Yes, Freemasonry is religion, and it’s incompatible with some Christian beliefs. Here’s why.

I admit that my definition of religion is about as basic as you can get: Religion is a system of beliefs about God. And I grant you that with all the zillions of different commentators trying to explain their religious beliefs and perspectives over hundreds of generations the message can get a little muddled (unless you subscribe to the theory that no person who was inspired by God has ever been wrong). And I acknowledge that in the distant past there were no teachers and each man had to strive on his own (sometimes successfully) to acquire knowledge of God. Is that enough qualifiers?

My question is: How are you building a relationship with God? You see, I understand the fundamentalists. Even though I have never found a specific, defined doctrine that I thought was the "end all and be all" about God, I want one. I would Love to have someone tell me "You don't have to search anymore, you can rest, here is Truth". It is so exhausting picking through "thousands of years of words, which point to concepts, which describe experiences with a spiritual reality", and then searching quietly inside myself for some similar experience.

My point here is that I believe deeply in the Initiation Experience. I believe that there are some truths that I could never have arrived at on my own. It has been my experience that, for me, some revelations have required a guide. In my experience some spiritual work has required a group. Lest you think I am trying to pump up religion, some of my deepest and most trans-formative spiritual experiences have occurred in groups and settings that go by names like; weekend seminar, encounter groups, business coaching, play therapy, and the occasional wild man weekend.

 

(Just my opinion) Spirituality and knowledge is infinite! I believe that their is no such thing as "you don't have to search anymore" in regards to knowledge, and building a relationship with god.

Life is complex and simple all at once

To answer your question: I simply built a relationship with god by believing and knowing who I am at all times, while allowing my spirit and sub subconscious to guide me. I use religion as a reference along my journey as a metaphor to time, space, prior, current, and future events. Each person has their own journey and relationship with god. I was able to build a relationship with god through astrology. Do you want to believe or do you want to know?

 

This is my own conclusion. There are many guidebooks and words of wisdom, but each person has their own path unique to them that only they must travail. Joseph Campbell calls it the "Hero's Journey".

Even the atheist, as I once claimed to be, if he is a true seeker, must make the journey up the mountain. Whether or not he chooses to call it god, deity, the Source, or simply the Unknown, the journey must be made. In the eastern religions there are many hells, and it would seem to me that to live a life groping in the dark and never searching for Light is its own hell, whether ignorantly or self-inflicted.

 

There might be people around who are so brilliant as to be perfect autodidacts, maintaining superhuman ability through entirely their own means, without support or aid from any organization. I am not such a person. I am merely human. Thus, like I went to college to learn biology, like I went to a maitre d'armes to learn fencing, like I asked the trainer about proper lifting form, I am of a religion, specifically one of the Christian ones. I am not brilliant enough to go it alone.

 

That's no different from what my own Church teaches. Yes, we all work together, but it is my responsibility to see that I work on myself.

 

What planet are you from? The vast majority of Freemasons in the USA are Protestant.

 

There are at least three for every Christian:
What he thinks his Church teaches.
How he thinks he ought to live up to it.
How he actually lives.

 

No amount of words will ever reconcile this subject. My take: Freemasonry is religious in nature, built opon the Bible. It is not a religion unto itself. It is not Christ exclusionary but begins before the Christian era. The advancing degrees take us into the Christian era. A belief in God is a requirement for admission. As Masons we are taught to devote part of our day in worship to God and to try to live a Godly life. I would not have a problem joining that group in the photo and praying. I am praying in the way I believe, not in theirs.

 

Ya, Newsbot just searches the internet for masonic related posts and is in fact a robot. Not a real person. Just want to make sure that is clear.

 

So not a Christian then?

 

Everyone knows robots are robotologists.