I don’t purify myself or sanctify myself by ritual. Religious ritual is not the same as rote.
To learn these things I read my Bible, I don’t pledge myself to any organization and thereby yoke myself to their authority, giving them the power to tell me whether I can ‘progress’ to the next degree of membership.
Christ forbade making such vows and enslaving yourself, with the exception of marriage, which was instituted by him. This kind of thing is EXACTLY what is going on in the apostate evangelical church these days, thinking that by getting people to make vows and follow stricter and stricter membership guidelines (dues/tithes, DOING more and more for the church programs, etc.) that that is what makes them more spiritually mature and sanctified. It completely fails to do that.
God, through his control of life’s events, and by our submission to His word alone (granted you may seek advice from good pastors/teachers but are never to be bound to them by a formal oath, what if they go off the rails or turn out to be false teachers?), the Word Alone is how the Holy Spirit works. The only ‘rituals’ if you want to call them that, which were instituted by Christ are the Lord’s Supper and Baptism, and there is much disagreement on those as well, and just what they accomplish.
I truly don’t want to denigrate my friends who are masons. I just see that there *are* religious elements that are incompatible with Christianity. I also see many so called Christian churches (see your other thread on Churchianity) who are teaching and doing things incompatible with Christianity.
Really, never had a job, never signed a contract, never gone to college, never joined a political party? We all pledge ourselves to organizations and yoke ourselves to authority every day. When you go to college, for example, you sign a contract, pledge yourself to obey their rules, agree to learn certain things before you can progress to the next level, take part in many rituals (you would love the tortilla throwing at Texas Tech football games), wear the garb of the organization, have hand signs, learn stories to help you remember what you are studying, take tests to test your memory..
With all due respect, Terriergal, I rather doubt that with your opinion and mindset, you really have any friends who are Masons. The contempt you have for the Order prevents you from being a true or honest friend of anyone who would belong to the Craft.
Maybe with the Christian Cult you belong to.
There are 9998 other Christian denominations that welcome Masons as members.
Better burn your currency because it contains Masonic symbols. Better yet, just hand your currency over to me.