Jude

Keep yourselves in the love of God

Mercy, peace and love can be multiplied when we are "sanctified of the father and preserved in Jesus Christ" (Jude 1:1). In Jude 1:3 Jude counsels that we should "earnestly contend for the faith". To appropriately contend for the faith, we must share the gospel with others and strive to live our lives in accordance with gospel principles that we may be an example for good. We must stand up for what we believe in and do our part to uphold righteousness. The word contend means "to strive or vie in contest or rivalry or against difficulties : struggle." When I think about the battle between good and evil, it is crucial for us to remain faithful to the gospel. This reminds me of Mormon and Moroni who contended for the faith until the very end. In Moroni 8:6 Mormon writes to his son "And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God." No matter how difficult things are, we must remain faithful, keep trying and endure to the end.

In Jude 1:6 he refers to a "first estate". This refers to our pre-mortal existence. We know that those who kept their first estate and accepted God's plan were blessed to come to this earth to gain a body and be tried and tested in all things.

In Jude 1:9 he speaks of a dispute between Michael the archangel and the devil. From reading the student manual, I learned that this information came from and apocryphal book. Apocryphal means "of doubtful authenticity" . In D&C 91 which is a revelation given to Joseph Smith regarding the Apocrypha, the Lord revealed to Joseph Smith that the Apocrypha is mostly translated correctly, but there are many things in them that are not true due to information being changed by the hands of man. Article of Faith #8 states "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God." I therefore would explain this odd disputation in this way, that we may not have accurate information regarding this because as Bruce R McConkie stated these apocryphal books were not included in the Bible, because they weren't necessarily correct in every way even though they contained some things of value. So we may not have all the information we need or even all the correct information regarding this.

In Jude 1:14, Jude states that when the Savior comes again, he will be accompanied by ten thousands of his saints.

From my reading of Jude 1:17; 20-25 I have learned that in order for us to avoid the evils that come from false teachers, we must remember the words of the apostles. I think that this is so important for us to remember, because they are men called of God to guide us and lead us back to Heavenly Father. They speak the words of God and they will not lead us astray. We also need to pray and seek our own revelation and guidance from the Lord. Verse 20 states that we build up our faith through prayer and through the Holy Ghost. When we do these things, it keeps us from being lead away by false teachers because Heavenly Father has provided ways for us to receive the truth and guidance that we need to return to Him.

Another way that Jude teaches us to avoid false teachers is for us to look to the Lord for mercy. We must stay close to him and remember that He is the way for us to gain exaltation. We must turn from sin, repent and follow the Savior's example. Our Savior is the only one who can cleanse us from sin and present us back into our Heavenly Father's presence where we can have everlasting joy.

To complete this assignment, I read, ponder and studied the designated scriptures and section from the student manual. I also cross-referenced scriptures to gain deeper understanding.

I chose this particular assignment because I liked the topic and wanted to learn more about what Jude taught on this subject.

The best thing about this assignment was learning ways that we can avoid the evils from false teachers. I think that the dangers of being lead away by false teachers are increasing and we really need to be firm in our testimonies so that we are not deceived. The scriptures teach us how we can build a firm foundation and not be lead away.

I am not sure how this could be improved. I studied and pondered what I needed to and felt like I gained a lot from this assignment. I guess that I could have taken more time to cross reference scriptures a little more and perhaps this would help me to make deeper connections, but overall I really enjoyed this assignment.