I would like to know more about the mason's? All the info you nice people can give me.?

Question

I would like to know more about the mason's? All the info you nice people can give me.?

Answer 1

Great answers so far,

I would like to chime in a little too. There are many different Orders of Freemasonry. I belong to one called The American Order of Co-Masonry (The American Federation of Human Rights.) We are Freemasonry for women and men. We have both participating in all rituals and ceremonies. We have no lady's auxilaries like the Eastern Star. Many of our Lodges have women as the elected head of the Lodge, the Right Worshipful Master.

Masonry for me is a way of changing who I am, changing for the better. It is not about fellowship; although I love the Brothers (we call both men and women "Brother") in my Lodges. It is not about fundraising for charity; although, we do give thousands of dollars every year to worthy causes. We could do that in any of the many organizations out there like Kiwanees or Moose.

Instead, Freemasonry is a system of morality. It teaches us to treat each other and the world in general on the Level, to walk upright in our lives (to live on the Plumb), to deal honestly (Squarely.) It helps us work to become trustable human beings, to become fitting stones for the Temple of Solomon. That is an allegory, a picture, if you will, to become the indwelling place of God. It may sound corny and trite, but we want to become good citizens, husbands and wives. We want to become worthy friends and neighbors. In the ritual of the Lodge, we find ourselves transforming the lead of our hearts into gold. It is medieval alchemy.

We also practice tolerance of races and religions not our own. We accept only those who believe in something higher (a Supreme Being) than ourselves. We do not accept anarchists, for we believe in the rule of law and order. When tyrants take over, they generally want to outlaw Masonry. Hitler did. Other despots have also.

We do not wait for a person to be perfect to admit them, they just have to be wanting to improve. Our Order wants women and men of all races and religions, 21 and older. I drive 800 miles a month to attend the two Blue Lodges I belong to. It must be important to me.

Feel free to write me with more questions and click on the link below to read more. No salesman will call but if you wish to apply, you can certainly find no better group to help you on your path in my opinion.

A Master Mason

American Co-Masonry

Hiram Lodge (Santa Cruz, CA)

Amon Ra Lodge (Los Angeles, CA)

Sapientia Lodge (Larkspur, CO)

Adamant Mark Lodge (Santa Cruz, CA)

Answer 2

Although Adventure provided a lot of good info, unfortunately some of it is not so good.  Freemasonry is not a religion, nor is it a substitute for religion.  I won't continue point by point; instead, you can view my source list for clear and concise answers on this point (religion) and others.

Answer 3

Adventure provides a lot of good info.

In short, Freemasonry is a social fraternity that studies morality through ritual, symbol and allegory and provides more charity than any other group on the planet.

You will likely get some responses claiming satan worship or other evil, world domination type things - do not believe any of them as they have all been proven false many times.

Freemasonry is good. If after reading Adventur's response you have further questions, let me know.

Answer 4

Masons (Freemasonry)

Christian or Anti-Christian?*

Freemasonry refers to the principles, institutions, and practices of the fraternal order of the Free and Accepted Masons. The largest worldwide society, Freemasonry is an organization of men based on the "fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man," using builders' tools as symbols to teach basic moral truths generally accepted by persons of good will. Their motto is "morality in which all men agree, that is, to be good men and true." It is religious in that a belief in a Supreme Being and in the immortality of the soul are the two prime requirements for membership, but it is nonsectarian in that no religious test is used.1 The purpose of Freemasonry is to enable men to meet in harmony, to promote friendship, and to be charitable. Its basic ideals are that all persons are the children of one God, that all persons are related to each other, and that the best way to worship God is to be of service to people.

Masons have no national headquarters as such, but the largest regional is the Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction (35 Southern states), which is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. U.S. membership is claimed at about 3.5 million, with about five million worldwide. The basic unit of Freemasonry is the lodge, which exists under a charter issued by a grand lodge exercising administrative powers. The lodges are linked together informally by a system of mutual recognition between lodges that meet the Masonic requirements. The lodge confers three degrees: Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason. Additional degrees are conferred by two groups of advanced Freemasonry: the York Rite, which awards 12 degrees; and the Scottish Rite, which awards 30 higher degrees. In the United States and Canada, members have formed a large number of groups to enable them to expand their social and charitable activities. The best known of these groups is the Shriners (official name: "Ancient Arabic Order Nobles Mystic Shrine"), who hold festive parades and support hospitals for crippled and burned children. (To be a Shriner, one must be a 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason, or its equivalent in the York Rite [Knights Templar]). [The 33rd degree is an honorary degree bestowed upon especially worthy masons who have accomplished outstanding work in such fields as religion and politics.]

Although only men (of at least 21 years of age) can be Masons, related organizations are available for their relatives -- there is the Order of the Eastern Star for Master Masons and their wives; the Order of De Molay for boys; and the Order of Job's Daughters and the Order of Rainbow for young girls. The Masonic Lodge has more than a hundred such fraternal organizations, including Daughters of the Nile, The Tall Cedars of Lebanon, The Mystic Order of Veiled Prophets Of The Enchanted Realm, The Knights Of The Red Cross Of Constantine, and The Blue Lodge.

Though some Masons trace their organization's origin back to the beginning of time (much of their teaching is tied to Solomon's temple, but they also claim that John the Baptist and the Apostle John were Masons), modern Masonry dates only to 1717. It was in that year that four lodges in Great Britain formed the first Grand Lodge of England, which became the Premier Grand Lodge of the world. Since that time, lodges have spread all over the world with local grand lodges formed whenever enough lodges exist in an area. Lodges first appeared in America in Philadelphia (1730) and Boston (1733).

The terminology and symbolism of Masonry seem to come mostly from the actual craft of stonemasonry during the Middle Ages. The "free" in Masonry probably came from the "freestones" (stones that could be cut without splitting) with which Mason's worked. Stonemasons had three classifications for workers practicing their craft: Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason. As mentioned earlier, this is also the terminology used for the first three degrees in Masonry today.

Many allegories and symbols are used in Masonry. The old English Constitution refers to an ancient definition of the ancient craft: "Freemasonry is a system of morality, veiled in allegory, and illustrated by symbol," [Freemason' symbols can be made to mean almost anything a person chooses to make them; Master Masons take an oath, "Ever to conceal, never to reveal."2] It seeks to make good men better through the form of belief in "the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, and the    immortality of the soul."

Masonry was originally a means by which people in the occult could practice their "craft" and still remain respectable citizens. The official publication of "The Supreme Council 33" of Scottish Rite Freemasonry is titled New Age. Some church denominations are also led by avowed Masons. For example, a 1991 survey by the Southern Baptist Convention Sunday School Board found that 14% of SBC pastors and 18% of SBC deacon board chairs were Masons; it is also estimated that SBC members comprise 37% of total U.S. lodge membership. (A 2000 updated SBC report found that over 1,000 SBC pastors are Masons.)

Many other secret societies seem to be patterned after the Masons. L. James Rongstad says that Freemasonry "is the 'Granddaddy' of all lodges. Its teachings, rituals, customs and practices, and its secrecy have had an inspirational effect on other similar groups such as the Moose, Eagles, Elks, and the National Grange." Mormon Temple rites are also strikingly similar to Masonic Lodge practices (probably because Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church, was also a Mason). Most of the rituals of today's college fraternities are also based more or less directly upon Masonic rituals.

The symbols on the back of the U.S. dollar bill (pyramid, all-seeing eye, the number of feathers on the eagle's spread wings, the stars above the eagle's head in the shape of the Star of David, and the mottos e pluribus unum [out of many one] and novus ordo seclorum [a new order of the ages]) also appear to emanate from Freemasonry; this would not be surprising considering many of America's so-called founding fathers were themselves Masons -- George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Ethan Allen, John Hancock, John Paul Jones, Paul Revere, Robert Livingston, and 35 other lesser known men who were signers of the Declaration of Independence and/or the Constitution. (It should be noted that there were also a number of the founding fathers who condemned masonry: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, James Madison, Millard Fillmore, Daniel Webster, and Charles Sumner.) Other notable men in history who have been Freemasons include Mozart, Henry Ford, Rudyard Kipling, Gerald Ford, Norman Vincent Peale, Douglas MacArthur, and Will Rogers.

Since Masons are involved in so many worthy causes, many are unaware that Masonic leaders readily admit that Freemasonry is actually a religion, not merely a "fraternal, social, civic service organization." Joseph Fort Newton (1880-1950), an Episcopal minister and recognized authority in the Masonic world, said, "Masonry is not a religion but Religion -- not a church but a worship in which men of all religions may unite." In fact, Freemasonry even sees itself as superseding and unifying all religions. (At various times and places, Freemasonry has met religious and political opposition. Religious opponents, especially the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, have traditionally claimed that Freemasonry is a religion and is a secret organization.)

Henry Wilson Coil is the author of the encyclopedia that many lodges now accept as their authoritative source (Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia). Coil says that if Freemasonry is not a religion, nothing would have to be added to make it such, and that the religious service at the funeral of a Mason is evidence enough that Freemasonry is a religion. But the fact that Freemasonry is religion would not necessarily condemn it, except that the views of the Masonic religion are in open conflict with Biblical Christianity, so much so that, in our opinion, a knowledgeable and committed Mason could not possibly be a true Christian.

Below is detailed what the Masons believe about their source of authority, God, Jesus Christ, sin, and salvation and future life:

1. Source of Authority. Masons refer to the Bible as the "Volume of the Sacred Law" (V.S.L.), and it is considered an indispensable part of what is called "the furniture" in a Masonic Lodge. But the Bible is used only in a so-called "Christian" lodge -- the Hebrew Pentateuch is used in a Hebrew lodge, the Koran in a Mohammedan lodge, the Vedas in a Brahmin lodge, etc. Jim Shaw, a former 33rd degree Mason, says that Masonry is not based on the Bible (referred to as "The Great Light"), but on the Kabala (Cabala), a medieval book of mysticism and magic. Masonic authority Henry Wilson Coil also admits that the Kabala's teachings can be seen in some of the mystical and philosophical degrees of Masonry. Albert Pike (see next), the man responsible for virtually rewriting the Scottish Rite degrees into their present form, said that the Masonic "search after light" leads directly back to the Kabala, the ultimate source of Masonic beliefs (Morals and Dogma). [HJB]

One of the great authorities on Masonry was Albert Pike (1809-1901), Sovereign Grand Commander of the Southern Supreme Council of Scottish Right Freemasonry in the USA and "an honorary member of almost every Supreme Council in the world" (Albert G. Mackey, 33rd degree, and Charles T. McClenachan, 33rd degree, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, The Masonic History Company, 1921, rev. ed.; 2:564). Pike authored Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted S