My Freemasonry | Freemason Information and Discussion Forum

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Search results

  1. Michael Hatley

    Free Will

    Aristotle is great without all the Aquinas :) They had just recently rediscovered Aristotle (via Islamic scholars, ah the irony) and he was bending it to Christianity. I don't mean to sound glib, but to me its a bit like trying to true astrophysics with Revelation, or oceanoagraphy with Moses...
  2. Michael Hatley

    Free Will

    Personally, I do not believe in a Judgement Day. I don't personally believe our decisions are tallied up at the end of our lives and weighed on a scale. That allows me to see Calvin's, Aquinas' and others "compatabilism" as the, well. To be be direct, it paints them into a corner which...
  3. Michael Hatley

    Now let's do blanket recognition in Dec 2015

    I've been a critic for years, and I agree most heartily with this. They came through. In spades. We've got a lot of work to do to secure this victory. It is almost inevitable that there will be challenges to it. Lets please please focus on successful visitations, education and so forth...
  4. Michael Hatley

    Comasonry

    Control myself? Sure. Be distracted? Sure. I've backspaced over several crass jokes, but in shorts, I'd leave :)
  5. Michael Hatley

    What units/clubs are you a member?

    I'm Membership Chairman of Arabia Shrine Center here in Houston, Texas so part of a whole bunch of stuff. Patrol (marching), Provost Guard (shotguns), Director's Staff, Golfers....I think I'm forgetting at least one thing. The one I pour the most time into is a new club named YABAN, which...
  6. Michael Hatley

    BREAKINGS NEWS!

    Faith affirming. I've used the word triumph today, and that is what it is. For all those who worked toward it. For those of us who will enjoy it. For those to come. May we never take it for granted, Brethren.
  7. Michael Hatley

    Albert Pike: More harm than good?

    Thats Pikian for "hippie" Bro :24:
  8. Michael Hatley

    Albert Pike: More harm than good?

    Same here. I am a Scottish Rite Mason, as many here are, and in the southern jurisdiction. Personally, I do not revere Pike as some do. I don't despise him either. He was obviously a brilliant man, but I wish more folks were genuinely interested in primary sources. There is, in one man's...
  9. Michael Hatley

    Shrine in Arkansas drops MM requirement

    Shoot, we've got a battle to fight here in Texas in December about table lodges - hope everyone knows that there is a resolution on the table to ban them outright. But that is another story. I think we most certainly should care about the Shrine going its own way. But this is becoming a real...
  10. Michael Hatley

    Shrine in Arkansas drops MM requirement

    Yes, I am. Because then, and perhaps only then, you and your Brethren will make a real stand against this. And once you have done I'm all for returning said recognition. Look, I'm for you guys sorting it out - but so far that hasn't been done. Truth is there is no way my suggestion would...
  11. Michael Hatley

    Shrine in Arkansas drops MM requirement

    Folks may not like this - but I'll tell you how Masons across the country could work to nip this in the bud. Withdraw recognition for the Grand Lodge of Arkansas. Seriously. You want to talk about forcing them to come to the table and fix this mess? That is how.
  12. Michael Hatley

    What to do when event turns anti-masonic

    Oh I think both, my Brother. I think you do really, really well - you come off as most patient and dignified in my opinion. But a man with as many skydives as you have under your belt? Haha, I'll just say I've been enough to know what it means about you :) :51:
  13. Michael Hatley

    Traditional observance lodges are they good for th

    Re: Traditional observance lodges are they good fo Tuxedos are in reality pretty inexpensive. Not all that much more than a couple of good pair of overalls. Anyone can use an iron. And they certainly do lend most any situation a bit of gravitas if carried off right. And sometimes I just...
  14. Michael Hatley

    It's official

    You know that means that if you use Tennessee rubs or BBQ sauces you now get a rash dontcha? And cooking with some gawdawful wood like hickory or pine or whatever it is those yankees or quasi yankees use? Boils, Brother. Boils. It is either mesquite or nothing!! :30: So hows that...
  15. Michael Hatley

    Do you believe in Darwinian evolution?

    I've skimmed some of Darwin's original, but by the time I got to him, Freud and the later thinkers I was already fairly happy with a rather "impressionist" view of metaphysics in general. I blame it on the granularity of the early philosophers, then hitting Spinoza, and then wandering to the...
  16. Michael Hatley

    What to do when event turns anti-masonic

    My first inclination in almost every instance where someone is having a go - banking on the assumption that noone will say anything to the contrary or stand up to them is to confront them. It is so difficult to let things go, because truth be told I enjoy confrontation, in that moment. It just...
  17. Michael Hatley

    Do you believe in Darwinian evolution?

    Sure I do - insomuch as the general principle and not to be held to granular details or other men's interpretations. Same as my answer to the Supreme Being question.
  18. Michael Hatley

    Failed first attempt to prove up on the EA

    "Prove up"? Is this a Prince Hall term? Or a regional Washington one? I'm just curious. What I was told, and what I in turn tell candidates is, in no uncertain terms, everyone here wants you to succeed. Because everyone there (and here) does. I'm not sure if in your jurisdiction if you...
  19. Michael Hatley

    Do you consider others from unchartered lodges your brother?

    Fact is I call every man brother, until he gives me a reason not to. Been doin that since way before I heard about Freemasonry and I'll do it way after I've rode off into the sunset. Its just how I do. And I'll help any man in distress unless he is committing a crime or something - thats just...
  20. Michael Hatley

    1 Day Chance To Advance Classes

    I think it has gotten to the point that in much of Masonry in the United States, Past Master is the new Master Mason. Sure and it is another name and a different ball of wax. But with lodges so small nowadays and most people going through the line in 4-5 years, and most active Masons doing...
Top