheb]

Yeah, I'm just surprised, because normally, when the inevitable argument about violence in the New Testament comes up, people usually cite the one about Jesus saying he's coming with a sword, but not this one, so I was wondering if there was a good reasons why this one wasn't held as an example of pretty bad stuff.

[Arx]

Because that's a classic judgment day sheep-and-goats statement.

People have until they die to choose their path; shortening that time isn't something that can be done in good conscience, since it would guarantee that they didn't change their mind. Besides, to judge is God's job - we as humans shouldn't be deciding who is and isn't using their talents.

I might be phrasing this poorly. It's late.

[TD1]

Judgment day confuses me. Why is it that the world will all be judged at once? And if so, and there are those left behind, then why don't they get the same opportunity of a life to repent as the previous generations got?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Everything past the beginning of Revelation gets confusing from a theological standpoint, which ironically is why so many groups stick a position and defend it with absolute zeal.  If we're doing Left Behind-style tribulation, people do get the opportunity of a life to repent so long as they don't accept the Mark of the Beast. Granted, it also says this will get you killed, but one could make the argument that this only expedites a believer's exit from the destruction of Old Earth.

[Sheb]

I was citing the Gospel of Luke, not revelation though.

[Lord Shonus]

Judgment day confuses me. Why is it that the world will all be judged at once?

Judgment day as "judgement of all the world" only makes sense in the context of "when you die, you're dead. You aren't in Purgatory, not Limbo (technically, Purgatory and Limbo are not the same place. Limbo is for those that were not judged, while Purgatory was for those that died absolved of sin, and was for purifying the soul of the taint of sin before entry into Heaven. The reason that it takes so long for a saint to be canonized is that even the godliest man is expected to have to spend some time being cleansed), not Hell, not Heaven. You're DEAD. When the time comes, God will ressurect every person that ever lived and judge them according to their deeds. Those that are worthy live forever in Heaven or a paradise on the New Earth, while those that are not are thrown into the Lake Of Fire and die for good."

In any context where you die and go straight to your final destination, the concept of a Judgement Day can only refer to judging those that were still alive when the Last Trumpet sounded.

[Orange Wizard]

This is all really speculative. There's no hard and fast "this-is-what-will-happen" in the Bible, so please don't take anything I say as gospel (har).

Jesus said to the thief on the cross "Today you will dine with me in paradise", which seems fairly indicative of going directly to Heaven or Hell immediately after your death.
However, other verses say that Christ will return to judge the living and the dead, and that doesn't really make sense when people have already buggered off to their respective afterlives. Of course, it could be metaphorical - the spiritually alive and spiritually dead - meaning that even those who have their sins forgiven will still have them laid out in the open, so to speak.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

The Orthodox, as always, have an interesting opinion on the matter.

Also, Orange, it might be noted that the current Heaven is slated for demolition following the Last Judgement, and that the name Last Judgement also implies other judgements going on before it. Both suggest that afterlife sorting happens after death, but that everything gets shaken up come the endtimes.

[Orange Wizard]

The "new heavens and a new earth" thingy? Yeah, I never really thought much of that. I guess I just assumed it meant a new heaven as in sky, seeing as the Bible occasionally uses the two interchangeably.
I've also never heard of the last judgement... but that could always be referring to the multitudinous Old Testament stories that involve God pouring out his judgement upon unfortunate people.

Ultimately, I have no idea, and I'm just throwing thoughts around to see what people think of them.

[scrdest]

This is all really speculative. There's no hard and fast "this-is-what-will-happen" in the Bible, so please don't take anything I say as gospel (har).

Jesus said to the thief on the cross "Today you will dine with me in paradise", which seems fairly indicative of going directly to Heaven or Hell immediately after your death.
However, other verses say that Christ will return to judge the living and the dead, and that doesn't really make sense when people have already buggered off to their respective afterlives. Of course, it could be metaphorical - the spiritually alive and spiritually dead - meaning that even those who have their sins forgiven will still have them laid out in the open, so to speak.

Well, the thief may be a special case, anyway.

[Dsarker]

Could someone explain the meaning of the parable in Luke, 19?

Simple. Read it in the context. He's telling the parable 'because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear'.

So if he's talking about a king, he's not talking about God. What other kings are nearby? Herod. Where did Herod get his power from? By going overseas, to Rome.

If Herod is portrayed as the guy in charge, and is also not a popular character among the Jews (who protested him), who's the good guy? The guys who suck up to him, or the guy who returns what he was given and stands his ground?

The good character suffers, because the Kingdom of God has not immediately appeared.

[Sheb]

That... actually makes sense. Also ties in the whole prohibition of interest-taking found at some other place in Christianity. Funny how that's the exact opposite of MSH's interpretation.