Having your light taken

Always good to hear from folks who treat certain topics as historical curiosities. When folks talk race I consider Daytona 500. When folks talk color I consider the color of their uniform (so civilians are rainbow? ;^). But it has not been thus for long on a Masonic time scale of centuries.

If you mean unification that gets discussed every now and then, but the two US branches of our family are older than the country. Many think that much heritage would be lost. There are plenty of countries in the world with overlapping jurisdictions so the world outside the US does not expect or require unification.

Guys make a guess based on appearance. All historical these days but the two branches of our family have heritage that influences membership statistics.

The differences are in the details, mostly trivial. Wear gloves at meetings versus only at funerals. When to put on the apron. Singing a song or not. Mostly the same amount of difference you see when traveling state to state.

 

My Jurisdiction is one of the oldest amongst PHA and challenges is strictly prohibited. It should have no place in Masonry, there is a time and place for such.

 

Maybe I missed something what does that foolery have to do with racism in masonry? I am PH in fl went from what we call 4 letter to 3 letter, and have never had anyone attempt to take anything nor have I tried, but am
a big believer if you can't protect it don't wear it, I would strongly suggest that you put it up or give it away, a cousin of mine just gave me a watch and I told "thanks because I did not want to get a call saying he got his arm cut off" :-(

 

Dont put racism in my post. That word was not used or insinuated.

 

The "ism" word that challenges bring to my mind is professionalism. The purpose of challenges is to attend a tiled meeting. Your jurisdiction, your rules/traditions as usual.

 

100% correct Brother defreybur!

 

What about often .... Never & willing

 

Are challenges prohibited or the taking of items? What jurisdiction ?

 

Did mean to offend you sir, but you lumped all PHA in one group, plus the mainstream of fl is not a Masonic role model

 

Does not apply when not trying to get into a tiled lodge. All that stuff is what we are told to keep secret so it doesn't make sense to conduct challenges in public where eavesdroppers can piece it all together one bit at a time. I get that folks can look it up at the library, but I promised to not help any outsider do that. Challenges in public hand out a bit at a time.

I should really write "visible to the public" so "in public" is really a shorthand for that. We can be out in public and whisper something into each others ears. That's clearly not what is meant by challenges in public.

I'm also puzzled how challenges in public might handle clandestine membership issues. I can hang out with a man and in minutes know he's a brother as long as I don't care about clandestine membership, but until we get to a tiled meeting I don't need to care about that. Aren't we supposed to avoid exchanging the secrets with a clandestine member? Public challenges seem to not take that into account - Except in this case where members of his own lodge are frustrated by one of their own and reacting out of that frustration.

 

This whole thing is silly. You try taking something from me and you will likely get shot. Sounds blunt but it's reality.
We abide by the laws of the land, and taking someone's property is unlawful.

Challenging is meant to get into a tiled lodge. And only challenge to the extent to prove he is a MM.

 

I feel the same. If anyone tried to take my personal property there would be a problem.

 

Florida = Gunshine State

 

Its all good!

 

Brethren I just wanted to come back to this post and say " if I have said Anything that has offended any of the brethren here that was not my intention and please except my most humble apology . I did not mean to cause such a big issue on the subject . I guess I was looking at it from the perspective that iron sharpens iron but looking back on things I can see how this could be viewed as negative conduct depending on ones take on the subject , very interesting comments by everyone by the way ..this will definitely prove helpful in my travels

S&F
Bro.R.Pierce

 

Yes, it is my Jurisdiction is the MWPHGL Jurisdiction of Pennsylvania, and in our constitution and bylaws doesn't condone "challenges" and or the taking of so called masonic sybalism. I'm sure in your constitution and bylaws like in mine it tells us how we should carry ourselves amongst our brethren outside of lodge settings and amongst "strange brethren". The understanding of masonic intercourse, and how to handle a brother who comes up lacking in that intercourse.

The only time any type of challenge is when a brother is visiting from another lodge and/ or amiable(recognized with full visitation) foreign jurisdiction and that particular brother is unknown to any of the Brethren present in a tiled lodge. That is when the Worshipful Master sends a committee or a brother to ascertain if the individual is worthy and well qualified to be admitted and only with the WMs permission. Peace!

 

Taking any items from anyone is a foolish practice. We aren't a part of a gang and we don't steal from brothers.

 

As a FC, I've never worn "Light", but in the realm of BGLO's(Black Greek Letter Organizations),it was common practice. We used it as a way to identify who "Pledged", and who didn't. The problem is, challenge questions are largely regional, and there is no way of authentication of information. I've never done this, and it never has happened to me. At the end of the day, if a "brother" would rather demand my belongings than educate me, he is not a brother. Likewise, if I hand over my belongings, I am in error.