God is a venture capitalist. God invests in people in the hope that they will be successful and God will get repaid with a profit. In a parable that Jesus told, a rich man gives five talents to one fellow, two to another and one to a third, depending on the level of ability each one has. Point one. We are not all equally gifted. The rich man goes on a journey. One fellow, with five talents goes and makes five more. The one with two makes two more. This is capitalism. Expand the wealth in this case by trading. Each has to have something to trade. the venture capitalist invests in a person after the person shows something of value. Point two. This is capitalism. You can borrow money to make money. Venture capitalists lend money to make money for themselves. The successful entrepreneur makes money for self and the lender. The third guy, who got one talent, buries it. This is the third world. You pretty much tread water. You maintain at best. You survive. In the story, fear held this fellow back. Fear is useless. The world is a very uneven place. We like to blame someone, someone else. I don't doubt that it is an unjust world. But it is not always or only someone else's shortcoming. Point four. Anyone who thinks God does not like investing in people ought to go find this story in the bible. Giving someone something for nothing and expecting nothing, that is what goevenments do.
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This is one of my favorite parable. I look at this one differently. There is risk to the so called venture capitalist. How about the one who is given the 5 talents based on his level of ability. So this one looses his talents. Gambles if you would. The venture capitalist looses. The one with two talents makes one more. He is more conservative. The one who buries his talent. He is unsure. He does not have the confidence that the other two have. So the father is dissatisfied with his decision.
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