Priesthood Keys: A Nerd’s Explanation

 

On a regular basis, one of my kids will come searching for me with a simple request:

“Dad, I need you to come type your password in the computer.”

“Why?”

“I want to download a program.”

“What kind of program.”

“A game.”

“What game?”

..and so it goes.

Why do they need me to come do this for them? Because the home computer is set up so that nobody can download anything without permission. My permission.  You may ask, what makes me so special?

I’ll tell you: I am the Admin.

Yes, it is short for “administrator.” And I am it.

When we got the computer, I created a user file for myself, and for the other family members that would be using it. I have administrator privileges. Part of that required setting up passwords and defining the other “users” that would be accessing that particular machine.

Next, I set up my EC’s profile, and granted her administration privileges as well.

Then, I set up user profiles for the kids, with different permissions. (Or privileges) (Please note that I am using “Mac” terms, but I know that the PC world uses similar terms, if not set-ups.)

We also have “Parental Controls” that give us more specific ways to allow – and track – access.

The kids privileges are different from mine, and my EC’s. For example:

• My kids cannot download and save any new programs onto the computer.

• The can only open some of the programs. For example, they can open Word and Excel, but not QuickBooks.

• There are settings that prevent them from opening certain websites.

I have a similar set-up at work where I am the administrator, and my employees are set up as individual users. They all have access to their computers, but not everyone has permissions allowing them to open every program. One key employee has a lot of access, others, not so much.

I imagine that most of you have similar processes in your digital lives.

As I was thinking through this process, it dawned on me that it is very much like priesthood keys, and their administration. For example:

In a Stake, the Stake President holds the keys to all the programs in the Stake. Other people in the Stake can be granted access to use particular keys for particular programs. For example, the Stake President can give a Bishop keys to the Aaronic Priesthood – or in other words, he can give him access and permissions to administer that program. The Bishop, in turn, can grant that permission to his Deacon and Teachers Quorum Presidents.

But…they only have access and permission to use the keys that the administrator allows them to use. An Elder’s Quorum President does not have privileges to lead a Deacon’s Quorum – He does not have permission from the administrator. (Stake President.)

At times, the Stake President will delegate permissions to others, such as High Councilors, to perform very specific things, such as ordinances or setting apart callings. The High Councilor does not have “admin” privileges, but he is given “permissions” to carry out those tasks.

It works the same on a Ward level, as well as at the top levels of the Church.

If you take the analogy all the way back, Christ himself holds the keys, and has been appointed administrator of this world. He, in turn, has granted permissions, or the keys, to Joseph Smith as the one who holds the keys to this dispensation. Currently, President Thomas S. Monson holds the keys. He is the “administrator” that has been chosen to run the Church. Now THAT is something worth knowing in your soul.

 

So, there you go. Nothing super-spiritual, but hopefully a way to look at priesthood keys that is more informative than the old “key opening a lock” metaphor that is so lacking.

Have a great Sabbath.