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Preface Getting Rid of Our Assumptions
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In the original submission "Outline" was called Introduction.
How does In God's Love
written by Janet Hurlow
relate to
the Catholic Faith ?
The Outline of this Presentation
6 This work is a theological presentation of In God’s Love by Janet Hurlow. A brief theological summary is presented in the preface of In God’s Love, and for many people this is all that is needed. If after reading all 532 passages of In God’s Love and the preface of the book, you still have concerns about whether it is in contradiction to the Catholic Faith, then this presentation may interest you.
7 Each of the first thirteen Chapters of this work has several layers. One layer is The Same Tradition. A vast amount of the theology of In God’s Love is the same as the Catholic faith and is even expressed in the same manner. For example, at the heart of the Catholic faith is the belief that there is only one God. The authors of In God’s Love agree. Another Catholic belief is that God is three persons in One God, and once again the authors of In God’s Love agree and even use the exact same language, “Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit.” In fact each passage begins, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen”
8 Another layer is The Same Tradition, But a Different Expression, and sometimes this expression can lead to a deeper appreciation of an aspect of our faith. I will use two examples outside of In God’s Love to illustrate this layer. If the tradition of Saint Patrick using the shamrock as a way of explaining the Trinity to the people is historical, then when St. Patrick used this explanation most folks who were already Catholic probably readily agreed that this was just a new way of describing the same truth of the faith. Another example is the famous poem, “Footprints”. In this poem a person having a chat with God as he walks along the beach. He asks God why He abandoned him in the hard times because he only saw one set of footprints on the beach that symbolized the difficult times in his life. In the walk of his life that was the hardest, God carried him. This image does not have any link to Scripture or Sacred Tradition, yet it expresses in a very deep way what the Tradition already speaks to as the great love of God as Father, Shepherd, and many other aspects.
9 A third layer is a different emphasis of a part of Tradition of the Church. One example of this is in the history of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The idea that the Sacrament could be repeated was at one time a new idea. Gradually it became an accepted idea and later a norm. A second example of this is the “Good Friday” petitions pre and post Vatican II.
Pre-Vatican II Good Friday Petitions Vatican II Good Friday Petitions “For the unity of the Church.
Pre-Vatican II: Let us pray also for heretics and schismatics, that our Lord and God may save them from their errors and be pleased to recall them to our holy Mother the Catholic and Apostolic Church.”
Vatican II: “For unity of Christians. Let us pray for all our brothers and sisters who share our faith in Jesus Christ, that God may gather and keep together in one Church all those who seek the truth with sincerity.”
Pre-Vatican II “Let us pray for the faithless Jews, that the Lord our God may take the veil from their hearts and that they also may acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Vatican II "Let us pray for the Jewish people, the first to hear the word of God, that they may continue to grow in the love of his name and in faithfulness to his covenant.”
Pre-Vatican II : “Let us pray also for the pagans, that Almighty God may take away iniquity from their hearts, so that they may forsake their idols and be converted to the living and true God and His only Son, Jesus Christ, our God and Lord.”
Vatican II: “Let us pray for those who do not believe in God, that they may find Him by sincerely following all that it right.”
With Vatican II the Church’s approach to our fellow Christian brothers and sisters and the rest of humanity, non-Christians, Jews, other world religions, and atheists changed. This was new. Yet, we can find its roots and development in our Tradition of the Scripture. To inherit eternal life with God, Jesus tells the lawyer to imitate the good Samaritan, “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37). “Everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7).
10 Some sections of the first thirteen Chapters of this work may have all three layers, while others only have two, or one layer.
11 Chapters 14-18 present things that are in In God’s Love that are observations of the messengers, but have nothing to do with the deposit of faith.
12 Chapters 19 and 20 are loose end Chapters. Chapter 19 discusses some things that are confusing to this author. Chapter 20 basically presents some major things that are in our Tradition that are not addressed in In God’s Love and that is OK. In God’s Love never claims to be a representation of the faith.
13 Chapter 21 presents this work’s conclusions.
14 Hopefully, by reading In God’s Love and this work, and most of all, through prayer, you will come to your own conclusions. Hopefully, one day the Catholic Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, will also come to its own conclusions.
15 I have undertaken this work with prayer and humility. If St. Michael the Archangel were to appear and state something to me, it would not contradict the Catholic Faith. However, my understanding of what the Archangel said or my unintended misrepresentation of an idea or faulty connections of ideas might be in conflict with the Church. I will try to be faithful to the authors of In God’s Love as I would try to be faithful to St. Michael the Archangel and as I try to remain faithful to the Catholic Church. Occasionally, for a variety of reasons, I will write something that is my own thought. When I do this I will try to make it clear that I am neither quoting nor summarizing In God’s Love or from the Catechism or other Church documents, or from the Sacred Scripture, but rather presenting a thought of my own. If something of my own is in error, it should only be a reflection upon me and not the Church, the Bible, or In God’s Love. May any errors in my presentation of the faith or presentation of In God’s Love come to light by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit working in other people of faith, understanding, wisdom, and authority in the Catholic Church. May God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit guide and protect this work and bring it to its intended purpose.
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