To Power or Not To Power

At last night's UUPP meeting, I asked the group what they think of the X-Men. Does the good they do count when they're going against God's will by using mutant powers? The responses I got would make a nice bell curve--in the center of the curve, most everyone felt like God isn't going to judge the X-Men harshly because they're doing their best with the knowledge they have. If they haven't been taught the gospel, they can't be expected to live it, but at least they're living according to the value system they know. Then on either end of the curve, there were a couple of people with more... extreme opinions. One guy doesn't buy the "doing their best with the knowledge they have" thing; he says deep down they know that what they're doing is wrong, but they do it anyway because it gives them a thrill. It's not about helping people, he says, but getting high off their powers. Another guy agreed with him and pointed out that even though not everyone has the gift of the Holy Ghost, everyone has the light of Christ and can tell the difference between right and wrong. On the opposite end of the bell curve was a girl who insisted that there's nothing wrong with using mutant powers. She was quick to explain that she believes in the Church but she also believes that prophets are human and can make mistakes--they were wrong about blacks and the priesthood, she says, so why can't they be wrong about this? She said she's fine with not using her powers while she's at BYU, since she signed the Honor Code, but once she graduates she's going to use her powers to help people, like the X-Men do. Everything went silent after she said her piece, and then we moved on to another topic.

Jan hadn't expressed an opinion during the meeting--which is unusual for her--so I asked her afterwards what she thinks. She said she doesn't know and doesn't care what's right or wrong for other people, she only knows what's right and wrong for her. She has a personal testimony that God doesn't want her to use her mutant power, but she's not going to tell anyone else what God wants for them.

As for me, I can see the value to all the points that were made, but Jan's is the one that rings truest. I've got a pretty awesome girlfriend.