Posted on 06/05/2005 6:11:53 PM PDT by RedwineisJesus
I'm sure that many of you have now read "Angels & Demons". It answered for me (a Canadian) a question I'd always had about the American dollar bill ... "what in hell is that pyramid with the big eyeball on it on the back of the bill ???"
It's a Masonic symbol.
But the questions STILL remain:
1/Why do Americans have a Masonic symbol on their currency? Do most Americans even have a clue what the Masons stand for?
2/ How do Americans reconcile themselves with the two contradictory messages on the back of the bill: Novus Ordo Seclorum (New Secular Order) and In God We Trust?
Anyone with answers out there?
"""On a side note, the Masons believed in God (deism) at the time. Look at Ben Franklin's rewriting of the "Our Father". So "in God we trust" wouldn't clash even if that was a masonic symbol."""
You know, I wouldn't blink an eye if the Germans had had Adolf Hitler and "In God we trust" on the same bill in 1933.
But today?
Today it would look hilarious, don't you think?
BTW - Wasn't the swastika a religious symbol at one time? Maybe you should put that on your greenback too.
So you read the DaVinci Code too, hunh?
Interesting.
Those who find "contradictions" on our US money are pretty much limited to fringe conspiracy theorists like you.
One fact touching our currency has hitherto been seriously overlooked. I mean the recognition of the Almighty God in some form in our coins.You are probably a Christian. What if our Republic were now shattered beyond reconstruction? Would not the antiquaries of succeeding centuries rightly reason from our past that we were a heathen nation? What I propose is that instead of the goddess of liberty we shall have next inside the 13 stars a ring inscribed with the words ‘perpetual union’; within this ring the all seeing eye, crowned with a halo; beneath this eye the American flag, bearing in its field stars equal to the number of the States united; in the folds of the bars the words ‘God, liberty, law.’
This would make a beautiful coin, to which no possible citizen could object. This would relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism. This would place us openly under the Divine protection we have personally claimed. From my heart I have felt our national shame in disowning God as not the least of our present national disasters. (Letter of Rev. Mr. M. R. Watkinson of Ridleyville, PA, To Salmon P. Chase, SecTreas, Nov. 13, 1861)
Spurred on by this letter, Secretary Chase had "In God We Trust" approved for usage on US coins. It's clear that there is no contradiction between the motto and the All-Seeing Eye symbol.
If only Rick Warren, Barbara Boxer, Billy Graham, Sheets Byrd, Jesse Jackson, Saddam Hussein, John Kerry, George Bush, and all recent Popes were masons. Then we could have a roll-em-all-into-one bashem/sockem/kickem/slashem/gougem free for all.
That could be fun.
It sure seems to me like you're reaching here. Don't we have real issues to worry about, rather than making things up?
Your translation of the text is faulty. The Founding Fathers didn't think that Masonry was anathema to either God or freedom, and I will trust their wisdom on this account.
You are aware, of course, that Dan Brown is a novelist?
As in "a writer of fiction?"
"""You are aware, of course, that Dan Brown is a novelist?
As in "a writer of fiction?""""
As in someone who does actual research to make his books interesting & doesn't just talk out of the side of his butt on a forum?
Yup.
And yes, I do know that the Illuminatti did not kill a four cardinals.
"""This argument is silly. Suppose the Masons were to take up the Last Supper (keeping with the Davinci Code theme)"""
I agree.
In keeping with the supper theme, if both, the leader of the Masons and Benedict XVI were chomping at the bit to come to supper at my house I would be doubly honored, but I sure as hell wouldn't invite them both at the same time.
So you believe that what Brown writes about the Holy Grail in his book is true as well?
Nah...but it's a fun theory. Possible.
But that is just a story. It bears no relevance to the actual information he puts in his books.
Like the Masonic symbol on the US dollar bill. Put there by a Masonic president. A fact.
But the notion that Masonry is somehow a threat to America? Not a fact.
"""But the notion that Masonry is somehow a threat to America? Not a fact."""
I've said or even hinted that the Masons are somehow a threat to America?
Is that a fact?
But please, before you answer, remember this wise man's saying:
"Misrepresenting the facts, even in error, doesn't get anyone's case off to the best start."
Cheers
[Masonry is] very powerful...with quite a specific agenda...and we don't know much about it.
Touch scary...no?
That's strange, 13 is supposed to be my lucky number.
So is #113 for that matter, so I'd better quit while I'm still ahead.
Thank you all for your contributions.
Ahead?
Good day.
"""Ahead?
Good day."""
Yes!
And a good day to you too!
Better luck next time!
I'm outta here!
If you mean the Catholic Church, it's the other way around.
The Masons accept Catholics but the Church prohibits it's members from becoming Masons.
Still?
Really?
The phrase is a variant of a line in Virgil's fourth Eclogue: "a great order of the ages is born anew". This Eclogue describes the return of the golden age, an age of peace and plenty. The change of words is significant. America is a "new order," not just a "great order." Virgil's golden age has come before and will come again, but nothing like the American founding has ever happened.-- An Interpretation of the Great Seal of the United States
Issued by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on November 26, 1983.-- DECLARATION ON MASONIC ASSOCIATIONS
It has been asked whether there has been any change in the Church's decision in regard to Masonic associations since the new Code of Canon Law does not mention them expressly, unlike the previous Code.
This Sacred Congregation is in a position to reply that this circumstance is due to an editorial criterion which was followed also in the case of other associations likewise unmentioned inasmuch as they are contained in wider categories.
Therefore the Church's negative judgment in regard to Masonic associations remains unchanged since their principles have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church and therefore membership in them remains forbidden. The faithful who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.
It is not within the competence of local ecclesiastical authorities to give a judgment on the nature of Masonic associations which would imply a derogation from what has been decided above, and this in line with the Declaration of this Sacred Congregation issued on 17 February 1981 (cf. AAS 73 [1981] pp. 240-241).
In an audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect, the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II approved and ordered the publication of this Declaration which had been decided in an ordinary meeting of this Sacred Congregation.
Rome, from the Office of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 26 November 1983.
JOSEPH Card. RATZINGER Prefect
+ Fr. JEROME HAMER, O.P. Titular Archbishop of Lorium Secretary
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