MaineMason
Registered User
I'm a fifth-generation Master Mason, a third-generation Scottish Rite Mason, and as far as I know, the first to be a Royal Arch Mason in my family.
Who is the G. A.O.T.U?
My forebears who were Masons, including my father, tend to be rather "Enlightenment-era" informed. I'm an Episcopalian, however, I tend to look at my faith a bit like they do though I am, as an Episcopalian, nominally a Trinitarian. However, I sever--as they did--my religious beliefs from the Light I have received from Freemasonry while of course believing in a higher power than myself.
So, given the wonderful and broad nature of the G.A.O.T.U. (And so many of the men in my family who replied "So Mote It Be" to my Grandfather's prayer at holiday meals) while I consider myself Anglican for my Christian devotions which are totally separate from my Masonic obligations, and having been brought up with what I now know to be Masonic values first and Christian ones if you want them, what do those of you whom I know to be perhaps more of an "Evangelical" Christian mindset say to someone like me who now realizes that I was raised more as a Mason than a Christian and yet believes and yet again cares to keep the two separate?
(Spoiler: I'm not eschewing Anglicanism any more than Masonry and am not swayed by "Christ" arguments: I was saved at my Baptism, and if you want to know what I believe about that, take a look at the Book of Common Prayer)
Who is the G. A.O.T.U?
My forebears who were Masons, including my father, tend to be rather "Enlightenment-era" informed. I'm an Episcopalian, however, I tend to look at my faith a bit like they do though I am, as an Episcopalian, nominally a Trinitarian. However, I sever--as they did--my religious beliefs from the Light I have received from Freemasonry while of course believing in a higher power than myself.
So, given the wonderful and broad nature of the G.A.O.T.U. (And so many of the men in my family who replied "So Mote It Be" to my Grandfather's prayer at holiday meals) while I consider myself Anglican for my Christian devotions which are totally separate from my Masonic obligations, and having been brought up with what I now know to be Masonic values first and Christian ones if you want them, what do those of you whom I know to be perhaps more of an "Evangelical" Christian mindset say to someone like me who now realizes that I was raised more as a Mason than a Christian and yet believes and yet again cares to keep the two separate?
(Spoiler: I'm not eschewing Anglicanism any more than Masonry and am not swayed by "Christ" arguments: I was saved at my Baptism, and if you want to know what I believe about that, take a look at the Book of Common Prayer)