There comes in point in every Masons progression in the lodge when you have to profess a deistic universal view of atonement, a view that all Christians, Jews and Muslims worship the same God and stand equal before him. That is incompatible with the Gospel of the exclusivity of salvation through Jesus Christ alone.
I will defer to your obviously greater knowledge of masonry than mine.
I was only a 3rd degree mason so clearly know nothing of what follows that. I never felt any interest in learning more of it.
I can categorically say that within the lodge I was a member of #443 in Anniston, AL and in the #700 also in Anniston that I never saw any such.
It is well know that there are many secrets in masonry and the oath is a means of keeping them secret. But I went in with both eyes open and took an oath with GOD as my witness to not share those secrets. So did all others. Now perhaps you take oaths sworn to GOD as things of no import and that can be broken with no penalty. I do not.
The time never came during my days as an active member that my religion was ever in conflict with what I observed and heard in the lodge I was a member of. I for sure can't say about lodges to which I have never been. It might not be the same in all.
I also cannot say what it is like if you go the York rite or Scottish rite and go from 4th degree to 32nd degree, the last the 33rd is an honorary degree. I have zero clue what might be asked of you to obtain that one.
Perhaps the things you are talking of former masons saying to you are things that happen when one gets the 4th and higher degrees. Those I know zip about and have no desire to learn more.
Masonry has been said to "take care of it's own" and that no mason would ever do wrong to another. Well I can tell you that's a lie. I've been screwed more in life by folks who were active masons than those who were not.
I know they do lots of charitable giving and many good things are done by various lodges. I've seen that with my own eyes.
As I said I am not trying to defend masonry I'm just trying to pass on what I have seen personally not second or third hand about it.
As a Master Mason, the 3rd degree part, I did begin to move up thru the various chairs of the lodge. My dad had been the highest level there which for reasons I never truly understood is call the worshipful master. Yeah that would gave me pause but it was never explained to me.
I had dropped out of college in my 4th semester ('64 or '65) when I got married and just wasn't at that point able to handle both the marriage and the schooling. I later in '68 was financially stable enough and ready so I went back to school and got my degree. I worked days and went to school and night and spent the time I could with family.
A fellow I worked with who was a mason talked me into joining. He actually handed me the money required to join, I have no clue how much it was back then. I joined and was moving on up the chairs but when I went back to school I figured I did not have time for the lodge, my family and school so I gave up the lodge and honestly have never found badly about the decision.
I never found any real pleasure in it. I don't know how it is at other lodges, only the one I was in and only in the time frame I was there. But to me it was the most boring thing ever, about like watching paint dry.
Still I hear masonry put down and derided a lot and loads of things said about it. Much of it from folks at least claiming to have formerly been masons and by some who even claim to still be even tho they are sharing those secrets.
One thing I've noticed both on the TV shows about it and in first hand discussions with those folks is that the "supposed secrets" they are sharing are not very close to the secrets I learned and still keep secret tho I am no longer a mason. There are a LOT of BS stories told by those folks. Overall I'd say they have some of it right but more wrong than right. Again I am talking only of the first 3 degrees of masonry also called the Blue Lodge. Again I have no clue why it's called that.
From my observation off that blue lodge and my time in it without sharing any secrets. I would say the whole thing is based on the events surrounding the building of Solomon's
temple. Since this was prior to the birth of
CHRIST he would not be mentioned nor a part of the order.
In those long ago early days the secrets were the trade craft secrets of the workers building the temple. They were the first, the founding members. I'd think most all were Jews and all pre
CHRISTEventually masonry spread wider than the narrow original scope and took in not just operational masons but those with no interest in building buildings. I no longer even remember the term used to describe the non operational masons.
For them the secrets of how to build was of no importance and gradually over time I suppose it shifted from being about that to being more of a fellowship order than a craftsmanship order.
Guys from my experience with the order, admittedly limited, It ain't a threat to you, your life or your religion. I sure don't consider it a threat to my religion and if I had stayed in long enough to see it become a threat then yeah I've have been gone in a heartbeat.
But the oath I sworn ended with "so help me GOD". I don't take such lightly and will not break the oath. I gave up the lodge but will take the secrets shared with me to my grave. To me anyone who takes any oath and says so help me GOD and who violates it for any reason is not much of a man, not much of a human even if ya ask me.
No I've never thought of returning to masonry since finishing my schooling and have zero interest in learning anything more of it than I learned when a member.
I've known a lot of good folks who were masons and some really lousy ones as well. Some were preachers I'm sure were devoted to
CHRIST and I can't believe if they saw any contradiction they'd have dropped out of the lodge but didn't. Some of those ministers went much further than I did into it.
I also can say that most of those in the lodge weren't all that religious tho, a lot were and those who were religious were all
CHRISTians. If they saw a contradiction I never observed them to let on to it.
So TN I don't know what to say to you about the 2nd, 3rd or 4th hand knowledge you profess of masonry other than to say, I have not personally observed what you say they told you. Not to say they didn't, just that I didn't.
I will say that if they have broken an oath they sworn in GOD's name I'd personally not trust them to be honest in any part of their life. You see it differently and that's up to you. I don't know those folks.
