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Is God universal?

Tann3100

Registered User
Haven't had a chance to read all the responses. Yes I think God is universally the same God with different names in different cultures. In exodus 6 it says Exodus 6:3 KJV[3] And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them.

so therefore I think we could say the great spirit had multiple names across cultures just from this txt in the bible.
 
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CajunTinMan

Registered User
No. I believe that the Grand Architect is the God of Abraham. As a Christian I also believe the Jesus was the one begotten son of God.
 

BryanMaloney

Premium Member
God is universal.
Which "god" we each perceive is that universal God?
Don't ask me! I'm just a little biologist who can barely count on his own fingers some mornings.
 

dfreybur

Premium Member
No. I believe that the Grand Architect is the God of Abraham. As a Christian I also believe the Jesus was the one begotten son of God.

I took universal in the sense of present everywhere. I do figure the divine is present everywhere.

I hadn't considered universal in the sense of all deities being one. We all believe in the existence of a supreme being and I don't want to get into the theology of how that works with the fact that we have brothers of every religion any of us have heard of and many none of us have heard of. I would rather welcome a Shinto Mason as a brother and not deal with the theological issues involved in religious differences.
 

BroBook

Premium Member
I always took Supreme Being to mean the Highest of the High, every thing else that's called god is His servant or His enemy!!!


Bro Book
M.W.U.G.L. Of Fl: P.H.A.
Excelsior # 43
At pensacola
 

dfreybur

Premium Member
Is satan and Buda etc. considered Supreme Beings?

The Buddha explicitly taught that he should not be viewed as a deity, but he did not teach whether his followers should believe in a supreme being. I don't know enough about the other topic to judge.
 

Willys

Premium Member
Is satan and Buda etc. considered Supreme Beings?


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You can get a multitude of varying responses to this. Most will only be interpretive since no one actually has clear cut facts, including myself. Unless of course God has spoken personally to said person, and I would tend to not believe that without a YouTube video as proof.

My understanding is that Lucifer was a well positioned Angel in the hierarchy of heavenly things and thought he was cool enough to challenge God on the subject of the way thing out to be. So he got thrown out. Then he set about making trouble and is sometimes referred to as Satan. Seems the name Lucifer has something to do with 'bearing light' and Satan the name of his alter-ego.

Buddha is a name for an enlightened one but not considered a God.

These responses are from things I've absorbed over the years but give very little credence as they tend to be human application to spiritual ideals.

Your mileage may vary...
 

BryanMaloney

Premium Member
Is satan and Buda etc. considered Supreme Beings?

Satan is never supreme, even to Satanists (except for a teeny little minority of make-it-up-as-they-go Satanists). For the non-Satanist who accepts that Satan exists, he is a secondary entity, just another created being. For the majority of Satanists, Satan doesn't even exist. The majority of Satanists are atheists--no gods exist at all in their eyes. Satan is just a symbol for "Do whatever you can get away with."

Prince Siddhartha, later called the Buddha, is not a "supreme being" in any sense of the word. According to Buddhist teachings (except, perhaps, for a tiny minority), the Buddha is a being that has left the cycle of existence and left instructions on how to follow. The Buddha rules and controls nothing. The Buddha has no powers except over his own desire. In Buddhist cosmology, all suffering is the result of desire, thus, if one extinguishes desire, one extinguishes the hold of the world (suffering--and pleasure is suffering, since lack of pleasure leads to desire for pleasure, which, if unquenched, is suffering).
 

Lowcarbjc

Registered User
Interesting responses thanks.

Not to start a religious debate, but can I conclude that the Supreme Being (GAOTU) in Freemasonry will then always refer to the God of the old Testament/Quran/Torah (of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), regardless if viewed from a Christian, Jewish or Muslim point of view?


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JohnnyFlotsam

Premium Member
Interesting responses thanks.

Not to start a religious debate, but can I conclude that the Supreme Being (GAOTU) in Freemasonry will then always refer to the God of the old Testament/Quran/Torah (of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), regardless if viewed from a Christian, Jewish or Muslim point of view?
You may, but only for yourself.
 

Willys

Premium Member
Interesting responses thanks.

Not to start a religious debate, but can I conclude that the Supreme Being (GAOTU) in Freemasonry will then always refer to the God of the old Testament/Quran/Torah (of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), regardless if viewed from a Christian, Jewish or Muslim point of view?


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To bear an agreement with JohnnyFlotsam - above, you may conclude your reply to be applicable for yourself. From my Christian rearing I might draw a like conclusion. I cannot speak from a Jewish or Muslim point of view but would lean towards understanding that to be inherent in the intent of Freemasonry. But then, from my Masonic perspective, GAOTU might refer to my God but no necessarily the God of an other person. That would be their own perspective to inpterpret.
 

dfreybur

Premium Member
You may, but only for yourself.

It is true that there are many brothers who are members of faiths outside of the JCI family. Those brothers do not view it that way. Is there an underlying unity of deity that makes it work that way anyways? Far too theological a question with potential answers that are far too devisive to start down that road.
 

BryanMaloney

Premium Member
Interesting responses thanks.

Not to start a religious debate, but can I conclude that the Supreme Being (GAOTU) in Freemasonry will then always refer to the God of the old Testament/Quran/Torah (of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), regardless if viewed from a Christian, Jewish or Muslim point of view?

Hindus can be Masons. Buddhists can be Masons, as well. A Buddhist can admit to the existence of a Supreme Being, but it's not the Buddha, it's something greater than the Buddha. Shinto can be Masons. There are Odinist Masons.
 

JohnnyFlotsam

Premium Member
Hindus can be Masons. Buddhists can be Masons, as well. A Buddhist can admit to the existence of a Supreme Being, but it's not the Buddha, it's something greater than the Buddha. Shinto can be Masons. There are Odinist Masons.
I think the confusion arises from the frequent use of passages from Judeo-Christian scripture in our various rituals. It is little wonder then, that many, if not most, Masons in this part of the world make the assumption that the word "god" means the same thing for all. Incorrect, but certainly understandable.
 

dfreybur

Premium Member
I think the confusion arises from the frequent use of passages from Judeo-Christian scripture in our various rituals. It is little wonder then, that many, if not most, Masons in this part of the world make the assumption that the word "god" means the same thing for all. Incorrect, but certainly understandable.

It is necessary for a brothers who are members of religions outside of the JCI family to be secure enough in their faith that they are open to learning from stories out of someone else's scripture. That's an extra step compared to brothers who are members of religions inside of the JCI family. There are parts of the world where this distinction is necessarily common knowledge and there are parts of the world where it is not.
 

JohnnyFlotsam

Premium Member
It is necessary for a brothers who are members of religions outside of the JCI family to be secure enough in their faith that they are open to learning from stories out of someone else's scripture.
Well..., yeah. But in my experience, its the brothers whose path is part of the "JCI family" who have a hard time grasping that anyone not of that path could do such a thing.
 

rebis

Premium Member
The logo for the grand lodge of israel contains the star of the jews, the crescent moon of the muslims and the cross of the christians.

In a place where they would've remained at a perpetual distance, they all meet as brothers in the lodge room. That is the essence of freemasonry.


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rebis

Premium Member
The logo for the grand lodge of israel contains the star of the jews, the crescent moon of the muslims and the cross of the christians.

In a place where they would've remained at a perpetual distance, they all meet as brothers in the lodge room. That is the essence of freemasonry.


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