Q 27. How does the book In God's Love relate to the Catholic Faith ?
back to InGodsLoveTheBook.com
Prelude
0.1 To be blunt, does In God's Love contradict the Catholic Faith? The short answer is no. I have read In God's Love many times and when I compare it to the Catholic faith I love I do not see any contradiction. I have a degree in Theology from a Catholic Institution. This is not an official statement, but merely a reflection of one person. The only people who can speak officially for the Catholic Church are Bishops who are in union with the Pope. Janet Hurlow is in process of trying to obtain this now, but it could take a while.
0.2 The Catholic Church would approach In God's Love as a private revelation. In the Church's view even if a private revelation was accepted by the Church as authentic, the private revelation would not add to the deposit of faith, nor would it act as a corrective to the deposit of faith. An approved private revelation could act as an aid to help a generation live the faith more fully. This is precisely what I believe In God's Love does, for the authors repeatedly insist that this book is being given in “this time” or sometimes this “time of times”. The authors also insist that they do not contradict the church, which I believe is the Catholic Church.
0.3 What follows is a private personal reflection that Janet Hurlow has asked me to share. It is very close to the hard copy I gave Janet. "The Presentation: A Theological Presentation of In God's Love written by Janet Hurlow and How it relates to the Catholic Faith by Thomas Baker September 22 2015. I have made a few revisions in the March 25, 2019 version of, "The Presentaton". There are also few differences between "The Presentation" and this website version: 1) the addition of paragraphs 0.1 - 0.6, and 974, and paragraph 0.7 was on the dedication page, 2) the reformatting of footnotes to sidenotes and the reformatting of topic index table to side topic index. 3) the following 3 items have been omitted from the online version: A) Paragraph 972 which was a brief note to the Magisterium of the Church, B) the List of Passages Encouraged to Read, C) and the Chart of Theological Topics Chapters 1-13.
0.4 I do not view this as a publication as I am not receiving any money for this, nor have I tried to advertise this paper in any way. At this point I view this as a sharing of a private reflection. Many papers, research papers, meetings, discussion groups, and classes are now held via the internet and are not considered "publications".
0.5 If you are someone from the general public reading this please take into account that this was written with an idea that it's potential audience would be Theologians who work for the Catholic Church. If you are someone from the Catholic Church reading this know that before I ever publish this "reflection" which at this point is something I do not envision doing, I would obtain copyright permission from the U.S. Bishops to be able to quote from the New American Bible and also the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
0.6 Please read the Introduction before reading anything else. Thank you.
Introduction
0.7 It is the following quote that has acted as the catalyst for this work:
“In Christ’s church, this blessing reaches Earth with blessings of God. Under no circumstances does this message go against this sacred institution….God speaks to Earth. His message is directed to all Earth through His church. To Earth is sent this sign of saints. Come, take this gift. Believe in your God. Seek His church. Understand, Earth man, in this church is our wisdom brought forth.” ----- In God’s Love 395: 1-4, 6-13
--- September 22, 2015 A.D.
1 In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. I began every work session of “The Presentation” with a prayer addressed to the Trinity, asking for the Father’s protection, guidance and help. The question this work is trying to answer is: Does In God’s Love, written by Janet Hurlow, contradict the Catholic Faith?
2 What will this work, “The Presentation” become? Will it just remain a private reflection, or as I hope, will it become an aid or a springboard to gain an Nihil Obstat (which means that there is nothing in the work that contradicts the Church's theological teaching or it its moral teaching) from the Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, or from the Vatican for In God’s Love? Will it aid a discussion at the Vatican concerning In God’s Love? Will it become a public book which Catholics who encounter In God’s Love and like it, but have questions about whether it contradicts the faith, can go to for help in their discernment process? At this point, I do not know, but I feel the Lord wants me to do this work, and so in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, I go forward with this work.
3 Obviously, if you are not Catholic, or do not care what the Catholic Church says about anything, this presentation is irrelevant to you. If you have not yet read In God’s Love, this work could be viewed as an introduction, or commentary, to be read with In God's Love . If someone wrote a reflection pointing out the themes of the 150 Psalms of the Bible and how they relate to the Catholic Faith, that would be something like this work. You could read all 150 Psalms and not need the "Reflection Paper". You could read both and find the "Reflection Paper" helpful in pulling together the major points of all 150 Psalms. When you read the "Reflection Paper", you probably would want to read some, or all of the Psalms that it is reflecting upon. If you have not read In God’s Love, I encourage you to go to InGodsLoveTheBook.com for an introduction to the book. (The whole comprehensive Preface that is in the book is also contained on the Website in the Q/A section.) I would then encourage you to purchase a copy of the book and read it.
4 If you have read In God’s Love, complete with the preface, and are enriched by it and are deeply committed to the Catholic faith, then the question of this work may concern you. Hopefully many wise, smart, and holy people with a love for God and respect for His Church will read In God’s Love and gather together to discuss the question addressed here.
5 As you may have concluded by now, these passages have enriched my life, and I am very committed to the Catholic Church. I have worked in the Catholic Church and have a Master’s Degree in Theology from a Catholic institution in good standing with the Catholic Church. I have always been faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. Because of the unique nature of this book, and because it does not yet have an Imprimatur from the Catholic Church, I have not used In God’s Love in any part of my ministry, and I am writing this under a pen name. I do have permission from Janet Hurlow to quote from In God’s Love as much as I would like to in this work.
How does the book In God's Love relate to the Catholic Faith ?
Part One Links
Prelude : on this page
Introduction : on this page
Complete Table of Contents with a note on how to get an overview of "The Presentation"
(also available with tab) without reading all 974 paragraphs
Outline
Preface Getting Rid of Our Assumptions
Chapter 1 We Believe in Divine Revelation
Chapter 2 We Believe in One Triune God : 1/12
Chapter 2: 2/12 Chapter 2: 3/12 Chapter 2: 4/12 Chapter 2: 5/12 Chapter 2: 6/12
Chapter 2: 7/12 Chapter 2: 8/12 Chapter 2: 9/12 Chapter 2: 10/12
Chapter 2: 11/12 Chapter 2: 12/12
Chapter 3 We Believe there is Evil in the World : 1/3
Chapter 3. 2/3 Chapter 3/3
Chapter 4: 1/2 We Believe that God Created Us and Gave Us Freewill : 1/2
Chapter 4: 2/2
Chapter 5: 1/5 We Believe in Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory : 1/5
Chapter 5: 2/5 Chapter 5: 3/5 Chapter 5: 4/5 Chapter 5: 5/5
Chapter 6 We Believe in the Church and the Communion of Saints
Chapter 7 We Believe in the Day of Judgment and a New Dwelling and a New Earth
Chapter 8 We Participate in the Sacred Mysteries
Chapter 9 We Live in Christ and God's Spirit Dwells in Us
Chapter 10 We Live to Love God
Part Two links
Complete Table of Contents with a note on how to get an overview of "The Presentation"
(also available with tab) without reading all 949 paragraphs
back to In God's Love The Book