Originally posted by vinay86
And why they put this line in their joining instructions, is it even necessary......
Have belief in a Supreme Being (of any faith. No particular religion or faith is required or excluded. All are welcome.)
Is having belief in a supreme being or not has anything to do with the moral ideas that they promote.
it is very important. everything you promise to do would mean nothing is it was not a binding agreement with you and God. Think of going to court and putting your hand on the bible, it you were an atheist, lying would be your choice alone, but being a spiritual person, you are now lying to everyone and insulting God while doing it.
If you inquire about such masonic buildings with your local authorities, most of the time you would find that they they are not even listed in their database. Freemasonry appears in news from time to time and they pose themselves as charitable organisation.
Freemasons say they do charity by supporting other charitable organizations, and the only charity program that i found is related to missing children s called Masonic Child Identification Programs (CHIP).
The CHIP programs allow parents the opportunity to create a kit of identifying materials for their child, free of charge. The kit contains a fingerprint card, a physical description, a video, computer disk, or DVD of the child, a dental imprint, and a DNA sample. The purpose of the kit is to provide critical information to the public and to law enforcement in the event that a child goes missing.
Link.
Yes they take DNA also, and regarding symbolism they use, they explain it as during old times paper was more costlier than food. So they relied on writing on the floor in symbolic form and so from there it is picked up.
Charity is usually done at the local level. You won't hear about it because nobody runs to the paper to print a story after they help out a family in need. We do what we do because it's the right thing, not to get attention. The chip program is just a national thing that some masons take part in. Look it up a bit, no DNA is retained, everything is given to the parent. We aren't out to catalog anyone or store their information. We have enough to do keeping our own information. Also, look up Rite Care, Shriners Hospitals.
So, What is the reason behind expansion of freemasonry to every other country in the world, is it for making more money what normally organizations do or it is something bigger than that, what do you think about that........edit on 11/1/11 by vinay86 because: (no reason given)
most small town lodges are barely scraping by. If you look at news articles you will see that in my state alone, several Scottish Rite Valeys have closed their doors and now operate out of a regular lodge because they couldn't afford to keep their building and still support the charities that we support. But don't take my word for it, I an most certainly biased.
edit on 11-1-2011 by network dude because: fixed a mistake
