Well to be honest skip I am tolerant. Extremely tolerant, but in the scope of things, your ultimate goal is to see every lodge in the world with it's doors closed for good, which obviously every brother on this forum and the rest of the world would be against. So naturally those who are against, should not be welcome. Would you not agree if you were in the same scenario? What I'm trying to say is tolerance can only go so far. You can think I'm going to hell all you want. That doesn't bother me one bit, but I'd still tolerate your beliefs because that's your right, just as its my right to believe I can find values and morals in the lodge, just keep you opinion to yourself of
Its a negative one. Again another reason i think you would be denied membership is because you are looking for christ in freemasonry, which you already know he is not a part of, which would make you think that it would constitute "unchristian behavior". Then again that thought would stem from your religious convictions, and if you interpreted your Masonic research properly you would find that Masonic behavior demands the highest standards of of morality and citizenry by it members, which in some cases exceeds the christian behavior standard. As for my implication, it was directed to you skip and here's why: correct me if I'm wrong but you believe in the literal translation of the bible. Word for word. Truth or should i say fact. Jesus taught the simple values of love, honesty, and belief in God. That's it . Now your church leaders are the authority in your specific faith, as there is no pope or central figure in the reform Christian sects. They preach the " word of God through Jesus Christ." They condemn freemasonry and others in the quotes I cited because they don't conform to their beliefs of "christianity," or " christian behavior." Now you being part of the faith that these people preach to, and they being the authority saying the bible is fact, which you believe is fact, and these groups are " violating" the word of God, you now use that's as means to analyze everything you come in contact with. If this weren't true you would not be trying to convert people away from Freemasonry or saying that only Christians are Gods children and nobody else. To kind of use your words skip: "A common misconception among most christians is that all those characterized as 'secret societies, past or present, good or evil' fit into one convenient description; Freemasonry,thus you have a mindset about them that isn't really valid, any more than assuming that all Christians think, act and believe in the same things would be valid. That mindset allows you to assume things about Freemasons that simply aren't true and are without foundation of fact. "Skip it works both ways. Again If none of the tenants of fundamentalism deal with freemasonry then why do fundamentalists condemn it? I'm glad to hear that at least in life or death situations you would be motivated by Christ's love to help someone in need although it's just the right HUMANE thing do, not religious. As for the Fatherhood of God, the Torah or old testament which is part of the holy book, which to you is factual and historical, states that the Israelites are Gods children and chosen people only. Who's to say that Jews aren't right and Christians have it Wrong? We know that Jesus was a Jew, and that Christianity would not exist without Judaism. We also know that the old testament said that man will worship God only, and it seems that Christians worship Jesus and the saints more than God itself. Also the Koran states that those who don't worship Allah will be punished, but reveres Jesus as a prophet and Christians and Islamist hate each other. Kind of an oxymoron but anyways. Now biblical and theological study has shown us that these three faiths recognize the same God, the God of Abraham. Although Christians and Jews share at least one holy text Islam does not, but the Koran features biblical stories, characters, and landmarks. These 3 faiths make up the majority of the worlds population, and if the same God is at the center of these faiths then I guess you can say we are under the Fatherhood of God. I think the reason for the separation of the worlds religious adherents is ignorance. Even though there is war and hate caused by religion, at the core, every religion is about peace, love for God and thyself, which I think we can at least agree on. Every culture has its own traditions and customs that are different, but that doesn't mean that there shouldn't be a level of respect. I think Some of the reasons why Freemasonry has evolved to the way it is, is because of that very ignorance, and it still strives to for equality, and tolerance in an intolerant world, Skip I think your the only one who doesn't believe in equality in the eye of God on this forum.