Strictly for those who knelt where Hiram knelt

Since the day I was raised from a level to a living perpindicular, I have come across many accusations about this glorius fraternaty that some of us refer to simply as "the Craft". Primarily from this very website; which I have to admit I enjoy exploring everyday with all of its crazed conspriracy theories. I consider myself to be a very open minded individual, but I also know for a fact that MY salvation will be through the acceptance of MY lord and personal saviour Christ Jesus, and the belief in his life, death, and ressurection. However, when it comes to hidden goverment agendas, I know alot of those people can be full of crap, and any attempt to sway me from my faith can and will be made by them. Even a mock Alien invasion.
Anyway thats not the point in this thread.
I simply have a question for those upright men, and possibly those fataly attractive women who may be on this site that belong to this craft. Having ascended the pennacle most appendant and concordant bodies in masonry, I consider myself fairly knowledgable. I do wonder though, why is it you as a brother of this craft feel the need to defend your organization. I can definitely understand the intial want. But what if you did not even give those who are not a member of the craft any response to their so-called known facts about an organization that they are not even a member of.
It seems no matter how many times someone explains to a skeptic or even provide them an open invitation to come and disprove themselves, they always seem to already know the "truth". Whatever happen to the old wise proverb, beleive half of what you see and none of what you hear.
If masonry is such a threat and plotting world domination that only 32nd degree masons and up know about, why havnt anyone told me about it yet.< rhetorical question.
But seriously, If we stopped responding, maybe they will stop caring.
Anyway my workshift is almost over, guess i'll reply tommorow when I get back in, to any questions or debate.

Greetings my Brother,

I never defend the craft from the detractor. I present an alternate point of view for the reader not participating in the discussion. Sometimes this means disputing claims, but it is done for the reader of these forums, not the critic.

Without presenting an alternate view, the reader of these forums will only have the negative view to go on. Some will never investigate Masonry further without a different perspective presented.

With Love,

Your Brother

reply to post by SirKnightE

Why? Because some of those detractors, once shown the light, have joined the craft and I now call brother. While I am mindful of the 1st degree charge, namely “neither are you to suffer your zeal for the institution to lead you into argument with those who, through ignorance, may ridicule it,” I also strongly believe in the ATS motto “Deny Ignorance.” If we can get any person to question that which they believe only due to hearsay, then we have given them the material necessary to come to their own conclusions rather than blindly following those of others.

I am no Mason. But I defend Masons, when the need arises. I believe in the Masonic ideals, and admire the "typical" member and what the Masons are doing.

I don't know if it is for me. Since one of the readers on this thread provided me a "bone" on where to find a lodge in this tiny little town, I have found an underlying "hotbed" of Mason activity, with several buildings in the rarely visited downtown area having Lodge signs of some sort (along with the two lodges).

Maybe one day it will be a path for me. Today....it is not. But I would certainly believe that the Masons, if bent on world domination, could have already achieved it. That is "debunking" enough for me.

For at least a century, it was the policy of the Craft not to reply.You'll find from 1717 until the 1800s that very little was done to counter even the most outrageous and offensive claims about the Fraternity. We simply felt that if we continued to act as Masons, people would be able to judge the truth based on the reputations of the men who were our members. Well, that didn't work out so well... see, for reference, the Anti-Masonic Party, "Capt." William Morgan, etc.

I believe that Freemasonry deserves to at least have a few people in the public sphere who at least tell the truth. If you go back and look at various threads, I think you'll find that for the *most* part the Masons here simply reply to accusations and reply to questions. *Mostly*, after a reply or two, we give up and let those who insist that they know better continue to live in darkness -- the truth is there, however, for those who want it.

It is important to me that we not remain passive, however, simply because they did try to destroy us -- right here, in the United States. And efforts have been made in most countries where the Craft has flourished. Some people just can't imagine that people can insist on privacy without being up to something nefarious. I think this is mostly a reflection of their own moral weakness ("Well, if I wasn't being watched, I would..., therefore, they must"). Whatever the cause, however, they seek the destruction of Freemasonry and if their voices go unchallenged then even otherwise reasonable people may begin to believe that there is something to their nonsense.

That is why I defend Freemasonry here.

Well, that and it amuses me that so many people here who have never set foot in a Masonic lodge claim to know so much more than I do about the Gentle Craft.

Fraternally & Cordially,
David

reply to post by SirKnightE


I found my way to the craft by reading the tripe on this site that claimed all sorts of evil things about masonry. Then I saw a few very intelligent individuals explain the real way things are and I decided to go a step further and find out for myself. I had some other reasons for joining, but that was definitely a factor. Knowing that, I come here and answer questions when I can. And a few new members have joined in the same way I did. So bringing a few brothers from darkness to light would by why I do it.

Brothers and Supporter,

Thanks for you reply. Just like networkdude, I initially joined the craft simply to disprove all those crazed rumors I heard so much about. I remeber being 11 years old and telling my father I want to be a mason, not knowing absolutely anything about them. He simply said you will ride the goat when you get old enough, from that point on, it killed me not know if he meant that literally or what. I admit it get very frustrating seeing people claim to know so much about we went through when they have never sat foot in the lodge.
I can now sympathize with my current lady friend. She is a disfellowshipped Jehovas Withness. She is not very knowledgable about her own religion, which she tries to defend so much. But like masonry, she simply told me I would not know what goes on unless I was invovled. Through my arrogance though, I presented her with finding of why I feel that orginazation is not something I personally want to get involved in. But in no way do I try to dissuade her from going "back active", I just hope she one day learns to research on her own and question some of the discrepencires in that religion.
But anyway that was off topic. I do hope that one day those anti-masons take it upon themselves to do there own research, possibly come to one ther local lodges open house.
I also feel that if the craft did an even beter job of staying open in the community, some of those rumors might be dispelled.

Originally posted by SirKnightE

I also feel that if the craft did an even beter job of staying open in the community, some of those rumors might be dispelled.

How so? I mean, how do you define "staying open in the community"?

The fact is we don't want our esoteric secrets available to the masses. Frankly I could care less what people think. Hell even if we told people what goes on behind closed doors they would be even more confused. Its a lifestyle, a personal journey to achieve an honorable and charitable life with like minded people.

People are afraid of what they don't understand. My status as a master Mason was earned joyfully. The result is a better man, father and husband.

Masonry will never die or fade away. Its been around for thousands of years and still going strong. Should we open up more to ward off nay sayers? NO! Should we compromise our honor and and allow our craft to be picked apart by negative Ned? NO!

You don't just walk into a lodge and get a high five and become a master Mason. You have to earn it. IMPO any deviation from the tradition devalues that special meaning.

Originally posted by Masonic Light

Originally posted by SirKnightE

I also feel that if the craft did an even beter job of staying open in the community, some of those rumors might be dispelled.

How so? I mean, how do you define "staying open in the community"?

I've notice locally and from the word of Brothers in other Jurisdictions that most lodges tend to keep to the old ways of keeping to themselves. Whether it is Prince Hall or Mainstream. It has always been a great thing when one of the lodges I fraternize with here in my home town, got out and actually done community service event. This specific lodge where I regularly vist fortunately has a state rep as one of the members. Although it is a small lodge member wise, it is very well know for being very active in the local community, with various charity drives and constant volunteer work. Typically, people tend to primarily see the local Shrine Temple are the ones doing the charity work. Theres not many places where you see the blue lodge out-doing the shrine in community events.
I consider it a friendly competition to see who can do the most good for there city. So far the blue lodge is killing the Shrine. I have been personally tryna get my Commandery more involved in stepping out of those uniforms and throwing on some jeans and boots and doing more work. Unfortunately you dont see many young members like myself in the commandery... No offence to the seasoned brothers,

Originally posted by Digital_Reality
The fact is we don't want our esoteric secrets available to the masses. Frankly I could care less what people think. Hell even if we told people what goes on behind closed doors they would be even more confused. Its a lifestyle, a personal journey to achieve an honorable and charitable life with like minded people.

People are afraid of what they don't understand. My status as a master Mason was earned joyfully. The result is a better man, father and husband.

Masonry will never die or fade away. Its been around for thousands of years and still going strong. Should we open up more to ward off nay sayers? NO! Should we compromise our honor and and allow our craft to be picked apart by negative Ned? NO!

You don't just walk into a lodge and get a high five and become a master Mason. You have to earn it. IMPO any deviation from the tradition devalues that special meaning.

The majority of them ARE available to the masses. At least, according to many Masons I know. The problem is, regardless of where they are available, until one is prepared to understand them it does not matter.

reply to post by SirKnightE


My lodge does the Child ID booth at most local events. I love doing things like that!

My lodge was pretty much non active for years. From what Ive heard hardly anyone showed up and when they did it was just to chat for a bit and then leave. The old members were getting too old to get out and come to any meetings and the lodge was too obscured for anyone to even know it existed. We were on the verge of getting closed. We had not done a degree in over 6 years.

Now its full of new members and we recently did a MM degree for 5. Id say Masonry is doing well despite the nay sayers and Internet garbage. If people just took the time to go down to their local lodge to find out whats really going on they would be surprised.



No need to put up a billboard for people. When they are ready they will find you and begin their search for light.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


Exactly

I could put you in the pilot seat of a plane and unless you are a pilot your not going to understand any of the buttons and knobs. Until you learn the "secrets" of being a pilot , all of the instruction manuals on the net will not make you a true pilot.

Same for Masonry. You can read all day and twice on Sunday about Masonry on the Web but until you actually join a lodge you have no idea. Regardless of how knowledgeable you THINK you are about the craft you don't know jack.

Originally posted by JoshNorton
reply to post by SirKnightE

 

Why? Because some of those detractors, once shown the light, have joined the craft and I now call brother. While I am mindful of the 1st degree charge, namely “neither are you to suffer your zeal for the institution to lead you into argument with those who, through ignorance, may ridicule it,” I also strongly believe in the ATS motto “Deny Ignorance.” If we can get any person to question that which they believe only due to hearsay, then we have given them the material necessary to come to their own conclusions rather than blindly following those of others.

edit on 2010.10.12 by JoshNorton because: (no reason given)

I couldnt agree with what you said more my friend and thank you Josh

Originally posted by Digital_Reality
reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan

 

Exactly

I could put you in the pilot seat of a plane and unless you are a pilot your not going to understand any of the buttons and knobs. Until you learn the "secrets" of being a pilot , all of the instruction manuals on the net will not make you a true pilot.

Same for Masonry. You can read all day and twice on Sunday about Masonry on the Web but until you actually join a lodge you have no idea. Regardless of how knowledgeable you THINK you are about the craft you don't know jack.

edit on 13-10-2010 by Digital_Reality because: Because I wanted to...

lol but according to your fellow masons nothing goes on in the lodge except planning charity work, and conferring degrees, which if anything like the degrees of the eastern stars is nothing to be secretive about. so why all the secrecy except to protect your secret handshakes and passwords? theres a ton of books written by or about masons disclosing everything (from what i understand) except for the secrets above i mentioned. yet a simple question i already know the answer to gets me "i cant tell you that" wtf lol i already know what it means why you wont talk about it is beyond me. which is why people think you all are up to devil worshipping and whatever else. also i think knowledge should be given freely, the fact that you need money to be a mason makes me think there's more to it than whats in the books and papers written supposedly by masons themselves. i understand you need to keep the lights on and whatever but what if im a poor college student as i am in reality? i just cant join and be in on the enlightenment. boo! to you. which is why if anyone asks me about these "secret" more like secretive societies i freely share what i have gleaned at no cost. i dont talk about your rituals and methods of identification because thats nothing thats is of any great importance to be disclosed. but seriously whatever i havent learned from reading the books and manuals that i have to pay to know is most likely not worth being known.

A real Mason wouldn't have even started this thread.

reply to post by abcddcba


the secrets that we can't tell you are the ones that we keep telling people are the passwords and handshakes. yes they can be found online. But I can't tell you. Why? Because I said I wouldn't. I value my integrity. If I tell you something I swore to keep secret, I have no integrity. If a good friend of yours asked you to keep something secret, would you? that's integrity. That's masonry.

Originally posted by abcddcba
i understand you need to keep the lights on and whatever but what if im a poor college student as i am in reality?

I personally paid the first year dues of a college student who joined and another Brother in lodge paid for a second student who was friends with the first. Each one of them amounted to $77 and they both offered to repay us when they graduate. I do not expect to be recompensated but it was a nice gesture on their part. If you make the Lodge aware of your financial constraints I am usre they would offer to help. If not, contact me once you have petitioned.

but why all the secrecy about everything else? i understand the reason for keeping the secrets of the signs and grips, but the rest doesnt make much sense. would it kill people to know most of them are "already masons"?

Originally posted by abcddcba
. would it kill people to know most of them are "already masons"?

what do you mean by this? the secrecy is really just what I said. we won't tell you what is going to happen in the degree because you can't learn the lesson correctly any other way than to "experience" it. There is a very good reason for everything that happens, you just have to trust that you will understand it once you go through. After you become a mason, you can gain as much knowledge as you wish. Asking any of the old timers, or as people here like to call them "higher level masons". they are all too happy to share their knowledge. Someone needs to fill in their space when the depart. They are just looking for someone to take the initiative to do it. It's not easy, but it is there and available.