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Is Masonry "guilty" of teaching toleration?

CajunTinMan

CajunTinMan

Registered User
I found this on the Waller Lodge AF&AM website and thought it was very fitting to many of the discussions about Freemasonry and Christianity.

Q: Is Masonry "guilty" of teaching toleration?


A: Yes. And proud of it! It seems a strange accusation, but anti-Masonic writers often charge that we accept people with many different religious viewpoints as Brothers. They are correct.


Jesus did not say to us, "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another - as long as he goes to the same church you do, or if he belongs to the same political party."


In Romans 13: 8 -10 Jesus said "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fullfilled the law


In John 13: 34, 35 Jesus said "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you.â€


Does “love one another†mean we should only love Baptists, or Methodists or some self appointed splinter preacher who makes a living by selling hatred literature.


Yet one anti-Masonic writer claims that this toleration is the blackest sin of Masonry. Toleration, he says, "springs from the pits of hell and from the father of lies, Lucifer."


When you consider what intolerance has produced in this world, the Inquisition, the massacre of the inhabitants of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, the burning of Protestants at the stake, the horrors of Hitler, the mass murders of Stalin, the "killing fields" of Cambodia -- it is hard to believe that toleration springs from the devil.
 
bnorthington

bnorthington

Registered User
Is Masonry "guilty" of teaching toleration?

very well put.. I have had coworkers that are confessed anti masons.. they even have a club they have put together to discuss anti Masonic topics.. no matter what scripture I quote or good lesson I speak of, they are very stubborn in their theories.
 
brothermongelli

brothermongelli

Registered User
Only those who persist in darkness claim that religious tolerance, and more specifically the idea that each faith contains some measure of Light, is a negative.

Enjoy this quote from Manly P. Hall from THE LOST KEYS OF FREEMASONRY:

The true Mason is not creed-bound. He realizes with the divine illumination of
his lodge that as a Mason his religion must be universal: Christ, Buddha or
Mohammed, the name means little, for he recognizes only the light and not the
bearer. He worships at every shrine, bows before every altar, whether in temple,
mosque or cathedral, realizing with his truer understanding the oneness of all
spiritual truth. All true Masons know that they only are heathen who, having
great ideals, do not live up to them. They know that all religions are but one
story told in divers ways for peoples whose ideals differ but whose great
purpose is in harmony with Masonic ideals. North, east, south and west stretch
the diversities of human thought, and while the ideals of man apparently differ,
when all is said and the crystallization of form with its false concepts is
swept away, one basic truth remains: all existing things are Temple Builders,
laboring for a single end. No true Mason can be narrow, for his Lodge is the
divine expression of all broadness. There is no place for little minds in a
great work."
 
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widows son

widows son

Premium Member
Is Masonry "guilty" of teaching toleration?

Lucious-lucifer, Latin for light bearer, and light has always been associated with divine knowledge. Only a narrow minded superstitious person would see the term lucifer as a evil concept, which was due to Christianity deeming any symbol, idea, or philosophy that was not part of the Christian cannon, the work of Satan
 
CajunTinMan

CajunTinMan

Registered User
I read a lot of quotes of Mackey and Pike. I have read a lot of their work. But I don't agree with some of it. And that's ok, because Masonry is different for everyone. What I get out of Masonry might be completely different then what you may get out of it. We must not get locked into absolutes about what Masonry is. For me it is a constant reminder that I need to be of better service to Christ. For others it may be something complete different.
 
CajunTinMan

CajunTinMan

Registered User
Taken from suggested nondenominational Rotary club invocations:

So today I offer this prayer: Let us bow our heads:
Lord of the Universe, you have given most of mankind a strong desire to do good, to be honest, to serve others, and to faithfully fulfill their obligations to their neighbors.
Help us, as Rotarians and humans, to do good.
Help us, as Rotarians and humans, to be honest and ethical in all our dealings.
Help us, as Rotarians and humans, to serve others.
And help us, as Rotarians and humans, to faithfully fulfill our obligations as neighbors to our community, our nation, and the world. Amen. Joseph D. Coons, Bellingham WA

clubrunner.ca

I put this here to show that there are other clubs that respect tolerance. But then after searching the net I find that they have their attackers too. (Mainly accusing them of being Masons).
 
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jvarnell

jvarnell

Premium Member
Re: Is Masonry "guilty" of teaching toleration?

widows son said:
Lucious-lucifer, Latin for light bearer, and light has always been associated with divine knowledge. Only a narrow minded superstitious person would see the term lucifer as a evil concept, which was due to Christianity deeming any symbol, idea, or philosophy that was not part of the Christian cannon, the work of Satan
Click to expand...
I wish you would be more tolrant of christianty. Not all christain groups deemed anything satanic.
 
widows son

widows son

Premium Member
Is Masonry "guilty" of teaching toleration?

I never said that. But in medieval times the church deemed those teachings heretical, and has reverberated down to us today. And a narrow minded person, is anyone who chooses to be ignorant to the world around them, not just Christians. I am quite tolerant of Christianity, equal to every other faith and creed. And I only say things that are true when debating about Christianity or other faiths. I have no intention of slandering a brother or anyones faith or beliefs.
 
CajunTinMan

CajunTinMan

Registered User
Almost in contrast to what I have been saying. I also see people in here speak of all the different religions that are Masons. I keep seeing Buddhism in the list. This would be fundamentally wrong. Buddhism is not a monotheistic religion. They don't believe in the Fathhood of God. It would be a violation of the Landmarks of Freemasonry. Does that make them a bad person? No. Am I being prejudice? No. It just is what it is.

Taken from The Buddhist Attitude to God

by Dr V. A. Gunasekara

Statement made to a
Multi-religious Seminar

First Published: February 1993
Second Edition: April 1997

The God-Concept and Buddhist Principles

Quite apart from explicit statements refuting the God-idea there is a fundamental incompatibility between the notion of God and basic Buddhist principles. We have already mentioned that God cannot be reconciled with the Buddhist notion of causality which is contained in the theory of "dependent origination" which is one of the discoveries of the Buddha during his enlightenment. Certainly nothing like this theory has been propounded prior to the Buddha.
A fundamental Buddhist belief is that all phenomena without exemption (including all animate beings) have three essential characteristics. These are dukkha (explained above), anicca (impermanence), and anatta (insubstantiality, "no-soul"). The attributes of God are not consistent with these universal marks of existence. Thus God must be free from dukkha; he must be eternal (and hence not subject to anicca); finally he must have a distinct unchanging identity (and therefore lack the characteristic of anatta).
Another concomitant of the God-idea that is fundamentally incompatible with Buddhism is the belief that God acts as the final judge and could determine if individuals go to heaven or hell. According to Buddhism the destination of individuals is determined by the karmic law which cannot be interfered by any external process. Only individuals can effect their karmic destinies; even a Buddha cannot "pardon" or otherwise interfere with the karmic process. In Buddhism there is simply no place for a God even if one were to exist.
There is also no place for the notion of vicarious salvation, or atonement for human sins by a "suffering" God. The Buddha affirms that "by oneself is kamma done and by oneself is kamma undone". According to Buddhism no one (and this includes gods or God) can save another. This is a cardinal principle of the Buddha which cannot be reconciled with the declared attributes and actions of God.
The Buddhist path to salvation is based on deeds (including mental culture through "meditation") not prayer. God appears to Buddhists to be a vain being expecting all others to pray to him and worship him. Indeed such prayer seems to be the most decisive factor in a person's salvation, not necessarily any good or bad deeds by him. But as mentioned above in Buddhism it is volitional action with determines the karma of an individual.
There is no doubt some similarities in the moral codes of Buddhism and some theistic religions. Things like compassion are inculcated in all religions. But in Buddhism this does not arise from a heavenly dictate and there is no limitation in the exercise of these virtues as occurs in some theistic religion.
 
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BryanMaloney

BryanMaloney

Premium Member
brothermongelli said:
The true Mason is not creed-bound. He realizes with the divine illumination of
his lodge that as a Mason his religion must be universal: Christ, Buddha or
Mohammed, the name means little, for he recognizes only the light and not the
bearer. He worships at every shrine, bows before every altar, whether in temple,
Click to expand...

If this is truly the doctrine of Masonry, then I cannot remain a Mason. If it is truly the doctrine that I must embrace the doctrines of all religions and reject Christ's unique status as the sole Savior.
 
BryanMaloney

BryanMaloney

Premium Member
Re: Is Masonry "guilty" of teaching toleration?

widows son said:
I never said that. But in medieval times the church deemed those teachings heretical, and has reverberated down to us today. And a narrow minded person, is anyone who chooses to be ignorant to the world around them, not just Christians. I am quite tolerant of Christianity, equal to every other faith and creed. And I only say things that are true when debating about Christianity or other faiths. I have no intention of slandering a brother or anyones faith or beliefs.
Click to expand...

No, you do not, you say many things that are false when speaking of Christianity. For example, your claim on this thread is false. The Church embraced many non-Christian sources of wisdom as "prefigurations" or "premonitions" of things to be revealed in the fullness of time. Since you are such an expert, you would already know this, especially about the Eastern Church, which was never run by Rome.
 
CajunTinMan

CajunTinMan

Registered User
brothermongelli said:
The true Mason is not creed-bound. He realizes with the divine illumination of
his lodge that as a Mason his religion must be universal: Christ, Buddha or
Mohammed, the name means little, for he recognizes only the light and not the
bearer. He worships at every shrine, bows before every altar, whether in temple,
mosque or cathedral, realizing with his truer understanding the oneness of all
spiritual truth. "
Click to expand...
No that is not the true doctrine of Masonry. That is what Hall believed. I completely disagree with his doctrine. And I can. I am also a follower of Christ and I don't follow any other path. The Masonic Landmarks are simple. It is people that complicate everything. This is a fraternity, that believes in the fatherhood of God. I think there are some who try to make it a religion and they're pathway to Heaven. If they do then they fail. The light you find in Masonry is just light about Masonry. That light which leads you to Heaven comes from God and not Masonry. And Masonry does encourage you to seek that light. But it can't give it.
 
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Brent Heilman

Brent Heilman

Premium Member
My personal take on the Hall quote is that he believes that we, as Masons, must embrace the other religions. I don't think that he meant that we should follow them, just be tolerant of them. I follow Christ end of story. I don't follow Allah or any other religion's deity. I can make that choice, but since I am a Mason I must not only tolerate but be respectful of another Brother's choice. If we embrace another religion and take time to study it and the beliefs that it holds we may find our own faith enriched by it.
 
CajunTinMan

CajunTinMan

Registered User
My Brothers the reason I started this thread was to show what I believe is Christ telling us in his own words to be tolerant. Which is one of the things some anti masons have been attacking us on. This was not to start a debate. Widows Son was stating that because of ingnorance of understanding the statement about lucifer by Pike have been misinterpreted by Christians to mean something that it is not. This among other lies has caused a divisions in some churchs. We might be taking some of his words more defensively because he is not a Christian. There is a real reason that we don't discuss religion in lodge. And if we decide to debate religion out of lodge we must be prepared for opposing views, even within our on faith. And if we are to debate it with a Brother and it starts to cause discourse we are better off agreeing to disagree and drop the subject.
 
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