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My Concerns regarding Masonry

Ali

Registered User
Bro. Mark. I'm pleased to hear that you display Masonic signage openly in your office. I too am very open about what I stand for. I agree with you that masonry is probably not for the student that came to seek your advise. Our fraternity is sacred and we must do all we can to preserve its innocence. As for my personal beliefs regarding this matter I can speak for the lodge I attend and say with confidence that there is not a single brother at my lodge whom I would not trust with my life. Regardless of their religious beliefs.
 

bofahs

Registered User
Your position is perfectly stated, and perfectly in accord with Masonic principles. Freemasonry deliberately and emphatically places itself in a position well down the list of your principle responsibilities. You will not find any discussion of religion or politics in a Lodge - these topics are forbidden. You will, however, be continually encouraged to pursue your own faith. You will NOT be asked what that faith is - that is your own business.
There are no "other gods" in Freemasonry. We hope to make your relationships with your fellow man better, but every Mason will attest that the foundation of all of that lies within you and your Church.
 

dhouseholder

Registered User
Could you expand upon that thought? I'm not sure what you mean by it. Cordially, Skip.

Not to put words in his mouth, but I am sure he means that Freemasonry does not have a "god-entity" of its own. We do not have a specific deity that we are required to worship. Each brother brings his own personal concept of a Supreme Being; and when we pray, each brother prays to that Supreme Being.
 

Phre-massen.nash

Registered User
If you look at Religion, and the main goal of each person and their view on their Religion. You will notice that all Religions have the same goal in mind. To obey the caommandments, laws, or the will of G-d. YHVH, G-d, Allah, Adonai all are names refering to the same. We just call upon him by a different name. If you look at the Tower of Babel, when all the people woke up and spoke different languages. G-d understood them, even if the next man didn't.

If He did not want us to call Him by different names, then why did He seperate us as a people and form us to speak different languages? And if you look at things within Masonry without going through them, you may not get the proper meaning. It's just likes soneome not being a Mason on the outside looking in, they interpret things as they see them, not as they are supposed to be interpreted

Adonai- the Hebrew name for G-d
Allah- The name of G-d among Muslims (and Arab Christians)
YHVH- The Hebrew Tetragrammaton representing the name of G-d
G-d-The creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority; the Supreme Being
 

C_Cabra

Registered User
I however after much
careful consideration decided that if that was the case there was no point in Jesus dying. I don't think God sent him
to the cross because He wanted a good story for a certain group of people. .
Why not? We're talking about the flesh here. Not only did Jesus not die (according to the Christian beliefs) but whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. While the death of his flesh might mean salvation and a great deal to mere mortals why wouldn't God send him to the cross in order to provide salvation to a certain group of people?

I don't really buy into much of the ideology and dogma of the Christian religion. I have a hard time with organized religion in general but I do believe in God and I believe that Judaism, Christianity and Islam all worship the same God. That is my understanding. I also see that within the Christian religions the Southern Baptists think the Catholics will go to hell, The Catholics have issues with the protestants, and so on and so forth. Heaven is such an exclusive place it's a wonder anyone gets in... I was raised Southern Baptist and I was led to believe if I listened to rock and roll and danced I was on the path to hell. It was preached from the pulpit and in Sunday school... Three services a day on Sunday, again on Wednesday and bible study every night... I'm only two pages in but I would say if you are having this much trouble with the fact that you might fellowship with the "unclean" then this is probably not for you. You seem to want someone to say that we're all Christians and welcome to the good ole' boy club. That might have been true at some point due to geography and religious predominance but in theory that has never been Freemasonry if not in practice. It might still be true somewhere... but it isn't true everywhere...
 

bofahs

Registered User
Part of the original post, asking what to expect, was the question, "In my degrees will I have to take vows to other gods that I do not believe in?" [underlining is mine] The answer is, of course, no, he will not have to take such vows to "other gods" - there is no such thing in Freemasonry.
The gentleman had already, in his post, expressed a perfect commitment to his faith, and seemed to be concerned that the fraternity would expect him to change or dilute or amend that faith. I was simply, using his own words, attempting to assure him that there will be no such expectation.
Critics of the fraternity of Freemasons often insist otherwise in their attempts to discourage participation. They mention Baphomet, or Ba'al, or Lucifer, and warn that initiates will be required to acknowledge these in addition to, or in preference over, their own faith. Nothing could be further from the truth, and the truth is, each man comes to the fraternity with his own faith, and Freemasonry does what it can to encourage and support him in that faith.
That's what I intended to communicate, sorry if I didn't make it clear. Of course, I remain happy to continue any discussion of this fraternity which has served me so well. Thanks.
 

JTM

"Just in case"
Premium Member
eric, the other brethren have addressed your concerns. mine is: did you write your original post? the formatting was confusion. how come you chose that format?

other than that, they are wonderful questions and I hope you continue down this path.
 

rpbrown

Premium Member
I will say a couple of things here.
(1) I don't believe in religion. I believe in the God, Jesus, and the teachings of the Bible. Religions are what has had this world so messed up for centuries. Look at the differences in say Baptist and Catholics. Those are religions but have very different beliefs.
(2) If you want to surf the net, look up religion, or christianity or any other religion. There are nasty things written about them all.
(3) The associate pastor of my church is a mason.

So in short form, no you do not give up your christian (or any other belief) values to become a mason. If this were so, I would have never become one myself. And BTW, I am a Scottish Rite 32 and there was no drinking of wine or blood from a scull.
 

MarkR

Premium Member
And BTW, I am a Scottish Rite 32 and there was no drinking of wine or blood from a skull.
If you're referencing Brown's The Lost Symbol, from what I understand he got that from the 33° ritual of the obsolete Cerneau Scottish Rite.
 

mrmarcust

Premium Member
Not reading 10 pages of replies, so if it's been answered, my bad for repeating. I'm a member of the Grand Lodge of Texas. I am a member of Scottish Rite, York Rite and the Shrine. None of which will obligate you against your beliefs in God or the Bible. No blood or wine drinking. No professing or even obliging in any other God other than who you profess your trust in. And your obligation is between you and your God with the Lodge or body as a witness. That's it.

I have a pastor who asks me about masonry EVERY TIME he sees me. He asked a question that put a lot of his concerns to rest when I answered yes. He asked if I ever found something I'm masonry that was against my Christian beliefs would I walk away? I told him yes, but I haven't yet, so what's that tell him.
 

jvarnell

Premium Member
Not reading 10 pages of replies, so if it's been answered, my bad for repeating. I'm a member of the Grand Lodge of Texas. I am a member of Scottish Rite, York Rite and the Shrine. None of which will obligate you against your beliefs in God or the Bible. No blood or wine drinking. No professing or even obliging in any other God other than who you profess your trust in. And your obligation is between you and your God with the Lodge or body as a witness. That's it.

I have a pastor who asks me about masonry EVERY TIME he sees me. He asked a question that put a lot of his concerns to rest when I answered yes. He asked if I ever found something I'm masonry that was against my Christian beliefs would I walk away? I told him yes, but I haven't yet, so what's that tell him.

I have not replyed on this thread till now but want to say you are right. Some of the of the people that don't understand what you have just said is because they get cought up in the translation that goes into the word God. Some faiths even have a proabition on using anyother word than what is in there dogma.
 

Frater Cliff Porter

Premium Member
In our YR and SR bodies there are communion like aspects where we drink wine and I am certain that although in your area they might use grape juice or skip the degree, the SR definitely has this aspect to it and I am likewise certain the degree of the temple does as well. In either case, its enough that it is not Christian communion. Never purports to be and never tries in anyway to usurp it.

The greatest gift any god to include the Christian one ever gave us is a mind. We ought to use it. A Christian man can go through the degrees and if he sees, hears or experiences nothing he believes in conflict with his faith; we should respect him and his faith enough to say "Well okay then."
 
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