How do you feel about grand-papa taking those oaths?
I would think that they are juvenile and simply an exaggeration of the type of oaths that kids recite, ergo: "Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a thousand needles in my eye". Children will recite "cross my heart" when they want to bolster the veracity of an earlier statement. They will bolster it further and further if necessary by adding the rest of the oath. These oaths recited by Amelia's grandpapa (and thousands of others) are simply made extremely gross, lurid and graphic to bolster the supposed importance of those oaths. I think it is juvenile, but it's their choices, not mine.
I would also read the testimony of the Mason that I posted earlier.
From the webpage you linked: The Grand Master informed me that Freemasonry accepts for membership men of every faith or religion, so long as the prospective member believes in a Supreme Being (whomever he may be) and in the resurrection of the body to a future life (however and through whomever that was accomplished.) This was a great shock to me. I had not realized that those who were members of anti-Christian religions could become Masons.
I am asking politely, just how does your author jump to “anti-Christian”? Does having a policy of including all people who believe in a Supreme Being make them “anti-Christian? Isn’t it possible to be non-Christian without being “anti-Christian”. That is a huge leap in logic. I know that Alcoholics Anonymous as well as many other groups have similar tenets, does that make them “anti-Christian” too?
OK, enough about religion, I just had to comment.