The Foreigner and the King, a parable.

    At a family get together I was at just the other day (now nearly six months ago, I wrote this that long ago) my Brother, a militant Mormon, told me a little parable that I thought was interesting. While I don't remember exactly how it went, I'll do my best to retell the story as closely to his intent as I can.

 There was once a man that decided to go and visit a country on vacation. Not knowing the local language or customs, he did his best to act in a manner according to his beliefs of proper behavior. While there, he accidentally committed a crime and was arrested for his transgression.

  This man, confused as to why he was arrested, demanded to know the reason behind being jailed. Unable to understand him, his jailers simply ignored him and decided to take him to their King to determine what was to be done, for the king had translators available to him. In the meantime this man, unable to communicate, was getting more angry by the hour.

    When the time finally came for the foreigner to see the King, he was positively furious. By the time he was able to speak, he could barely contain his tongue and was cursing and spitting and yelling, calling the King and his Country all manner of foul things.

    The translator was absolutely appalled. He knew that statements such as these would very likely get the foreigner hanged for something that he knew was little more than a misunderstanding. He couldn't just let this man hang for such a small transgression. Instead of doing a proper translation, he decided to tell the King that what the foreigner had said was actually a blessing in his country, and that all the gesticulating and seeming vulgarity was just part of an elaborate ritual. He then explained that the crime was one of misunderstanding and not intentional.

  However, there was another translator in the room, and he couldn't believe what he'd just heard. He decided to tell the King the truth about what had been said by the foreigner and the full manner of atrocious statements he had made. The King was obviously quite angry. However, his anger was not at the foreigner. The King was far more angry at the second translator. The King then ordered that the foreigner be jailed for a time for his behavior, but the second translator was in far more trouble.

    Once the foreigner was taken away, the King explained to the translators that while he was unhappy to be lied to by the first, he understood that he was trying to make peace and therefore he wouldn't be punished. The second translator, however, was simply trying to cause trouble. Therefore, the second translator would be hanged in the foreigners place.

The moral of this story seems to have been that telling a little lie to save another is better than telling the truth even in the face of undesirable consequences. But to me, that seems a bit odd from somebody who claims to be a Christian of any sort. 

    I often hear Christians say things like "the road to Hell is paved with good intentions." While this can be interpreted in a lot of ways, the way I usually hear it quoted by a Christian seems to be implying that even if you mean well, unless you follow the "Word of God" you could still end up going to hell. The way it applies here is through the Ten Commandments.*

    The Ten Commandments state "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." Most Christians interpret this to mean "don't lie." In the parable, the first Translator is portrayed as the one who is good and just, showing the proper ideals to be followed by any good Christian. Even though he lied, his intentions were pure and peaceful, and therefore Good. So where his intentions were good, he still told a lie, and therefore is actually not being a true Christian. In fact, the second translator, made out to be the villain, was being far more Christian than the first, by not allowing them to "bear false witness" to the King.

    In other words, in this parable given to me by a Christian, the villain is the one who follows the Christian traditions. The hero, on the other hand, is actually the one that acts more like an Atheist. I just couldn't help but love the irony in that.

 *The ten commandments often quoted as such are not those originally given by 'God' at all, but a completely different set found later on in the Bible.