The aliens who loved to be in charge

On a planet far away from here, a wise teacher taught the planet’s two groups of aliens, the Wouples and Mouples, something about working together. He said:

Every one of you, zysdeel(1) each other, and Wouples zysdeel(1) Mouples. Think of the example your great leader set: He grabowzed(2) for you all, so should Mouples do for Wouples.

Now zysdeel(1) was a word with two meanings: The one is to obey as if the other knows better, the other meaning is to work together.

And grabowze(2) was a verb with the meaning of giving in to another, or giving away to another, of surrendering to another.

On one side of the planet, Wouples were in charge and saw Wouple leadership as normal. There, they translated the teacher’s words as something like:

Every one of you should work together with each other, Wouples should work with Mouples. Think of the example your great leader set: He yielded his will for you all, so should Mouples do for Wouples.

“See”, said those from the Wouple Republics.” The wise teacher wanted us to rule, and Mouples should yield to our plans!”

On the other side of the planet, Mouples were in charge and saw Mouple leadership as normal. There, they translated the teacher’s words as something like:

Every one of you should obey each other, Wouples should obey Mouples. Think of the example your great leader set: He gave good things to all, so should Mouples do for Wouples.

“See“, said those from the United states of Mouple. “The wise teacher wanted us to rule. By ruling with our wisdom we will be giving something good to Wouples, they obviously need to obey our leadership!”

This story is half true. The United States of Mouple exist, and their translation of the wise teacher’s words is ages old. The Republics of Wouple does not, and nobody ever translated the teacher’s words like that. (Wouples actually live among Mouples, often in the same house.) But what the Mouple translation say remain a translation, and not necessarily what the wise teacher meant.

Just replace a few words, and you have Eph 5:21, 22 and 25: Zysdeel is actually hupotasso, a word with the military meaning of submission, but which was used for loyalty and co-operation everywhere outside the army. Grabowze is actually paradidomi, a word for giving, yielding, surrendering. Both words have meanings of yielding/ submission, and both have meanings of loyalty/ giving. Wouples are women, Mouples are men.

When we argue the Bible have always said that wives should submit and husbands are not called to submit, we argue from translation, not facts about the actual writings.