Brent Heilman
Premium Member
I do agree with your opening post. I believe that Christ was saying be tolerant. "Love thy neighbor as thyself" has no exceptions written in.
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.
So Bryan, you are saying that Rome didnt condemn anything that wasn't part of its cannon? What about the Albigensian crusade? The inquisition? Or the fall of the Templars on false grounds? Or the condemnation of freemasonry? Ask your pastor or priest what he thinks of lucifer, then tell me if he believes hes the "light bearer" or Satan. Ask him what he thinks of the 5 pointed star. If I am wrong on everything I've said about Christianity, then you should prove it, since you spear to be the expert on everything. I think your just saying I'm wrong because of your religious convictions and because you don't like me, which leads me to my next point. You can believe Christ is your saviour, and still be tolerant to other faiths. The quote from manly p hall that was posted about bowing to all altars is not literal, but the idea is to respect other people's ideas and beliefs, which you don't. IMO I could care less if you dont like me, ive never met you, so no skin off my back, but if you can't find it in your heart to live up to the idea of what a master mason is, (thats if you do know what it means) then you should have your apron taken away.
A lot of you may think I'm intolerant to Christianity, but I'm not. My friends and family are christian and are good people because of it and I love them to death. But for me i went to a catholic school and Christianity was forced on me and the questions I posed to my teachers and priests were not answered at all, and sometimes were outright wrong and the same goes with my Protestant side of my family. Christianity is not for me. I don't think Jesus is
MY saviour, and I don't think he came back or will come back. I think what he preached is a beautiful concept, but IMO it didnt originate with christ. I'm not trying to offend anyone, this is my belief. If a person says I'm wrong, is because it's not their belief, or is it because the history writers got it wrong?
And also bro. Varnell are you sayings beliefs are wrong?
First off, I'm not telling you what to believe nor have I. I could really careless what you believe in bro. Varnell, I'm trying show that what was once deemed heretical, isn't at all once one looks in to the origin the matter. I am 26 years old. I'm not against the "man", "big business" or "raging against the machine" although I do like their music. These things are what make our
Societies so successful. My problem is when these groups abuse the system. Im all for capitalism and free enterprise, but not when a foreigner is I'm control of my money. Frankly bro. Varnell I don't want to see the world like you, or Christianity. I respect and tolerate Christianity despite what you say. I have had numerous conversations with Cajun about our beliefs and it's never disrespectful, and I think despite our beliefs we are good friends. ( we just gotta meet in person). My generation is very different from yours. I see the world differently than you do. Christianity IMO is not going to
Make me be more tolerant to other ideas. The choice I make to be tolerant is what makes me tolerant, and knowing why it's good to be tolerant is what keeps me from being intolerant. The beauty of masonry is that I can believe this and still call you brother.
I can also say I tolerate a lot of misconceptions too.