Freemasonry

[Sensei Payne]

I just joined the Fraternity back in Oct. 2011, I am currently working on my Fellowcraft degree lecture.

Our of curiosity, how many fellow Martial Artists are also Brother Masons?

I am part of Plumb Lodge #862

 

[granfire]

Getting crap yet for being one? :lol:

Not personally but my husband is. Both, a mason and getting 'the business' from the uneducated.

But one thing I can tell you: you will never be alone. There is always a brother around the corner.

Good luck on your journey!

 

[Sensei Payne]

Its really been a fantastic experince so far...I just gotta get my lecutre down so I can become a Master Mason, and be on the same level as everyone else. pish

 

[Xue Sheng]

Getting crap yet for being one? :lol:

Not personally but my husband is. Both, a mason and getting 'the business' from the uneducated.

But one thing I can tell you: you will never be alone. There is always a brother around the corner.

Good luck on your journey!

Should I ask :hmm:.....ok where is the grail

 

[granfire]

Should I ask :hmm:.....ok where is the grail

LOL, My husband isn't allowed to tell me, you know. :angel:

 

[ballen0351]

Ive been thinking about joining for a few years just havent "asked" yet.

 

[granfire]

Ive been thinking about joining for a few years just havent "asked" yet.

I thought you already did....
Can't be a Shriner without being a Mason!

 

[arnisador]

A close friend is a Shriner and loves it--esp. all the charity events. It piques my interest but I don't think I could make the time commitment.

 

[Tames D]

I'm not familar with freemason. I'd like to know more about it.

 

[Tgace]

While I admire their charity work, Catholicism and Freemasonry don't mix.

:readrules

 

[Tames D]

While I admire their charity work, Catholicism and Freemasonry don't mix.

:readrules

Please explain. I'd like to know more about this.

 

[granfire]

While I admire their charity work, Catholicism and Freemasonry don't mix.

:readrules

ROFLMAO.

I am pretty sure you are mistaken. The earliest Freemasons were most likely Catholics, and since the club is international I am sure there are a lot of them in say, Italy and Spain and such places. After all, aside from the builders of the pyramids down to the masons working on the grand cathedrals...

@ tames D: Ask one to be one. You find a guy with the square and compass sign somewhere, ask him.
(and dn't watch too much of the 'behind the Da Vinci Code' :lol:

 

[Sensei Payne]

I myself am a Fellowcraft Mason, and I am also Catholic.

The Church looks down on it, but they don't crack down on it at all...Masonry welcomes all Monotheistic Religions. One of the Rules is, you must believe in a higher power.

To become a Mason, all you have to do is ask one, to be one...but in the case that you personally do not know a Master Mason, you can always look in the phone book for your states Grand Lodge, and asking them there is just as good as asking a personal friend.

When you are looking into Freemasonry, please be very careful...it is the oldest Fraternity on the Planet..and through misinformation, and rumor, there is a lot of Anti-Masonry sites out there...Do not pay them any attention. Approach the Fraternity yourself, and make your own decisions...but I can say this...for me, it's on the list of the best things I have ever done in my life.

Hope this was helpful

 

[Xue Sheng]

LOL, My husband isn't allowed to tell me, you know. :angel:

OK then..so... ummm...Where or who are the Templars today?

 

[Tgace]

ROFLMAO.

I am pretty sure you are mistaken. The earliest Freemasons were most likely Catholics, and since the club is international I am sure there are a lot of them in say, Italy and Spain and such places. After all, aside from the builders of the pyramids down to the masons working on the grand cathedrals...

@ tames D: Ask one to be one. You find a guy with the square and compass sign somewhere, ask him.
(and dn't watch too much of the 'behind the Da Vinci Code' :lol:

No..Im not mistaken...until 1983 the Church would excommunicate you for being a member. It's still considered a grevious sin today.

http://www.ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/BACAFM.htm

http://www.clearlightcatholic.com/masonic/whataremasons.htm

Since the decree "In Eminenti" of Pope Clement XII
in 1738, Catholics have been forbidden to jojn the Masons, and until 1983, under
pain of excommunication. (The Orthodox and several Protestant churches also ban
membership in the Masons.) Confusion occurred in 1974, when a letter by Cardinal
Franjo Seper, then prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, was interpreted to mean that Catholics could join Masonic lodges that
were not anti-Catholic; the same congregation declared this interpretation as
erroneous in 1981.

On Nov. 26, 1983, with the approval of Pope John
Paul II, the Sacred Congregation reiterated the ban on Catholics joining the
Masons: "The Church's negative position on Masonic association ... remains
unaltered, since their principles have always been regarded as irreconcilable
with the Church's doctrine. Hence, joining them remains prohibited by the
Church. Catholics enrolled in masonic associations are involved in serious sin
and may not approach Holy Communion." However, neither this declaration nor the
1983 <Code of Canon Law> imposed the penalty of excommunication on
Catholics belonging to the Masons.

 

[crushing]

No..Im not mistaken...

http://www.ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/BACAFM.htm

http://www.clearlightcatholic.com/masonic/whataremasons.htm

I found this sentence from the first link particularly interesting and even entertaining.

Masonry violates the First and Second Commandments of God. It worships not the One True God of revelation&#8212;Father, Son and Holy Spirit&#8212;but a false god, symbolically transcendent but really immanent: the "god" called "Reason."

 

[Tgace]

Please explain. I'd like to know more about this.

http://www.clearlightcatholic.com/masonic/whataremasons.htm

The Catholic Church has difficulties with
Freemasonry because it is indeed a kind of religion unto itself. The practice of
Freemasonry includes temples, altars, a moral code, worship services, vestments,
feast days, a hierarchy of leadership, initiation and burial rites, and promises
of eternal reward and punishment. While in America most Masons are Christian and
will display a Bible on their "altar," in the same lodges or elsewhere, Jews,
Moslems, Hindus or other non-Christian religions can be admitted and may use
their own sacred scriptures. (In France, in 1877, the "Grand Orient" Lodge
eliminated the need to believe in God or the immortality of the soul, thereby
admitting atheists into their fold; this atheistic type of Freemasonry spread
particularly in Latin countries.)

Moreover, the rituals involve the corruption of
Christianity. The cross is merely a symbol of nature and eternal life, devoid of
Christ's sacrifice for sin. INRI (For Christians, "Iesus Nazarenus Rex
Iudaeorum," i.e. Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews) means for Masons "Igne
Natura Renovatur Integra" ("the fire of nature rejuvenates all) referring to the
sacred fire's (truth and love) regeneration of mankind, just as the sun
regenerates nature in the Spring.

The rituals are also inimical to Catholicism.
During the initiation rite, the candidate expresses a desire to seek "light,"
and he is assured he will receive the light of spiritual instruction that he
could not receive in another Church, and that he will gain eternal rest in the
"celestial lodge" if he lives and dies according to Masonic principles. Note
also that since Masonry involves non-Christians, the use of the name of Jesus is
forbidden within the lodge.

A strong Anti-Catholicism also permeates
Freemasonry. The two traditional enemies of Freemasonry are the royalty and the
papacy. Masons even believe that Christ, dying on Calvary, was the "greatest
among the apostles of humanity, braving Roman despotism and the fanaticism and
bigotry of the priesthood." When one reaches the 30th degree in the masonic
hierarchy, called the Kadosh, the person crushes with his foot the papal tiara
and the royal crown, and swears to free mankind "from the bondage of despotism
and the thraldom of spiritual tyranny."

A second difficulty with Freemasonry for Catholics
involves taking of oaths. An oath is a religious act which asks God to witness
the truth of the statement or the fulfillment of a promise. Only the Church and
the state, for serious reasons, can require an oath. A candidate makes an oath
to Freemasonry and its secrets under pain of death or self-mutilation by
kneeling blindfolded in front of the altar, placing both hands on the volume of
sacred law (perhaps the Bible), the square and the compass, and repeating after
the "worshipful master." Keep in mind that the candidate does not yet even know
all the "secrets" to which he is taking an oath.

 

[granfire]

It's safe to say that the Catholic church has a bigger problem with the masons than the other way around.

but then again, they also have a problem with nuns writing books about female health....

 

[Tez3]

I shall post this then run for cover surely the Masons are just another gang/club for the boys? Lads love 'secret gangs' lol, all those rituals and male bonding things.

 

[Tames D]

I myself am a Fellowcraft Mason, and I am also Catholic.

The Church looks down on it, but they don't crack down on it at all...Masonry welcomes all Monotheistic Religions. One of the Rules is, you must believe in a higher power.

To become a Mason, all you have to do is ask one, to be one...but in the case that you personally do not know a Master Mason, you can always look in the phone book for your states Grand Lodge, and asking them there is just as good as asking a personal friend.

When you are looking into Freemasonry, please be very careful...it is the oldest Fraternity on the Planet..and through misinformation, and rumor, there is a lot of Anti-Masonry sites out there...Do not pay them any attention. Approach the Fraternity yourself, and make your own decisions...but I can say this...for me, it's on the list of the best things I have ever done in my life.

Hope this was helpful

I didn't mean to mislead you. I wasn't interested in joining, just understanding what it is exactly.