"Every person builds a house of faith. We do so knowingly or unknowingly. And every builder soon learns that a good building with bad foundations is worse than useless; it is dangerous. As one Christian writer has observed, 'If the stability of buildings depends largely on their foundations, so does the stability of human lives. The search for personal security is a primal instinct, but many fail to find it today. Old familiar landmarks [will be] obliterated. Moral absolutes which were once thought to be eternal are being abandoned' (Stott 22). Thus our house of faith can be no more secure than the foundation upon which it is built. Foolish men build upon the shifting sands of ethics and the marshlands of human philosophies and doctrines. The wise build upon the rock of revelation, heeding carefully the living oracles, lest they be 'brought under condemnation ... and stumble and fall when the storms descend, and the winds blow, and the rains descend, and beat upon their house' (D&C 90:5). All that we do as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints must be built upon a foundation of faith and testimony and conversion. When external supports fail us, then our hearts must be riveted upon the things of the Spirit, those internal realities which provide the meaning, the perspective, and the sustenance for all else that matters in life." (Robert L. Millet, Book of Mormon Symposium Series, Helaman 3 – 3 Nephi 8, edited by PR Cheesman, MS Nyman, and CD Tate, Jr., 1988, pp. 26-8)
Joseph B. Wirthlin
"What a magnificent blueprint for life at its best! These commandments and all that they encompass constitute a glorious challenge and an unassailable fortress against evil. They involve the use of time in the best and highest sense and will certainly safeguard our integrity and morality and help us be a good example. This is the kind of life building that is possible for Latter-day Saints…
"If we build our life with and for our Savior, we will build it from the best materials and with the best effort we can give. We won't skimp on study or training or diligence or obedience. We won't misrepresent what we're trying to build…We will wish to build something noble and solid, something worthy of the trust we have been given." (New Era, Mar. 1990, pp. 65-66 as taken from The Mount and the Master, by Robert E. Wells, p. 209)
Thomas S. Monson
"Where could any of us locate a more suitable blueprint whereby he could wisely and properly build? Such a house would meet the building code outlined in Matthew, even a house built 'upon a rock.'…a house capable of withstanding the rains of adversity, the floods of opposition, and the winds of doubt everywhere present in our challenging world…Let the Lord be the General Contractor for the family—even the home—we build. Then each of us can be the subcontractors responsible for a vital segment of the whole project. All of us are thereby builders." (Live the Good Life, p. 124 as taken from The Mount and the Master, by Robert E. Wells, p. 211-12)