The Parable of the King's Servant

There was once a servant of the King. Even though the servant had never actually seen the King nor heard him speak, he loved the King very much and served him with his entire life. In fact, the only way that the servant knew the King or what he wanted was through messengers who brought letters from time to time. Through reading the letters the servant became intensely attached to and dependent upon his ruler, for the letters contained encouragement during his hardest trials and just instructions for his life.

One day, at the appointed time for the messenger to bring his message, there arrived not just the usual messenger, but 7 more! And they came from all directions- from the North, the North-East, the East, the South-East, the South, the South-West, the West, and the North-West for a total of 8. Startled by this highly unusual occurrence, the servant asked the messengers for an explanation.

Immediately the messengers blurted out all at once differing and highly confusing messages, waving scraps of paper around in the air and trying to make the most noise. One said said the King was never actually the King and that the messages were sent from imposters, another claimed that another person was the true King, another said there were many Kings, another that there may be a King- but he doesn't care about his servants or perform any actions, another that it was necessary to rebel against the King, another trying to convince everyone that it is impossible to actually know who the King is or even if a King actually does exist, the usual messenger who brought the usual and expected message saying the usual things, and a final man screaming "all of us are bringing the same message!"

Unable to accurately decipher what any of the messengers were saying due to the uproar and being quite distraught by this unusual occurrence, the servant called out demanding silence.

Then the servant addressed all of the messengers and said, "I will listen to what all of you have to say. Does anyone have evidence to validate their claim?"

Several of the messengers shouted back, "Listen to my message only!" and "How dare you even consider these others?" and "You already know in your heart that I am bringing the true message. Really, you do!" and "It would be impossible for you to listen to all of us! Therefore you should just ignore everyone else and listen to me!" and "let me explain to you what this other messenger is really saying, I know what he means better than he does- and after all he is wrong!" and "evidence doesn't matter!"

The servant then promptly bound and gagged all of the messengers, and attempted to remove the cotton that had been filling some of their ears.

Then the servant said to them all, "I really will listen to all of you. Because I care about the King, and following or not following the King has a drastic effect on the way I live my life, I truly wish to know which of you is correct. Just as I would want you to honestly consider a claim made by me, so shall I treat your claims. I will treat all of your evidence fairly and use the same criteria for all of you, for I would not want you to disregard my evidence or use uneven criteria against me."

From that day on the servant began questioning the messengers, unbinding them one at a time to learn everything they had to say. Perhaps one day the servant will find the truth.