R. S. Martin Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 I've been wondering how many others on here have had their education curtailed or limited in some way because of religion--possibly not as severely as I had but still limited in some way? I'm interested about post-secondary (after high school). We're told to use our talents. One human talent is the intellect. I don't know why but this one never occurred to me until I was leaving the horse and buggy Mennonite church for a much more liberal Mennonite church; I was looking for a church that allowed as much education as I wanted. I thought that liberal church allowed all levels of education but I found they were cautious, too. I didn't give any heed to what they said. They seemed worried about psychology and I wasn't in psychology. Jesus' curse on the man who buried his talent is so severe I don't understand why anyone thinks education is wrong for those who have talent. One person told me, "We might think we have talent where we really don't." Obviously, that was the royal "we" and it meant "you--Ruby--think YOU have a talent where YOU really don't." Yeah right. I go back to school after more than 25 years and no high school and win awards. But I have no intellectual talent. I didn't have the housekeeping talents all these good faithful Old Order Mennonite women had so I guess they couldn't wish me the one little talent I had--the intellect. Exactly what's the problem that these churches all preach so much about using talents but they place so many restrictions on education? I'm sure I'm not the only person on here for whom religion placed some limitations on education. Maybe you went to community college and learned welding or auto repairs because your church had a certain idea of how a "real" Christian should earn a living, when your real talent was teaching art history. Anybody else have stories about the impact of religion on the amount and type of post-secondary education you got? Also, if you did go back to school later in life, how much or what kind of high school or other life experience did you have that got you in? I had no high school but I did have one college level creative writing course that I had taken by correspondence. I was admitted on probation as a mature student on the strength of that course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MathGeek Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 I'll credit Christianity for one thing. It gave me my love for philosophy and debate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 My big talent always has been writing short stories and poems. Once I joined the church, they asked me to throw away all my poems and short stories, because they would be a part of my old life. They were also negative and sometimes violent stories (why not?). I am still sad about all the lost pages. The new stuff I wrote: Worship songs and converting stories. A friend of mine loved playing drums. He was very good and played for many, many years. He was asked to take a two year break, because he loved playing drums too much. X should be his first love. So he gave it up for two years, without practising it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hereticzero Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 In Christianity, the babbles reference to talents is a reference to money, not independent skills. The christian doctrine relating talents to our hobby talents (singing, playing piano, carpentry, etc.) is an incorrect interpretation of the babble by christians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraphicsGuy Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 True, but it applies metaphorically in evangelism. Our abilities are "God-given" so what are we going to do with them? Win more souls for the kingdom or hide and never share your faith? Poor message for introverts of course. I actually was becoming paranoid about that parable during my last two years as a Xian. I was constantly viewing myself as the wicked-servant who buried his one talent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knitterman Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 This reference from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talent_%28weight%29 has a pretty good explanation of the currency referenced in the Parable of the Talents. While it "could" be very loosely interpreted to mean one's skills and abilities, the parable itself as more to do with taking what it given to you (money, land, resources), investing it, and creating a goodly return for the original owner of the resource. In this sense, it would be more like investing with a view toward increasing ROI -- the different between putting your money in a plain savings account versus investing in a well-researched high-risk venture that produces astounding returns; bottom line: follow smart investment practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hereticzero Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 True, but it applies metaphorically in evangelism. Our abilities are "God-given" so what are we going to do with them? Win more souls for the kingdom or hide and never share your faith? Poor message for introverts of course. I actually was becoming paranoid about that parable during my last two years as a Xian. I was constantly viewing myself as the wicked-servant who buried his one talent. That's the problem with christianity, christians believe everything in the babble has a metaphorical example to give us on how to run our lives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 My church never emphasized that. I did end up getting a marketing degree but that was because I thought I could at least get jobs with a business-related degree. Well I've gotten jobs, but only a few of them made me really happy, so I'm thinking about going back next fall to get an IT degree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MathGeek Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 My big talent always has been writing short stories and poems.Once I joined the church, they asked me to throw away all my poems and short stories, because they would be a part of my old life. They were also negative and sometimes violent stories (why not?). I am still sad about all the lost pages. The new stuff I wrote: Worship songs and converting stories. I am that way as well. I have kept my works though and I am glad I didn't through them away. I started out with odd bits of prose and then moved into converting meaty, philosophical thoughts into rhyme scheme. After I left, I found my ability to rant and rave poetically has not diminished but the focus has changed. When you have a talent, keep running with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hereticzero Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Not everything written in the babble is a commandment. Sometimes a story is just a story--like Job. The story of a person with talents is about money, not personal skills. This is another example of how christianity stretches every story to suit their denominational doctrine and has little to do with money when the interpreters get done with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraphicsGuy Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Isn't being good with money a personal skill? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knitterman Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Isn't being good with money a personal skill? That must have been taught the day I skipped school. (sigh) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. S. Martin Posted February 22, 2008 Author Share Posted February 22, 2008 True, but it applies metaphorically in evangelism. Our abilities are "God-given" so what are we going to do with them? Win more souls for the kingdom or hide and never share your faith? Poor message for introverts of course. I actually was becoming paranoid about that parable during my last two years as a Xian. I was constantly viewing myself as the wicked-servant who buried his one talent. This is how my church taught, too. Well, they weren't into evangelization but they believed the parable meant to use our "God-given" abilities. Only when these "God-given" abilities didn't match up with their idea of what should come from "god" suddenly it was "devil-inspired" or worldly or "lusts of the flesh" or whatever label they considered fitting. Like some of the heart-breaking stories people tell on here. Michael, your's really cut me to the heart--throw out your stories!?!?! That is just plain WRONG. They might as well have told you to cut out your heart and bury it. That's what I mean by burying one's talent. I'm not into musical intruments but I understand it's the same for musicians if they are separated from their instruments. The drummer, for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knitterman Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Like some of the heart-breaking stories people tell on here. Michael, your's really cut me to the heart--throw out your stories!?!?! That is just plain WRONG. They might as well have told you to cut out your heart and bury it. That's typical. Back while I was still married, I was told I needed to stop knitting/crocheting, because godly men don't do womanly things. Sad part is that at that time I believed them. Only much much later did I learn the history of knitting and other fiber arts, how men invented it originally and supported their families in the old knitting guilds, long before it was relegated to upper-crust ladies idle pastime in the parlor. The advent of the industrial knitting machines made it impossible for men to earn a living, and an entire cottage industry nearly died. But before I learned all of this, the church decided I should not do such things. hmph. They are very black-and-white about meddling in people's lives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts