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| Open Forums for ExChristian.Net > Almost Anything Goes > Freemasonry |
| Posted by: Diogenes Feb 4 2005, 09:16 AM |
| Anyone have any insight into Freemasonry? I know the basics from reading a few books and essays, but was wondering if anyone has any specific knowledge. Did it originate in the medieval craft guilds? the Knights Templar? ancient Egypt? What is the point of modern freemasonry? Fraternity? Charity? Conspiracy? What's the secret? Funny handshakes? Esoteric knowledge? Just curious. I know one has to be a monotheist to be a freemason, so... |
| Posted by: EternalDarkness Feb 4 2005, 01:53 PM |
| It's in a book I have on secret societies. Let me root it out of my bedroom. *goes to bedroom and searches* Ok, Michael Bradley's "The Secret Societies Handbook" states, in a nutshell that Freemasonry is the world's oldest and largest fraternity. Their origins trace as far back as to the Middle Ages. They claim that they're decended from Godfrey de Bouillon, the leader of the first Crusade. No one knows how powerful they truly are or what secrets they're hiding, but more than half of the Founding Fathers of the United States were Freemasons. Close examination of a map of Washington DC also is said to reveal two symbols of their power: an inverted pentagram and the "square and compass". Another symbol of theirs, the all-seeing eye above the pyramid, is on the back of the American dollar bill, along with their mottos "e pluribus unum" (out of many, one) and "novus ordo seclorum" (a new order of the ages). Apparently, a secret group within the Freemasons acts in a manner that is completely above the law. The average-Joe members are in service to a "arcanum arcandrum" (sacred secret). In terms of beliefs, yes they are monotheists. They draw their metaphysical views from the Jewish Kabbalah, but accept men of all belief systems. Even Satanists would be able to join. |
| Posted by: South2003 Feb 4 2005, 04:37 PM |
| I read this book by David Icke "The world biggest secrets" That opened my mind up to the masons. I then questioned my neighbor and he said never, ever tell this to no one about the secrets. His heart was pounding when I broke it down to him. He had, and still is, I guess, mason, for many years, and wondered how I knew so much. Anyway, before he left my house, he made mentioned that the information that I have can have me killed. Was I scared, nope, I kept reading. lol |
| Posted by: non conformist Feb 5 2005, 07:17 AM |
| South, David Icke is one of my favorite authors. I go to his website everyday to his headlines page. That's where I mostly get my news from. He has many articles on freemasonry: All the levels, rituals, and practices. He also mentions how our forefathers were all masons. He points out all the symbolism reflected in our national monuments, currency, etc. The man is a genious. |
| Posted by: Lokmer Feb 5 2005, 11:39 AM |
| David Icke is a genius? David Icke is a professional bullshit artist who mixes paranoid fantasy with just enough facts to be plausible - the man makes Acharya S. look like a responsible scholar. Freemasonry has been a hobby of mine for some time - I'm by no means an expert, but everything I've been able to vette out indicates that Freemasons are somewhat less powerful and far less evil than organizations like the Catholic Church. They are a fraternal organization concerned with what all fraternal organizations are concerned with: nepotism. That is, the advancement of fraternal members through favoritism and referrals. The same works in any fraternal organization, whether Phi Beta Kappa, Skull and Bones, Rotary clubs, Lions Clubs, Tostmasters, etc. They are not a top-down structure, every lodge operates quasi-independently. The religious structure is NOT derived from Jewish Kaballah - rather both Masonry and Kaballah share a common ancestor in Hermeticism. Mormonism is a ripoff of freemasonry - from what I can vette out the eventual reason that Joseph Smith was persecuted and killed was for "open sourcing" all the Freemason rituals and rites. Freemasonry's "monotheism" is, like most monotheism, sun worship (although they are more honest about it than most). The actual religion is taken lightly by most members, seen as a social bonding device rather than serious theology, although there are those who take it quite seriously. Most of the Founding Fathers of the U.S. were Masons, and espoused good Masonic virtues: secular enlightenment, rationalism, education, civil service, historical knowledge, science, and invention. But like all fraternities and secret organizations, the members can and do cover for each other in bad deeds as well as good. Like I said - it's about nepotism. For more information, check out Thomas Paine's "The Origins of Freemasonry" (available at infidels.org), go to a masonic lodge, study the history of cathedral construction in late medieval Europe, and study American History - you can get a flavor for masonic values by looking at the actions of their members. You will find that they are pretty much regular people that vary widely in values and culture - their chief function is the advancement of their brothers in their chosen fields of endeavor, in exchange for advancement from others, coupled with civil service and male bonding. Like all other fraternal groups, they have their dark, scary chapters, and they have been known to kill the occasional miscreant (like Joseph Smith). But please, please, don't swallow the paranoid bullshit that apocalyptic Christians and Alien profiteers put out about them. There are some facts there, but there is so much wild conjecture, lies, disinformation, et.al. that it's nearly impossible to wade through. Christians hate Freemasons and spread stories about them running slave trades and selling children for Human Sacrifice, attempting to establish a one-world government to institute the Mark of the Beast, etc. ad. nauseum because they hate the competition. Other conspiracy theorists (and, it should be noted, the business of conspiracy theories began in fundamentalism and is kept alive BY fundamentalists) feed on the generated paranoia that easily attatches itself to any secretive group with a wide membership (a group that is slowly dying, by the way, as the paranoia and a distaste for history has severely limited their recruitment abilities from younger generations). -Lokmer |
| Posted by: Diogenes Feb 5 2005, 01:42 PM |
| I've browsed through a couple of Icke's books, and at first thought they were interesting. Then (and I believe I am recalling this correctly) I saw that he believes that certain people can shapeshift themselves into reptiles or something. When I saw this, I put the book back on the shelf and went and washed my hands. As for freemasonry, I find its history to be interesting. I've read 'The Hiram Key' by Knight and Lomas (which seemed highly speculative to me), as well as 'Born in Blood' by Robinson (which I thought was pretty good). Here's something funny: Yesterday when I originally posted this, my next attempt to get to ex-C.com a short time later, said my account was suspended. I later found out it was server problems, but at the time I thought I had been booted from the website because I introduced this topic in open forums and the masonic conspiracy acted to boot me off. I'm such a conspiracy theorist. |
| Posted by: bemuseme Feb 5 2005, 07:40 PM |
| I know next to nothing about the specifics of freemasonry, but my great grandfather and grandmother were involved. Of course my grandmother being a woman was only involved at the auxiliary level of the Eastern Star which she told me was about charitable service in the community. They quietly went about making sure the poor, elderly, and infirm, were cared for. She also told me that during the lynching times of the early 20th century that the masons actively opposed the Ku Klux Klan by exposing who was involved and by protecting the local black community when tensions were high and rescuing the intended victims at gun point when necessary. Knowing the kind of people my grandparents were makes it extremely difficult to believe that the organization acts generally for nefarious purposes, though obviously there can be that danger with any closed group. And btw, they do not actively recruit members. One must approach them and ask to join as they believe strongly in free will and self determination. I suppose they do influence their membership to be tolerant, as my grandmother was also a baptist but never had a problem when I talked with her of my own searching and studies of other faiths like buddhism, et cetera. |
| Posted by: notblindedbytheblight Feb 7 2005, 12:59 PM |
| Isn't that where you can get a brick-layer for free? |
| Posted by: Diogenes Feb 7 2005, 01:36 PM | ||
Ok, that was better than my lame Free Willy reference, but not much...  |
| Posted by: notblindedbytheblight Feb 7 2005, 02:25 PM | ||||
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