My Professor is a Freemason

reply to post by Rockpuck


Will you answer my question, what is the ancient gnosis? I answered your question, Jesus Christ was indeed, God in the flesh. He was hear for a purpose, to set an example of how he would like his creations know him. Lucifer is all around us folks. Jesus was no ordinary man and there is no bloodline. Jesus was God in the flesh. And we are here for a purpose also.

reply to post by LightinDarkness


Light, I don't think anyone said anything about the Christian ideologies as a religion brother. I think the concern has always been the people who use Christianity in the ways you describe.. a religion is only as good as its followers, institutionalized that is.. religion not institutionalized and in its pure form, which almost never happens, is a wonderful thing. So.. perhaps its not "bashing Christianity" so much as it is "bashing Christians" if you understand where I am trying to come from. I wouldn't consider people, as running said it, "self proclaimed" Christians who attack others for not following the same beliefs as they do to be real Christians at all.

We all know not all Christians are bad, just as we know not all Muslims fly planes into buildings.

spirit7

Will you answer my question, what is the ancient gnosis?

I have no idea what your talking about, I am not a gnostic and I don't recall stating I ever was?

reply to post by Rockpuck



[off topic]
rock i think you speak of faith vs religion.

religion is the buerocracy that gets in teh way of a relationship with the god of your choosing.

just my humble opinion
[/topic]

reply to post by Damocles


I agree but what we where talking about where the people themselves, not the religion, and the people most often reflect the institutionalized religion no?

reply to post by Rockpuck



maybe in some of the more modern and newer religions. but the people in say, the catholic church hardly have any impact on what the vatican dictates is acceptable for the faithful. even in newer "non denominational" churches its typically the pastor himself that sets the tone for the faithful and the congregants choose his church because they like what he has to say.

so its still the elite and not the laymen that dictate the tone of any given church in my experience.

reply to post by Damocles


The god of your choosing? There is only one true God and his son died publicly on the cross for us.

Originally posted by Damocles
reply to post by Rockpuck

 

[off topic]
rock i think you speak of faith vs religion.

religion is the buerocracy that gets in teh way of a relationship with the god of your choosing.

just my humble opinion
[/topic]

How in the heck does Christianity get in the way of anyone's personal relationship with God? You must be a freemason...

but the people in say, the catholic church hardly have any impact on what the vatican dictates is acceptable for the faithful.

Why should we take advice on sex from the pope? If he knows anything about it, he shouldn't!

George Bernard Shaw

The god of your choosing? There is only one true God and his son died publicly on the cross for us.

If Christ were here now there is one thing he would not be--a christian.
Author: Mark Twain

There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it.
Author: George Bernard Shaw

I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.
Author: Stephen Roberts

How in the heck does Christianity get in the way of anyone's personal relationship with God? You must be a freemason...

this quote should do as an answer

but the people in say, the catholic church hardly have any impact on what the vatican dictates is acceptable for the faithful.

In addition the congregations lack of action on any point shows their tacit approval of the leaders decisions. if all members or at least a majority
of believers withhold their support. Both monetarily and physically you would see the " revealed truths " change dramatically. as most xians are sheep,
they are in too much fear of their leaders.

Originally posted by spirit7
reply to post by Damocles

 

The god of your choosing? There is only one true God and his son died publicly on the cross for us.

well while you believe that, and i believe that, not everyone else does. who am i to presume to speak for them? but hey, feel free to go to your local mosque or synagog and tell them how wrong they have it.

Originally posted by spirit7

Originally posted by Damocles
reply to post by Rockpuck

 

[off topic]
rock i think you speak of faith vs religion.

religion is the buerocracy that gets in teh way of a relationship with the god of your choosing.

just my humble opinion
[/topic]

How in the heck does Christianity get in the way of anyone's personal relationship with God? You must be a freemason...

christianity is a faith.

catholisism is a religion. lutheranism is a religion. methodist is a religion. baptist is a religion. yet they all proclaim to be "christian"

but each of these churches interprets the bible in a different way and professes that theirs is the only true path and THAT is the beurocracy that gets in the way of a relationship with god. all one really needs to have a relationship with god is faith in him. (of course a bible doesnt hurt at all either)

and yeah thats it im a mason < rolls eyes > im not actually but youre going to believe what you will and HEY! thats your right.

reply to post by runningbeer


um...what?

reply to post by Damocles


Technical point, but what you mention are denominations of a religion. All those churches are one single religion - Christianity. Even though their doctrines diverge on many points, I do not know of one church under the banner of christianity that does not proclaim the, er, "main point:" that they all believe Jesus Christ died for their sins, is the son of God, and rose again.

that they all believe Jesus Christ died for their sins, is the son of God, and rose again.

Most freemasons believe this too...

reply to post by Saurus


Not at all. Christian freemasons certainly do - and in the US I would GUESS that Christian masons outnumber other creeds, but freemasons are of all religious creeds and philosophies.

reply to post by LightinDarkness


I would say it is same to assume that the vast majority of Mason in the United States are Christian. I met a Chinese Mason not to long ago who immigrated to the US and expected to have a nice conversation about his religion if he was Buddhist but he turned out to be Christian to.. which turned into a nice conversation anyways as I had no idea how many Christians there where in that part of Asia.

[edit on 12/4/2007 by Rockpuck]

To the last few posts: You are both right, I think, I just didn't want to give the tinfoil hat people anymore fuel to add to the fire by making links between religious beliefs and fraternal affiliation.

reply to post by LightinDarkness



im going to very respectfully disagree with you. christianity is a faith. not a religion. one doesnt need religion to have faith. one doesnt need a church to have a relationship with god. in a pinch, one doesnt even need a bible so long as they have an understanding of what it says, a users manual for morality so to speak.

i can never go to church and still be christian.

NOW ill agree with you that theres more than likely no connection between any religion, faith or belief and a fraternal organization. and im glad you used that term.

i dont know a LOT about the masons (my uncle was a mason and no one knew until he died and the funeral director asked where his, i think he called it a sheepskin? was)

but from what ive seen, and i dont mean this in a disrespecful way, its a frat for out of college men. a place where they can hang out and have something in common. not to mention id think it would be a great place for "networking" with others. and maybe thats why all the conspiracies about "all masons being successful and rich" come about. as a guess id say that guys who meet other guys at the lodge are more likely to do business with their brothers and refer people to their brothers etc.

BUT i could be ignorant of it all from the getgo, so who knows.

Yes!

Freemasonry is a fraternity, not a religion.
Christianity is a religion.

It was just a statistical observation that many (or most) masons are Christians.

reply to post by Damocles


You are entitled to your opinion, but I think Christianity is a religion in every sense of the word. A religion requires faith, because the scholarly definition of religion is that which seeks to answer the existential questions of mankind. Furthermore, the bible as a book does command its adherents to go to church (a religious institution). You can not go to church and be a christian, but you can say that for any religion. That people do so does not change the fact that they are a part of a religion.

As for the fraternity aspect, all I can say is lots of college boys mess up the word "fraternity"

reply to post by Saurus


Well, it wasn't a statistical observation - because you made the general statement that "masons" (not most masons, or a majority) beleive X, which is not true. As far as using the term statistical, there has been no national survey of US masons I know of. Me and you agree on this, so let's not continue to argue about it.

Originally posted by Saurus
It was just a statistical observation that many (or most) masons are Christians.

in the US or nationwide?

this really isnt a one line post

Originally posted by LightinDarkness
reply to post by Saurus

 

Well, it wasn't a statistical observation - because you made the general statement that "masons" (not most masons, or a majority) beleive X, which is not true. As far as using the term statistical, there has been no national survey of US masons I know of. Me and you agree on this, so let's not continue to argue about it.

Fair enough - there has been no organized survey. It's purely an assumption on my part, based on my own observations, and not on any actual figures.