Built On a Rock

Years ago, as I was finishing high school and preparing to serve my mission, a friend of mine who was concerned for the welfare of my soul gave me a book that was antagonistic toward the Church and our doctrines. The book purported itself to be a series of letters between a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the author himself discussing doctrinal and historical issues related to the Church. The letters were of course fictional and driven entirely by the author.

To be honest I never read the book, so I’m not entirely certain of the details of its contents. But my mother did! When I received the book I told her about it and she asked if she could read it first. Smartest thing I ever could have done, letting her read it! Like any truly great mother concerned for the safety and well-being of her children she knuckled down and slugged through it so she could be a help and strength to me should I choose to read it myself.

I of course never did. I have since, however, had more than my fair share of opportunities to be confronted by disparaging words and writings about the Church and our beliefs: from colleagues at work concerned for my soul (like my friend in high school), to extended family members who had left the church and were trying to justify their decision, to a girlfriend who although in the process of joining the Church together with her best friend took great pleasure at attacking all things related to God, to my atheist colleague who had abandoned her Jewish faith and made sport out of attacking any sort of religious belief including my own – and more. Yes in the years since the gift of that book I have been confronted by it all. But praise be to God who gave me an incredible, loving, and intelligent mission president who taught me that there is nothing to fear in those words and ideas. There are answers to be found if you are willing to do the work to search for them. After all, Jesus did say, “Seek and ye shall find,” and I have found this to be true. (See Matthew 7:7, Luke 11:9, and 3 Nephi 14:7)

Although I do not remember much of that book from my friend except for the title and its premise I will never forget my mother’s response. Not long after I handed it over to her we spoke about her experience. She was perturbed and frustrated by what she read and she told me something to the effect of:

It’s easy to find issues and flaws in people, their choices, and even outlying doctrines and history of the Church. But you try and find fault with the fundamental principles of the gospel – with faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost – you find fault with that instead and see if you have a leg to stand on.

My Mom

I’ve never had need to doubt my mother’s wisdom. I remember being stunned and awakened by the simplicity, power, and truth of her logic. The foundation of our doctrine and our faith is indeed “faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, . . . repentance, . . . baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and . . . the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (See Article of Faith #4) Every other aspect of our faith hangs on one or more of those principles and this concept has been a rock and a pillar of strength to me as I have faced all kinds of opposition to my faith.

But the reason this memory has surfaced now is that recently I came across a passage of scripture which confirms my mother’s assertion and which simultaneously describes the dissent of so many of my friends and family away from the Church.

After giving the sacrament to the multitude at the temple in Bountiful and explaining the doctrines and purposes surrounding it, Jesus states:

And this shall ye always do to those who repent and are baptized in my name; and ye shall do it in remembrance of my blood, which I have shed for you, that ye may witness unto the Father that ye do always remember me. And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you.

And I give unto you a commandment that ye shall do these things. And if ye shall always do these things blessed are ye, for ye are built upon my rock.

3 Nephi 18 :11-12

In other words: we are built upon Christ’s rock when we repent, are baptized in His name, believe in and always remember Him and partake of the sacrament worthily – all of which are acts of faith in Jesus Christ – and the reward for which is the gift and presence of the Holy Ghost.

And then comes the kicker:

But whoso among you shall do more or less than these are not built upon my rock, but are built upon a sandy foundation; and when the rain descends, and the floods come, and the winds blow, and beat upon them, they shall fall, and the gates of hell are ready open to receive them.

3 Nephi 18:13

I believe that there are a multitude of applications for this concept in our lives. We are all likely guilty of not standing on His rock more frequently than we are aware. I see now more clearly that I have struggled with this in ways, at times, and in circumstances I didn’t realize I was.

But as I consider all of the friends and family members I have seen step away from the Church as well as those I have met after their departure, the reasons they have given for doing so have never had anything to do with these core, fundamental principles of the restored gospel. None of them have mentioned the “words of Christ” or the guiding influence of the Holy Ghost described by Nephi in 2 Nephi 32:3 and 6 as the means of telling them our showing them “what they should do.” Basically stated: Their reasons never involved or included the rock as described by Jesus Himself in these verses. Instead their focus had turned to secondary things – from historical issues with the Church, to issues with Joseph Smith, to issues with local or general Church leaders past or present, to inconsistencies in the Book of Mormon, to offenses or other hurts caused by other Church members, to cultural or social or political differences with Church membership and ideologies. Not a one has ever mentioned a loss of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, finding fault in the doctrines of repentance, baptism, or the gift of the Holy Ghost – or even that the Lord or the Holy Ghost directed them to leave – as the core reason for their departure (though a loss of faith in Christ may well have been involved for some). It was always something else on which they had built their foundation, so that when things got difficult and the winds and rains blew, because their foundation had become sandy it disappeared and their house of faith collapsed and crumbled to pieces.

Now I do not wish to offend those of my friends and family who have made what must be an extremely difficult decision to leave the Church. I love them, I respect them, and I can honor them for making a decision to act on their personal beliefs.

I also do not wish to suggest that they don’t have faith or belief in Jesus Christ at all. Not all of them stop believing in Jesus just because they quit going to our Church. Many I know have moved on to express their faith in and worship of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ in other Christian churches. It is possible to have faith in Jesus Christ even though you wish not to participate in or be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and I do not wish to drive a bigger wedge in a wounded heart than is already there with what I’ve written. I am merely suggesting that a departure from this Church – which is Christ’s restored church with all the covenants and ordinances necessary for eternal life – is usually the result of something other than the person exercising faith in Jesus and is usually related to having shifted their foundation of faith in relation to the Church and its doctrines to something that is more sandy than it once was.

On the flip side, interestingly enough everyone I know who has struggled through those challenging winds and kept their faith whole cites Jesus as the rock, foundation, and source of their faith. Never is it faith or belief in the Church that has kept them strong, but faith in Jesus Christ and a willingness to repent, always remember Him, and to keep His commandments as best as they can.

And therein lies both the remedy and the hope! For just as our rock can easily be turned to sand by focusing too much on the less important things, our sand can easily be turned back into rock simply by starting to put our faith back in the Lord Jesus Christ. And from there it’s any easy matter of repenting and turning to trust in the guidance of the Holy Ghost to help us keep our baptismal covenants.

There is always an opportunity to begin building on the rock of Jesus Christ. On the rock and foundation He gave us to build on: the rock of faith in Him, repentance, baptism, of trusting His guidance through the Holy Ghost, always remembering Him, and renewing our covenants with Him regularly by worthily partaking of the sacrament. And from this foundation we can overcome and withstand all opposition to our faith.