Freemasonry......help, please!!

Ok....real weird afternoon I've just had. Our family has had a rocky time over the last 20 years or so, just life lessons in general I guess.
My brother has recently been having an "affair" of sorts and he has been busted - which is a good thing.

Now to the subject. I visited my sister-in-law today to see if she was coping ok. We got involved in a conversation that blew my mind.
She has decided, through all her wisdom and religious zealot friends, that our family has been CURSED by the Masons. My father was a Mason
here in NZ, for about 2 years before he died 25+years ago.

I literally am speechless. She wants to do healing prayers and try to banish this supposed curse from our family. She is greatly concerned this 'curse' will be passed down to her children (my niece and nephews). I am just totally gobsmacked by what she has said and find it all quite offensive.

Why is it that the religious corners of the world think Masonry is "EVIL"?
She is being fed this information from somewhere, surely! She is an avid christian, so I can only assume that is where this ridiculous theory has come from. What the heck am I supposed to do/say to her to make her realise she couldn't be more wrong and that our family isn't cursed! (ugh, even the word cursed makes me sit here stunned.....I truly don't understand where these ideas come from!)

Originally posted by sanse_nz

She is being fed this information from somewhere, surely! She is an avid christian, so I can only assume that is where this ridiculous theory has come from. What the heck am I supposed to do/say to her to make her realise she couldn't be more wrong and that our family isn't cursed! (ugh, even the word cursed makes me sit here stunned.....I truly don't understand where these ideas come from!)

You can try reason. logic, rational. These are all tried and true methods of persuation. But if someone is closed minded, they will believe only what they want to believe.

after reason has failed ( and it will), you might actively persue, medication,
relocation to a quiet place with pastel colors, a wardrobe change to coats
with extremely long sleeves, or as the fundies themselves call it, " an Intervention for the sake of the children. If you don't take action
you may have a Pat Robertson or Fred Phelps in the making.

You could humor her and pray to dispel the "curse", if logic and reason won't work this might. Sometimes there is no argument for those that truly believe that Freemasons are evil, at those times it is easier just to keep on keeping on and let them believe what they will.

Tell her there's other thing's more worth worrying about. Like our evil 4th dimensional evil reptilian overlord's who want to eat us.

Originally posted by No1tovote4
You could humor her and pray to dispel the "curse", if logic and reason won't work this might. Sometimes there is no argument for those that truly believe that Freemasons are evil, at those times it is easier just to keep on keeping on and let them believe what they will.

I agree. You can try to explain it; or if it would be better for everyone, you could just go with it. I mean who cares? If it makes her feel better, why not?

For the sake of your father's memory, and the children, however, you might try to reason with her. Almost everything in the Masonic ritual ties back to the Bible. It teaches the very same lessons the Christian curch (or any church worth its salt, in my opinion) should be teaching. The method differs in that Freemasonry itself does not try to accomplish this by direct instruction or by some blueprint or pre-existing plan of action. It charges the candidate to do this for himself, usually resulting in that brother learning more about his own faith through personal research, study, and connection of the proverbial dots.

Ridicule and sarcasm will surely get you nowhere, trust me.

Feel free to shoot me an email if you'd like.

I think humouring her is a dangerous route, as it leaves her religious fundie friends in control. I would try and understand why they think a masonic curse (which doesn't exist BTW) is the reason for her troubles instead of some more likely alternatives.

These so called friends of hers are the ones who are evil, IMO.

You could at least come to an agreement that Secret Societies are bad even though some of them supposedly stand for good causes.

Clearly there are good secret societies and bad secret societies. It's just a fact of life. We have good people in this world and we have bad people in this world. We have people who will use Masonry for only good things and we have people who will abuse Masonry for their own personal gain. It's just a fact of life that it happens. There are many people out there who are more then willing to abuse the system. It happens every single day.

Eliminating all secret societies would be a good start. When everything is in the open. Full Public Disclosure then the world will be a much better place. Especially when it comes to Military Black Ops. They have access to an infinite supply of money with absolutely no accountability. How can that be?

Originally posted by Produkt
Tell her there's other thing's more worth worrying about. Like our evil 4th dimensional evil reptilian overlord's who want to eat us.

Hahaha now that's worth a try!!! lol

Originally posted by Nephtalite
For the sake of your father's memory, and the children, however, you might try to reason with her. Almost everything in the Masonic ritual ties back to the Bible. It teaches the very same lessons the Christian curch (or any church worth its salt, in my opinion) should be teaching. The method differs in that Freemasonry itself does not try to accomplish this by direct instruction or by some blueprint or pre-existing plan of action. It charges the candidate to do this for himself, usually resulting in that brother learning more about his own faith through personal research, study, and connection of the proverbial dots.

Ridicule and sarcasm will surely get you nowhere, trust me.

Feel free to shoot me an email if you'd like.

I agree Nephtalite. It is the kids that worry me. Shes obviously fanatical to come up with this theory, I just hope that she doesn't stop our family seeing the kids. I just hope she comes to her senses and calms down.
I spent two hours yesterday trying to get her to see logic......it just isn't going to happen.

Its the forces at work on her that worry me considerably. How can they call that kind of brainwashing "help"?!!

Thanks for all your thoughts, you've all confirmed my thoughts. I just wanted to check that it wasn't ME being weird lol

Thanks again.

[edit on 14-1-2006 by sanse_nz]

can any1 say "ritual Abuse" , just joking,

You might mention that there have been famous preachers who where freemasons and who were proud of their membership. Norman Vincent Peale comes to mind. Here is a great man who did much good and was a devoted christian. Just a thought.

[edit on 25-1-2006 by lost in the midwest]

[edit on 25-1-2006 by lost in the midwest]

[edit on 25-1-2006 by lost in the midwest]

Brilliant - thanks lost!
I'll do some research on this guy. My sister in law is STILL going on about it and its now creating a bit of a split which is sad. Ive decided not to push things too much - I have to accept that fanatic beliefs are still beliefs, to them and I can't do much about it.

I will look into the Vincent Peale though, it might help show that the Masons, in general, are good kind caring people.

Thanks!

Originally posted by sanse_nz


I will look into the Vincent Peale though, it might help show that the Masons, in general, are good kind caring people.

Thanks!

Peale was a great guy, but he was an extremely liberal theologian: conservative fundamentalists who are not Masons tend to detest him.

However, there have been, and there still are, conservative Christians who were/are Masons. Examples are Dr. George W. Truett (who founded the Southern Baptist Convention) and Rt. Rev. Geoffrey Fisher (former Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Church of England). Also worth noting is Dr. Kenneth Lyons, a bishop in the Methodist Church, who is currently Grand Chaplain of the Supreme Council 33°, Scottish Rite, S.J.

Originally posted by sanse_nz
Brilliant - thanks lost!
I'll do some research on this guy. My sister in law is STILL going on about it and its now creating a bit of a split which is sad. Ive decided not to push things too much - I have to accept that fanatic beliefs are still beliefs, to them and I can't do much about it.

I will look into the Vincent Peale though, it might help show that the Masons, in general, are good kind caring people.

Thanks!

some people may consider being secertive, doing rituals of unknown nature, and having more different sub groups in it than than the fashion industry . being a fanactical belief. it is only after all "a" perception

Just let her do her prayers and she will feel better. If she really beleives that the family is cursed by unseen masonic devilry, and really beleives in her religion, then her praying for the curse to be lifted should work. If she continues to obsess over it, then thats not healthy.