‘You quoted Matthew 25:30 “Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”’
‘Taken in context (Matt 25:14-30) then, are we to conclude people are judged for eternal salvation based on how they invest their money?’
As it happens, we have vivid picture of judgment. I already quoted it above, but your comment appears to call for a second cite. I’ll let the Lord’s description of the basis of judgment speak for itself:
From Matthew 25:
34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44 Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
You missed the point entirely!
1. In Matthew 25:14-29, the servants are judged on how they invested the money entrusted to them. This does not refer to the final judgement, for it is based on whether a person believed on Jesus (John 3:16-18, Romans 10:9-10) and whether their names were written in the book of life (Rev 20:15, Dan 12:1, Luke 10:20).
2. In Matthew 25:31-46, the nations/people will be divided as sheep and goats {figurative BTW :) }, right and left, righteous and accursed, based on how they treated the brothers of Christ. The righteous receive eternal life, the cursed are thrown into ... the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
Matthew 25:46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
One has to determine what "eternal punishment" means: either it means "continuous unending torture" or "final irreversible annihilation".
I choose the latter for several reasons:
1. because other words describing the same event are perish (John 3:16) destroy (Matt 10:28) destruction (2 Thess 1:9, et al) second death (Rev 20:14). All of these indicate cessation of life, consciousness, existence.
2.Many passages used by those that assert "continuous unending torture" are taken out of context, eg your reference to Matthew 25:14-29, and Lazarus in Luke 16:20
3. The idea of "continuous unending torture" requires the condemned to be kept alive, conscious, and in an ever renewing immortal body that is constantly being consumed by worms and fire, but never is consumed. There is no support for this in scripture whatsoever. It is a construct built to resolve the prior interpretation and subsequent dogma.
4. Eternal life means never dying. But for keepers of the "continuous unending torture", eternal death means the same thing. They reinterpret death as separation from God, not the cessation of life.