Green Lantern and the Priesthood

The Green Lantern is a superhero with a powerful, semi-magical ring. With this ring, the Green Lantern can do a number of marvelous things, including but not limited to, force-field generation, energy beam generation, flight (even in space), and creating solid objects that vary in size, shape, durability, and purpose, limited only by the imagination and will-power of the ring bearer. In fact, everything the ring does or can do is limited by the will-power of the bearer, and that's not the ring's only limitation.

The Green Lantern's power ring can only hold a limited charge, which is typically good for 24 hours, sometimes less. When the charge is depleted, the ring needs to be recharged by a special lantern-like device which in turn gets its energy from a Central Power Battery on a planet called Oa. I think it's notable that the energy for what the Green Lantern does doesn't come from himself or even from his magical ring. That was the thought going through my mind when I read Elder Neil L. Andersen's October 2013 talk, Power in the Priesthood. He said:

We sometimes overly associate the power of the priesthood with men in the Church. The priesthood is the power and authority of God given for the salvation and blessing of all—men, women, and children. 

A man may open the drapes so the warm sunlight comes into the room, but the man does not own the sun or the light or the warmth it brings.

So, a man with the Priesthood is much like the Green Lantern. He is just like everyone else in every way except that he bears a means by which he can access great power. Neither he nor his authority are the source of that power, but rather, the source is God, and the man and his authority are just a channel through which God does His work. A main difference between a Priesthood bearer and a bearer of a Green Lantern power ring is that the Green Lantern is given the power to do his own will (within limits), and a Priesthood bearer is only given the power to do the will of God.

In our discussion about the Priesthood in Elder's Quorum yesterday, we tried to define the Priesthood better by pointing out some things that it's not. One of the suggestions was that the Priesthood is not a super-power (just in case I wasn't already thinking about the Green Lantern before that moment), that is, it's not used for personal gain or to do our own will. We can't use the Priesthood to bless ourselves - it's not there for that. Men of the church are given the Priesthood for the purpose of blessing others.

Not everyone on earth is a Green Lantern, but when the Green Lantern saves the world, the whole world gets saved.

One of the things that the Priesthood is, that a super-power also is, is a responsibility. A bearer of the Priesthood must keep himself worthy to use that power, and must respond to opportunities to help others, even when it's difficult or inconvenient. Similarly, the Green Lantern must keep an eye out for evil and must do all he can to stop it, even if that puts him in harm's way.

There are some women in the church who want to hold the Priesthood. To them, I say "be careful what you wish for." The Priesthood isn't as awesome, or as wonderful, or as fun as some people think it is. It doesn't give us the ability to work miracles at our own will. Instead, it makes us like tools in our Heavenly Father's hands and gives us the responsibility to always be ready to serve as the channel through which God does His own will, whether or not it matches up with ours. The Priesthood doesn't give its bearers any power for their own use, but it does give them the responsibility to live worthily and always be ready to serve.

To be honest, though, even without the Priesthood giving its bearers super-powers, it's still kind of cool. Though we can't just use the Priesthood whenever we want to (and are expected to be ready to use it even when we don't want to), it's still pretty amazing when moments like that happen. Though we can't choose if or when or what blessings will come from our use of the Priesthood, it's incredible when miracles do happen, and it's inspiring to think that we may have had some small hand in making it happen.

But really, women, if you want to feel like you're part of something bigger than yourself, if you want to have a hand in working miracles, if you want to change the world, there are easier ways to do those things than by holding the Priesthood. Join a charity group, like, say, the Relief Society, and be active in it. It's the largest women's organization in the world and it does a tremendous amount of good for the world. If that's not enough for you, there are millions of other charities in the world. Find one you like and pitch in.

Want to be part of a miracle? Raise a child. It doesn't even have to be your own child, though giving birth as about as much of a miracle as anyone could ask for. You can adopt a child, or act as a mentor for someone else's child. You could be a teacher, especially in Primary if you feel like tackling a great responsibility. Changing a single person's life can be rewarding in and of itself, but seeing that person go on to help others is priceless.

You don't really need to hold the Priesthood to do great things. In fact, if you did hold the Priesthood, you might find that the added responsibility slows you down and pulls you away from the other good you can do. Being a bearer of the Priesthood isn't what some people think it is. It's not just power and privileges. In fact, there's very little personal power and few privileges at all. More than that, it's a responsibility, and I think most women already have more than enough of that.