robert sheehan
Registered User
I am wondering if Masonry is an entirely different fraternity from one place to the next.
Reading through the forum I wonder what others might consider a “good man” and what making the man better actually entails.
I am an EA and am hoping to do my prof and receive me FC degree soon.
What do you consider a “Good Man”? Is it one who came from good stock? Had parents who didn’t do a poor job raising him? Is it a man who comes from money? If not money, would it be men with higher than average IQ? Or does a good man go to church regularly? Perhaps he doesn’t use drugs.
A good man is not a perfect man. There is nothing in the world that will change that. But do we judge solely on one action? Many actions? Do we consider the gravity of an action by itself or would it be wise to also consider the circumstances? If one had to beg to eat, if one had to steal to feed, if one was a drug addict or an alcoholic, do any of you presume to judge that person as having permanently failed and has been forever denied the possibility of being what we would consider a good man?
In some instances can a Mason not accept another Mason as a brother because the rules of one Lodge would not permit petitioning where the other lodge would? If my lodge “hypothetically speaking” allowed one to have tattoos on ones face but your lodge allows NO visible tattoos, would the subject not be your brother even if he were a Mason?
And what of the addict, the thief, the drunk, the ex con, the atheist or, worse, the satanist? Pretend these subjects were forced into a lifestyle of moral bankruptcy. Or a child thrown out of a home and desperate. A person who made decisions based on a life of circumstances that did not afford him a clear enough mind to think through his decisions or realize the outcome of his actions. Is this person not allowed to be a good man?
I am here for the discussion and to gain better wisdom. But this has bothered me because it is a contradiction I see. Contradictions are inflammatory.
I know it is a long post but would love to discuss.
Reading through the forum I wonder what others might consider a “good man” and what making the man better actually entails.
I am an EA and am hoping to do my prof and receive me FC degree soon.
What do you consider a “Good Man”? Is it one who came from good stock? Had parents who didn’t do a poor job raising him? Is it a man who comes from money? If not money, would it be men with higher than average IQ? Or does a good man go to church regularly? Perhaps he doesn’t use drugs.
A good man is not a perfect man. There is nothing in the world that will change that. But do we judge solely on one action? Many actions? Do we consider the gravity of an action by itself or would it be wise to also consider the circumstances? If one had to beg to eat, if one had to steal to feed, if one was a drug addict or an alcoholic, do any of you presume to judge that person as having permanently failed and has been forever denied the possibility of being what we would consider a good man?
In some instances can a Mason not accept another Mason as a brother because the rules of one Lodge would not permit petitioning where the other lodge would? If my lodge “hypothetically speaking” allowed one to have tattoos on ones face but your lodge allows NO visible tattoos, would the subject not be your brother even if he were a Mason?
And what of the addict, the thief, the drunk, the ex con, the atheist or, worse, the satanist? Pretend these subjects were forced into a lifestyle of moral bankruptcy. Or a child thrown out of a home and desperate. A person who made decisions based on a life of circumstances that did not afford him a clear enough mind to think through his decisions or realize the outcome of his actions. Is this person not allowed to be a good man?
I am here for the discussion and to gain better wisdom. But this has bothered me because it is a contradiction I see. Contradictions are inflammatory.
I know it is a long post but would love to discuss.