Number of Traveling Men in group?, page 2

Originally posted by lost
ok theron. i dont want to offend, but like you said i am entitled to my opinion, and my opinion might end up offending. advance apologies.

would you theron be willing to share (if its no secret of course).. where does that 762 million come from?

That's a fair question. The money comes, primarily, from masonic investments that have accrued over time, and through our other fund raising efforts, shows, theatre, musicals, dinners, lunches, public dontaions to the cause etc. Masonry is OLD, and one of the benefits of time is that investiments grow. Often, when a mason dies, he has left a portion of his estate to the fraterntiy, or to the Shrine. These funds are invested, and the proceeds from these investments is used to run the charities.

is a secretive fraternity necessary to make that money?

No, HAVING secrets has nothing to do with raising the money. This whole "secret" thing is a misnomer/misconception, since our lodges are all listed in the phone books, on the internet, and most members wear their masonry proudly. If you met me on the street, you would know instantly that I am a mason, or if you followed my vehicle down the street.

Masonry is a fraternity that HAS secrets, and the secrets are internal to the organization, and have no effect on society as a whole, except for the folks that obsess over not being allowed to KNOW the secrets... and then to know them, all you need to do is join, else you are not entitled to know them.

also, could you give specifics on how YOU have become a better person through study, work, charity and fellowship via masonry?

I can do that with a SIMPLE example, the others could take pages to illustrate and explain. As part of the lectures/lessons of freemasonry, a man is told to do nothing that could harm our ancient and honorable fraternity, and to keep in mind brotherly love, relief, truth, temperance, fortitude, prudence, Justice, Faith, Hope and Charity.

In my day to day life, I keep the tenets of freemasonry foremost in my mind, and circumscribe my desires and actions accordingly. This awareness causes me to examine my actions, how I speak, what I say, what I do, how I plan, what I will and will not do in my business accordingly. I am not a perfect man, but I endeavor to live as a moral and upright one, a man that is a credit to masonry and to the principles, tenets and standards that it has set.

That is a simple and straightforward example. I could give you many others, but I hope that this helps.

could you have achieved that 'betterment of person' without masonry?

Perhaps, but the issue is that I and millions of others HAVE achieved it, or are working to achieve it (it is a constant struggle) THROUGH Masonry.

lastly, i may be incorrect but you have to be invited to join no? its not like one can walk up to the lodge and sign up?

Actually, you are NEVER invited to joinl. The tradition in masonry is that YOU must ask to join. Call a local lodge, tell them you want to join, and they will put a petition in your hand, but no one asks anyone to join.

Even this, my answering the questionis on the forum isn't recruiting... I am trying to achieve two goals here, 1) to refute and offer the truth as opposed to the misconceptions and outright lies that are told about masonry, to inform the public about who we are and what we do 2) to get our name out in front of people, so that if someone is interested in something more, something greater, something to give back to the community, that they will know who we are and will then ASK to join.

So I am not recruiting, but I am making it known HOW a man CAN join.

i am all for charity and fellowship, but i believe those are just fronts to the public for masonry and any other fraternity for that matter. deep down i believe the people who join fraternaties do it not for 'betterment of person' or 'charities' but mostly for 'fellowship' because they themselves are feeble and without friends. the same reason kids join gangs. they need something to lean on... but what do i know........

-lost

Well, you are, as I noted, entitled to what you believe, however, I would think that a rational man, an enquiring mind, a mind intent on DENYING IGNORANCE would want to seek out truths and not subsist on FEELINGS, but what do I know?

As for why men join, how hard is it to accept the personal testimonies of the men that ARE masons? I do not need something to lean on, but something to SPUR me on to be the best that I can be... and anything that does as much good as masonry does, both in services and on a personal level, CAN'T be bad.

[edit on 9/9/04 by theron dunn]