Keystone

There's something funny about the idea of the Book of Mormon being the "keystone" of our religion. The keystone is the top/middle stone of an arch, and the idea is that, without the keystone, the whole arch would fall apart. But the same could be said of any other stone in the arch! Take any stone out, and the arch crumbles. In that sense, every stone is a "key"stone. The Book of Mormon isn't the only essential element of our church. We also need faith, hope, charity, love, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, inspiration, revelation, prophets and apostles, and the list goes on. Without any one of those things, this church would just be a fraction of what it is.

In fact, of all the essential elements of the church, I think that the Book of Mormon may be one of the least essential. Yes, it's a nice book, and the stories are fun, but the doctrine in it could have been taught solely through modern revelation. The Book of Mormon is great at building testimonies, but so is inspiration. And yes, it's great to have a new book of scripture to serve as a companion to the Bible, but we get enough new scripture to fill a magazine twice per year. As Mormons, we are buried under new scripture. Then, what's so important about the Book of Mormon?

I don't think the Book of Mormon belongs at the top of the arch as much as it belongs at the base, or foundation, of the arch. The Book of Mormon was and is important partly because, in Joseph Smith's time, it was practically all the early saints had. Having the Book of Mormon set them apart from the other churches, and while we were still waiting for modern revelation to come in and fully establish church doctrine, the Book of Mormon was enough to teach the core elements of our doctrine that differ from that of most other Christian churches. The Book of Mormon succinctly sums up and accurately represents almost everything that is unique about our church. The true foundation of this church is Jesus Christ, but the most basic thing about this church, besides that, is the Book of Mormon.

And since the Book of Mormon contains several powerful testimonies of Jesus Christ, it could be said that every essential element of Mormonism is found in the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon isn't just the keystone; it incorporates every stone in the arch! So, there's little wonder that the book itself should have a prominent spot in that arch, perhaps in the middle, at the top.