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That right there is a utilitarian type of view point. For the greater good right?
Just out of curiosity, is it true like my father-in-law has suggested to me when he tried to recruit me that if you are part of the "in crowd" that you get special consideration for job positions, promotions, and additional overtime and such?
I call him Luci for short
Mason or not I consider us all brothers.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I would think that an agnostic would not be eligible for entry.
I understand that certain clandestine Lodges in Europe are openly atheistic.
Although (as stated before on this list) the rituals of Freemasonry vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, they are basically the same and one of the first questions asked; actually THE first question asked in MY Grand Lodge's ritual is "Do you believe in the existence of God, the Creator?"
That question is also on the petition for membership. I truly don't think an investigating committee would report favorably upon a petition that had "no" checked for the answer to that question.
Thank you senrak. You have answered the question posed in my original post eloquently. I suspect that Freemasonry wouldn't look very favourably upon anyone opposed to the Bible's teachings.
Really? The Bible teaches that a man shouldn't touch his wife while she's menstruating. It teaches that one should not wear clothes of mixed fibers. That a man should not shave his beard. That adulterers should have stones thrown at them.
Originally posted by Cythraul
I suspect that Freemasonry wouldn't look very favourably upon anyone opposed to the Bible's teachings.
Originally posted by Fitzgibbon
How is the world improved by this unnecessary hate? Who benefits from such hate?
Originally posted by Cythraul
Originally posted by Fitzgibbon
How is the world improved by this unnecessary hate? Who benefits from such hate?
Originally posted by Cythraul
You're right, hate is irrational. I don't choose to hate something, but often my emotions will veer that way when I hear about the appalling actions of early Christian missionaries, or the treatment of women living under Sharia law.
Originally posted by Cythraul
What I do consciously choose, like I said, is to defy those teachings and let that rational defiance, rather than that irrational hate dictate the way in which I engage those religions and their teachings.
Originally posted by Cythraul
I wouldn't swear on a Bible and I have perfectly logical reasons for this (which are positive to my mental and spiritual well-being, and have a reason in my life).
Christianty's well past the point of defying anything and is a benchmark, the type of benchmark which it could only dream of being two millenia ago.
Hate is irrational but an emotion which joins men of all types and stripes. The stories of early Christian missionaries is oft-times cleansed for popular consumption and the stories about other religions should be taken with a grain of salt. Things in life are very seldom as they are made to appear.
Ultimately, you have to accept for yourself that there's someting greater than yourself that directs things. Call it God. Call it Fate. Call it Flying Spaghetti Monster. It becomes an acknowledgement that mankind isn't as good as it gets. If mankind's the ultimate of prudence, then you wouldn't be a good candidate for Masonry.
Originally posted by senrak
Originally posted by Straighten Arrow
I was just pointing out what my father-in-law believes in every since he joined Freemasonry. He actually thinks that it was possible that our father Jesus Christ would have sex with one of his own children, Mary Magledon. God only knows what else he thinks.
Straighten Arrow,
Many people believe what you stated above.
If your father-in-law is one of them, he did NOT learn it in Freemasonry. The two are not connected at all and it's pure happenstance that he came to feel this way since becoming a Mason.
Originally posted by Cythraul
Originally posted by Fitzgibbon
How is the world improved by this unnecessary hate? Who benefits from such hate?
It's not so much a hate, more a complete and utter defiance. You're right, hate is irrational. I don't choose to hate something, but often my emotions will veer that way when I hear about the appalling actions of early Christian missionaries, or the treatment of women living under Sharia law. What I do consciously choose, like I said, is to defy those teachings and let that rational defiance, rather than that irrational hate dictate the way in which I engage those religions and their teachings. I wouldn't swear on a Bible and I have perfectly logical reasons for this (which are positive to my mental and spiritual well-being, and have a reason in my life).
Originally posted by Straighten Arrow
Sure it is Senrak! Your society takes people of their faiths and lead them into another direction off the straight and narrow to believe in a "Supreme Being" which to me sounds cold and distant. Or something more like an alien being.
Originally posted by Straighten Arrow
reply to post by Fitzgibbon
"Good start. Good men are still good men regardless of the religious banner under which they choose to array themselves. The problem comes from those who array themselves under religious banners for the sake of convenience"
And you don't have to become a "Free" Mason to be "Free and accepted". You're already free. And accepted by Christ.
Sure it is Senrak! Your society takes people of their faiths and lead them into another direction off the straight and narrow to believe in a "Supreme Being" which to me sounds cold and distant. Or something more like an alien being.
The more and more responses that I read of "Free" Masons gives me the general concensus that they are being taught to hate their religions. You guys seriously give me the creeps!
And you don't have to become a "Free" Mason to be "Free and accepted". You're already free. And accepted by Christ.
Originally posted by Rockpuck
You and Senrak are, sorry to say, absolutely wrong. Dead wrong. An Agnostic is generally someone who exist in severe confusion.. or does not profess the ability to say they are learned in any theological studies what so ever..
This is why I say most Agnostics are actually Deist, but because they never studied Theology, may never have heard of Deism.. and I dare a Mason to tell me a Deist cannot be a Mason.
Agnostic and Atheist are as different as Day and Night my friend.. Do not mix them into the same category.
First:
God. Not your God Senrak, a God..
Agnostics would believe in the existence of God, yet not an organized theological existence of God.. but if you asked an Agnostic to describe God, he would give you his feelings on the subject, what he believes God really is.. and that is all that matters.
No Mason should say that their understanding of God is any better then another mans understanding of God.
And no Mason should believe that only set theological beliefs, set in stone, are the only forms to worship God.
Secondly, as stated before, Agnostics believe in God, and are often actually Deist not knowing it, where as an Atheist is not an Agnostic, and cannot be mixed in with the Agnostics because they do not believe in God.
Originally posted by Straighten Arrow
Sure it is Senrak! Your society takes people of their faiths and lead them into another direction off the straight and narrow to believe in a "Supreme Being" which to me sounds cold and distant. Or something more like an alien being.
Originally posted by Cythraul
reply to post by senrak
Thank you senrak. You have answered the question posed in my original post eloquently. I suspect that Freemasonry wouldn't look very favourably upon anyone opposed to the Bible's teachings.
Now another question - are there any secret socities that don't put any emphasis on the conventional God, and particularly who don't use the Bible (or other holy books) in ceremony or ritual, or are they all deemed 'Satanic'?