Posted on 09/20/2009 10:37:51 AM PDT by NYer
What manual are you reading from? Masonry is a 'beautiful system of morality', not a regular one. There are regular lodges, but no regular system. Clear?
Our moral teachings aren't secret in the least. Only the distinctive marks of legendary knowledge are secret, such as the distinctive signs, tokens and words. We do swear never to reveal these, but that's the extent of Masonic secrecy. The moral teachings are there to see, plainly written out in any number of manuals probably available from any Grand Lodge you care to refer to.
This would be you speculating about something you could only know if you were a sworn Mason. In fact, everything anyone can reliably know about Masonry is known to every Master Mason (that would be, you know, all of them). So it's not select in the least. If some Masons are plotting the downfall of the Church, then they should be rooted out like you would root out deadwood from any organization of whatever degree of exclusivity. But no Mason of my acquaintance has the least interest in world domination. We'd like to get the Past Masters to show up to meeting once in a while. That seems a big enough challenge at the moment.
That is not correct. I cannot speak explicitly, but every Mason is instructed in the third degree lecture what is the correct understanding of the resurrection and Who is the basis for its value for human spiritual life now and in the next one. That is as clear as I can be but it should suffice to stop this endless allegation that Jesus is not mentioned nor considered God by Masons.
You don’t think he might have been pulling your chain?
So, you make a point of not watching your friends’ backs?
It’s not possible to vote Democrat and be a Christian. I thought that was settled law.
Cite your Masonic authority for that statement. It is certainly not what any Mason of my acquaintance believes. You see, you conflate that we do not require our membership to be monodenominational with the idea that the path to God is marked out by one's religious belief. These are both true statements. The former means that I will hold only myself to my own understanding of salvation. The latter means that every one of us is held to the understanding of salvation we have affirmed. It still does not mean that Masons therefore believe any path to salvation will suffice. If it did, then I would convert to another faith tradition (it still wouldn't be Masonry that I would be converting to).
In terms of requiring belief in Deity, ask yourself how much you trust the word of an atheist. Under whose authority is that person making sworn statements, hmmm?
Besides, no matter how many times people post it in this thread, Freemasonry is a fellowship, not a religion. We have prayers but so does Congress (which, admittedly is not the best comparison these days). The fact of praying does not constitute a religion, and the profession of belief in Deity does not establish a faith. It only asserts that the individuals themselves are faithful to their faith traditions.
“However, in Europe, many Freemasons are Communists or Communist supporters, and they are all radically opposed to the Catholic Church. And they take their odd beliefs and rites very seriously and usually insist, for example, on being buried with Masonic rites and not from a church, if they happen to be members of one.”
That is strange since it is the Catholics in this country that have the communists (Ted Kennedy, John Kerry etc.)
I have not heard of any communist Masons here.
I have to agree with you on that one.
wow...if you have nothing to say....say nothing...great arguement.. that certainy proves that you are right..sorry....pathetic
Discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal.
Dear terycal,
Please shut your piehole, for the good of the FR and the universe.
For those who want to examine well-researched and documented materials to arrive at their own conclusions:
you need to talk less and listen more....pretty soon you will be as intelligent as I am..........well maybe not real soon, but someday..keep trying
Now if Freemasonry is a secret order, how would the Church know that you’re a Mason?
But it’s to be expected that the Catholic church, or any other, might not like the Masons. Masons are specifically dedicated to avoiding sectarian issues, and concentrating on improving relations between ALL men of faith. Even different faiths. The important thing to masons is that members acknowledge existence of God. This seems to be a good starting place for good men of all faiths to improve each other as men.
This just takes us back to where we were in the first place don,t it, any faith, all faiths, bringing the people who believe in the God of the bible together with the man made religions and even the religion of santan, seems to me the only purpose of that would be to destroy our belief in the one true god by mixing it with every thing else.
Well, that was very good and made me understand a few things about my uncle who was a high degree mason, he was said to be a 32nd degree mason, so I guess he would have also been a 3rd degree mason, is that right?
He also seemed to worship Licifer, can you put some light on that?
You seem like an alright person Ravenwolf, take care have a good evening.
No i am not a very allright person, at least not in my view, I am not a member of anything, not even a church, because God and and his son are the only thing in this world that I do believe in. and the freedom that God gave me and you. I have nothing against the masons any more than I do any other club, I just have to do my own thing ( although I do not even like that word )
I want to be free to think for myself, I have lost all faith in the socalled masters of knowledge, the Dr. so and so and reverend so and so, the experts on the Bible and other subjects, what they mainly do is to tear it apart.
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