We had a great experience in Young Men’s today that I wanted to share. As anybody who has taught just about anything in the Church has learned, catching the audience’s attention is often difficult. Well, with young men, it is always difficult. The teacher was trying to help the young men understand the power of the priesthood.
One of our Young Men’s leaders is an engineer who has his own engineering business. All of the young men have seen his shop, which is filled with complex equipment for making precise machinery. The engineer recently bought some new, extremely complex CNC equipment, which is, apparently, an incredibly powerful tool that makes extremely precise equipment and has a myriad of uses.
“It took me a year just to learn how to use the most basic functions on this equipment,” the engineer said. “And I only know part of the what this machinery can do. It will take me years of study to figure out exactly what this machinery can do.”
The lesson really hit home for the young men in our ward: the priesthood is like an extremely powerful tool. It takes you years to learn how to use it, and even then you don’t know all of its functions.
We brought the lesson home by reminding them that it was through the priesthood that the worlds were created. Jesus held the priesthood, and it was through the priesthood that he was able to raise Lazarus from the dead, walk on water and heal people. We reminded them of the stories of many people who performed miracles because they were able to learn how to use the priesthood.
For whatever reason, comparing the priesthood to an incredibly complex tool seemed to bring things home for the young men (and me, by the way). I am convinced the young men went home from church today feeling like they had a deeper understanding of what a powerful force they have in holding the priesthood of God.
Yes, the priesthood is like a complex machine for which those ordained to any of the offices have only half the controls and half of the user’s manual.
That is a good point. Does power in the priesthood come from factual knowledge, the same way learning to understand a complex machine? Or does it come more from learning to have faith and trust in the Lord? The more I think about it, the more I think that perhaps factual knowledge would play an important role in the priesthood’s ultimate exercise. Did Christ understand the physical mechanisms of the natural world that allowed him to turn water into wine, or raise Lazarus from the dead? I’ve talked to some faith healers who use their knowledge of human anatomy or energy fields within the body to mentally visualize the healing process, which assists them directing their faith in an effective way.
Leaving the anecdotical aspects aside…what a powerful teaching technique. Good teachers do teach great lessons, great teachers leave their mark behind for others to follow.