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Do you believe in a supreme being?

Bro.doyleUK

Registered User
When I first went to my lodge for my "chat" about becoming a mason I was asked all the usual questions about why I wanted to join and of course I answered the best I could giving only honest answers of course.
Now, I hope no one here gets offended or annoyed by this but I do not consider myself to very religious at all. I am very spiritual though so if I had to choose one id say I'm a spiritualist or maybe even a bit pagan ( I know nothing about paganism other than I believe I am part of the earth and we should care for it).

So when the question came " do you believe in a supreme being or something higher than ourselves?"
I said yes, and when asked what it was I said that I believed that everything in the universe is energy including consciousness and that I believed "God" is both.
Now I received a few funny/ surprised looks at this point mixed with a few impressed facial expressions.

My question is did any body else give an unusual answer to this question seeing as we all come from a wide variety of religious backgrounds?


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Companion Joe

Premium Member
If you can't honestly and sincerely answer yes to that question, then you have come to the wrong shop. Masonry is not a religion and does not ask to which religion you subscribe, but it does ask you to seriously declare upon your honor that you believe in a supreme being to whom all men are ultimately accountable.
 

Radical540

Registered User
I got asked if I believe in a Supreme being, and I said "yes". And there was no further questioning on the topic.
 

BroBook

Premium Member
I am glad you phased this thread topic like you did, to answer the thread,yes
but has anyone ever considered that "a" is singular and therefore the question is better understood as a statement along the lines of " you do know that somewhere there is an ultimate authority?


Bro Book
M.W.U.G.L. Of Fl: P.H.A.
Excelsior # 43
At pensacola
 

Companion Joe

Premium Member
If you want to go straight literal, then yes, you are correct. Our state petitions ask if you belong to a church, followed by which one. In the Commandery, you promise to defend Christianity.

I was talking in a broader sense.
 

pointwithinacircle2

Rapscallion
Premium Member
I have always had to accept that not everyone who believes in God believes the same things about God that I believe. Even some of the people who go to my church believe things about God that are radically different from me, and from each other. This is why I never say more than "I believe in a supreme being and I call him God". If someone presses me for more I say, "I really can't explain God" and I leave it at that.
 
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dfreybur

Premium Member
When I first went to my lodge for my "chat" about becoming a mason I was asked all the usual questions about why I wanted to join and of course I answered the best I could giving only honest answers of course.
Now, I hope no one here gets offended or annoyed by this but I do not consider myself to very religious at all. I am very spiritual though so if I had to choose one id say I'm a spiritualist or maybe even a bit pagan ( I know nothing about paganism other than I believe I am part of the earth and we should care for it).

So when the question came " do you believe in a supreme being or something higher than ourselves?"
I said yes, and when asked what it was I said that I believed that everything in the universe is energy including consciousness and that I believed "God" is both.
Now I received a few funny/ surprised looks at this point mixed with a few impressed facial expressions.

My question is did any body else give an unusual answer to this question seeing as we all come from a wide variety of religious backgrounds?

The distinction between religious and spiritual is not one that is often discussed and there is no good agreement on what it means. Among those who make the distinction it's not to be expected they mean even slightly the same distinction. There is strength in diversity. I consider religion to be a human construct, pointing at something that is beyond us. I selected one such construct once I reached peace with the notion of religions being human constructs. I consider the spiritual to be the non-human something that human constructed religions are trying to point to. Spiritual might or might not address the divine - I don't know how that works but I have seen both aspects in action.

For members of faiths that don't much address deity the word "existence" tends to get a lot of consideration before the candidate answers yes. Buddhism, Taoism. Probably other faiths. The brother who obligated me on my third is a practicing Buddhist and it's fascinating to get him well away from our buildings after knowing him several years so he's willing to discuss the topic.

For members of faiths that are polytheist in various ways the word "supreme" tends to get a lot of consideration before the candidate answers yes. Shinto, all native animist faiths and all pagan and heathen category religious are at least in theory polytheist. Whether Hindu gets listed here or not is a matter of interpretation. Last year Florida was in the news with a list of modern faiths of this type. As furious as I was remotely, I have no idea how I would have reacted had I been a Florida Mason at that time.

My mother jurisdiction does not ask any follow up question so I had no need to explain my yes at any level of detail. I find it a strange variation among jurisdictions that some do ask in more detail.
 

Bro.doyleUK

Registered User
My main reason for declaring myself as "spiritual" in the first place was because I had my friend teach me Reiki healing at when I was 17 just after I was told my mum had terminal cancer. She's ok now!
I have never really used Reiki on anyone other than myself but I'd never discuss this at lodge because I'm pretty sure the brethren would look at me like its nonsense.


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Companion Joe

Premium Member
I think this thread needs to be locked. There are, quite frankly, some things being said here that, to me, are beyond comprehension. There is a reason religion is not to be discussed in open lodge. When asked if you believe in a supreme being, it's really not a cafeteria plan where you chose what you like. There is one supreme being. You are either washed in the blood or you are not.

I don't know what every jurisdiction does, but the Masonry I practice is pretty clear. The scripture quoted throughout comes from one place and one place only. The first great light of Masonry is one book and one book only. While I am not as Bible-thumping as some of my local folks (yes, there are some Appalachian snake handlers), some things are pretty iron clad.
 

Companion Joe

Premium Member
I'm not indicating anyone MUST be Christian to be Freemason or anything else in life. Every man is free to make his own everlasting choices.

To (semi) quote a Hollywood movie, the choices we make in live echo in eternity.

John 3:16
 

crono782

Premium Member
I do not feel as though anything said so far in this thread is contrary to peace and harmony. Well mannered discourse is a joy to participate in and edifying, and besides we are not in a tyled lodge. Carry on gents.


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BryanMaloney

Premium Member
I think this thread needs to be locked. There are, quite frankly, some things being said here that, to me, are beyond comprehension. There is a reason religion is not to be discussed in open lodge. When asked if you believe in a supreme being, it's really not a cafeteria plan where you chose what you like. There is one supreme being. You are either washed in the blood or you are not.

I don't know what every jurisdiction does, but the Masonry I practice is pretty clear. The scripture quoted throughout comes from one place and one place only. The first great light of Masonry is one book and one book only. While I am not as Bible-thumping as some of my local folks (yes, there are some Appalachian snake handlers), some things are pretty iron clad.

To equate belief in a Supreme Being with "being washed in the blood" plainly says that one considers belief in a Supreme Being to be restricted not just to Christians but only to a subset of Christians who subscribe to that particular soteriological standpoint.
 

Companion Joe

Premium Member
While posting last night, it was well past more normal bed time. Also, I am about as far from an Evangelist as you can get. I believe the differences in the world's major religions are more differences in interpretation than anything. I had just read some of the posts and gotten a bit carried away. It was a reaction to my interpretation of those. But, I have trouble wrapping my head around the thoughts of Masonry and polytheism or religions without a concept of deity in the same sentence.

I probably didn't do a good job of articulating my thoughts last night, and I believe I am still having trouble doing so. For that, I am sorry. Maybe elsewhere ritual is different, but in my state, the scripture recited when a candidate enters a Lodge for the first time to the scripture read during his Masonic funeral comes from one place.
 
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