Rock of Offense

I understand Israel’s plight now. They wanted a dead law to follow, because it was easier. They wanted to have a secret recipe to get back to Heavenly Father. In the Law of Moses, Heavenly Father gave them a dead law, but still tried to show in a bajillion ways that CHRIST was the secret ingredient. It was, amazingly, no secret at all. Thus, the cruel irony in their search for this ‘secret recipe’ of the Atonement, and its ‘secret ingredient’, even CHRIST, they are “looking beyond the mark” (Jacob 4:14), so that the very “head of their corner” (Jacob 4:17) becomes “a stone of stumbling” or a “rock of offense” (2 Nephi 18:14).

That is the same problem many of us struggle with today. We think that church simply has hoops to pass through, and that is good enough. It is not. If Christ is the cornerstone of the Church’s religion, why should it not be the cornerstone of Your religion and My religion? Maybe that’s exactly what Joseph Smith meant when he said that. Maybe we have misinterpreted it to apply more theoretically to the church, when it should be applied literally and directly to our lives, much like Helaman 5:12.

When we apply this to our lives, we build us a mansion, much like our mansion above. We have to keep Christ the “head of [our] corner” as we place other foundation stones such as the testimony of The Book of Mormon, our prophet, the Bible, tithing, and so forth. As we lay these foundation stones, we build upon them with or actions. Eventually, we finish the basement, and are qualified to enter into baptism. As we work on the next level, we may drop things and damage the floor, or possibly even the foundation upon which we are built. We need to refurbish the living quarters by partaking of the sacrament each week.