I am so taken and accepted among brothers and fellows.

[Bro. R. Huddleston]

I apologize for the way its written. I'm just trying to get my point across in order to shed some light on something bothering a young brother. Let's just say I wrote this using stream of consciousness.


I was recently initiated into a lodge here in Alabama. I am currently focusing on my college work, so learning my lessons has not been of great importance to me. Being an EA, what I have learned and the mystery of what's next is very thrilling to me.
But, I would like some light shed on all these accusations people make, Masons and Non-Masons alike.
My grandfather, who has long passed away, was a Mason and his father before him. I wish I could go to them but I cannot.
I also believe Masonry has been in my family since feudal England, where I can trace my ancestry back to the Huddleston's of Millom. Also there is a lodge in the same town that has my last name in it, Huddleston lodge no. 6041

I have done some extensive research and connected many dots but I still find myself riding the fence on the true nature of masonry.
I know my grandfather was a great man so most of the things I hear I just let them slide, although they are much considered. But the accusations people make about masons running shit behind the curtains, being servants of Satan, and who knows what else has made me want to pull my hair out.

I am seriously in a troubled state of mind and I am begging for help. I have refrained from doing anything like this for sometime but I've had enough and I want answers.

Please only serious answers.
No cliche ones please. I want to hear some new insight not a parrot repeating what it learned.

This was the point of masonry right? So other men could come together and discuss science, philosophy, religion and other topics in peace and with no persecution.

Therefore, I call out to a fellow brother, preferably one who is far along in the degrees, to come forward in private conversation and bring me out of the darkness.

If not....

So Mote it be.

 

[Zack]

I'm "only a Master Mason" so I'm not far enough "along in the degrees" to respond. So I won't

 

[Bro. Bennett]

Brother, I have but one scripture to give you today, 2 Chronicles 24:12. Read it and understand that a Mason is worthy to repair the House of The Lord..

 

[coachn]

... I would like some light shed on all these accusations people make, Masons and Non-Masons alike. ...

What accusations are Masons making?

... I have done some extensive research and connected many dots but I still find myself riding the fence on the true nature of masonry.

What have you concluded so far?

... the accusations people make about masons running shit behind the curtains, being servants of Satan, and who knows what else has made me want to pull my hair out.

Why do these accusations bother you so?

... This was the point of masonry right? So other men could come together and discuss science, philosophy, religion and other topics in peace and with no persecution.

Gosh I hope so!

 

[Beathard]

Since you are in academics at the collegiate level, you probably have learned that some research is considered acadmic and some is considered trash. Please regard the source of information you gather before getting to concerned.

Most of the information about Satanism and the Lodge started in a hoax. There were a series of books and phamplets written by Léo Taxil, the pen name of Marie Joseph Gabriel Antoine Jogand-Pagès. He wrote wild stories about the catholic church and freemasonry. Prior to writing anti-masonic works he had been accused of libel regarding a book he wrote called The Secret Loves of Pope Pius IX. After writing anti-catholic works, he recanted and joined the catholic church. On April 19, 1897 Taxil called a press conference he announced that many of his revelations about the Freemasons were fictitious.

A write up on the Confession of Léo Taxil makes for some pretty interesting reading. The key thing to remember is a good joke will be repeated for days or even weeks: the greatest jokes or hoaxes will be repeated for centuries. Taxil's hoax rears its ugly head every 10-20 years. Some well meaning people find it or references to it and automaticlly start raising the warning flags. They never seem to find the confession to the hoax or any of the last hundred years worth of academic documents stating that it was incorrect.

They always tell you that you are not a high enough level to know the truth. I can tell you that several of the people on this forum are a high enough level. I am has high as you can normally go in the Scottish and York Rites. There is nothing that changes our belief structure from the EA all the way up in the Rites. We are religous men attempting to make ourselves better and aid those less fortunate in our communities.

The other strange thing is they always say that we are not high enough in the organization to know the truth. My question is how high are they? How can a person that has not even been initiated into the EA degree know more than a 20+ year mason that has a habitual need to join every organization and learn every degree?

Check the sources of all the information you read. Check it all - Good or Bad. Then academically evaluate the validity of what you hear. You will be better for it.

My sources (click on titles for links): Grand Lodge of British Columbia and the Yukon's Who was Léo Taxil? & Léo Taxil’s confession, National History Museum's Leo Taxil and Baphomet

 

[Tony Siciliano]

Bro. Beathard's post is excellent, as usual. I am a Master Mason, and a 32° Scottish Rite Mason. I have a BA in History, and I'm working on my Masters in History as well. I've researched the fraternity. If there was a hint or whiff of anything the rumors mention - I wouldn't be here.

 

[Bro. R. Huddleston]

Albert Pikes discussion about Lucifer seems to always be quoted out of context. I have read the passage in Morals and Dogma and I should have known the answer then but I got caught up in a vicious cycle and forgot my original conclusion. The problem is the Internet. There is so much information available that it is extremely difficult to discern fact from fiction and being an individual who seeks out every opinion, I became lost in the garbage(Haha). As for Leo Taxil and the Baphomet scam, I had no clue! Very enlightening to hear that!

I'm glad to say I am finished with my finals and now have time to proceed with my lessons, hopefully I can be raised very soon.

Thank you for your comments brothers, it has helped tremendously. It seems that I let my emotions get the best of me but now I am at ease.

 

[DTR]

Let me ask you this: If you honestly believe that your family believed in being servants of Beelzebub, then do you want to follow in their footsteps? Or better yet, on the contrary, if you honestly believe that your family built their characters to become better men before God and man with the Working Tools of each Degree and consequently becoming better fathers and husbands, would you want to follow in their footsteps?
You should really put your faith where you believe it most. I'm sorry, but when it comes to something that I may have questions about, my God and my family are the people I trust most to circumscribe my life. Not some article I read on the internet or some special I saw on the Discovery Channel.

*Derek

 

[Ol Kev]

WOW! I am liking this thread!
GOOD STUFF HERE!
This below sums it up well for me.

Let me ask you this: If you honestly believe that your family believed in being servants of Beelzebub, then do you want to follow in their footsteps? Or better yet, on the contrary, if you honestly believe that your family built their characters to become better men before God and man with the Working Tools of each Degree and consequently becoming better fathers and husbands, would you want to follow in their footsteps?

You should really put your faith where you believe it most. I'm sorry, but when it comes to something that I may have questions about, my God and my family are the people I trust most to circumscribe my life. Not some article I read on the internet or some special I saw on the Discovery Channel.

*Derek

 

[davidterrell80]

By their fruits...

I figured most Christian denominations might derive their opinions from the original, Catholic source.... so I went digging there

I once read Humanum Genus, one of the the Roman Catholic bulls condemning the Craft. Here is a link to the official text.
(http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/l.../hf_l-xiii_enc_18840420_humanum-genus_en.html)

Basically, we are deceitful and crafty supporters of Satan since we aren't Catholic (#12), don't support the exclusive use of Catholic schools and believe in the separation of church and state (#13), we don't support the civil authority of the Bishop of Rome (#15), we allow men to choose their own religion and practice it freely (#16), we believe in public education (#17), we believe in the validity of civil marriage (#21), we believe in the equality of humanity and government by consent and eschew aristocracy (#22 & 26), and we support governments modeled after such ideas (#23)...

Finally there was this gem "...for the masonic federation is to be judged not so much by the things which it has done, or brought to completion, as by the sum of its pronounced opinions." (#11)

Satanist, huh?

Right...

What I finally decided was "Any organization whose ideals would get them imprisoned and killed by Nazis, Communists, Fascists, and Shiite Fundamentalists was probably one I would be comfortable with."

And, I have been.

David Terrell PM
All but thesis on my MA in History... give me a couple of months.

 

[Beathard]

So mote it be and So may it ever be!
That said it all! Amen!

David, you are a pretty smart feller! I'm proud to call you brother.

 

[Ashton Lawson]

You need to buy a book called, "Is it True What They Say About Freemasonry." It was written by Bro. S. Brent Morris & Bro. Arturo De Hoyos, both 33 Degree Scottish Rite Masons. It is an excellent book on what is and isn't true about Masonry, and these two men are without question some of the finest Masonic scholars in history. You can pick it up on Amazon for about $10 shipped.

Highly recommended!