I was talking to a friend last night and he mentioned his thoughts on Freemasons and he did not paint a very good picture of them at all.
At best they seem to be a sad collection of anachronistic old fuddy-duddys with one foot in the past and at worst they seem to have had a hand in every major conspiracy there is.
Without knowing for sure myself I took his comments with a pinch of salt because he does lean more to the 'fancifull' end of the spectrum when telling a story.
I know very little about Freemasons and have no real thoughts as yet but will start digging for more info on this fascinating subject.
I have discovered Freemasonry isnt a religion (although some people think it is) and that it is more a philosophy on life , hence I placed it in here rather than anywhere else in the forum.
What are your thoughts on Freemasons?
Are any of you Freemasons?
Do you know any Freemasons?
I find this topic fascinating and will research it further.
Regards
The Captain
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemason
Its basically a club. Just something people join for what ever reason they join clubs. From Their Site
http://www.freemasonry.org/
| Quote: |
| Freemasonry is the oldest and largest world wide fraternity dedicated to the Brotherhood of Man under the Fatherhood of a Supreme Being. Although of a religious nature, Freemasonry is not a religion. It urges its members, however, to be faithful and devoted to their own religious beliefs. |
Now with my expirience with them this has been to a certain degree what the picture was painted like. Though after some deeper talks one Mason told me that on occasion in dire emergency the "club" as the definition puts is came to his aid with alot of money in the thosands of dollars for him to save his home, almost overnight. He stated that a time later another mason came to him and simply asked for 5 thousand dollars and ofcourse as he had it, he gave it no questions asked. I see in this that they watch the backs of their own.
The man that spoke with me was one of my college professors and even though he told me this much he was still vague about it, so I believe that there is alot more to them than meets the eye.
I can see where you are interested. | sodredge wrote: |
The man that spoke with me was one of my college professors and even though he told me this much he was still vague about it, so I believe that there is alot more to them than meets the eye.
I can see where you are interested. |
Indeed, they have an oath of secrecy that they take very seriously. Even though my own great-grandparents were fairly high in the ranks of their organization my grandmother (their daughter) doesn't know much about freemasonry... and I know even less. Not that I'm considering becoming a member
Last edited by Montressor on Thu Dec 07, 2006 11:41 pm; edited 1 time in totalthey were a real power once a time.
but nowadays they lost serious part of their power.
My grandfather was a grand master poobah or whatever in his lodge. He was apparently as high as you can go in the organization, from what i understand, because there is no real hierarchy above the individual lodges.
He talked about it often, but i was young at the time. i did pick up the following bits and pieces, though.
He had a special secret decoder ring, and if you wore it on the wrong hand, other masons would walk up and ask if you were in distress.
Apparently, he was passed over for service in WW2, for some medical reason or another - but he used his masonic connections to enlist in some non-military service (i believe similar to the US coast guard). He did this even though he didn't have to because apparently the Nazis were persecuting freemasons. Apparently they even sunk a U-boat (or at least, they shot at one and it vanished).
The way my father, uncles and aunts describe it (my grandfather's children, that is), it was a social group. One of my uncles described it as a "knitting circle". My father called them "English shriners, without the fezzes".
When i was young, there was a HUGE scandal, with accusations being levelled against the lodge that they had had someone killed, and covered up something else, etc. etc. What i remember of it at the time was that my grandfather was lividly indignant, and my uncles and aunts were just tickled pink with amusement. Within the circle of lodgemembers that i knew - and i knew several of them - none of them seemed to take the accusation seriously. These were some of the most powerful and influential members of the lodge - my grandfather was the chief at the time - and i knew them quite well. i admit i was young at the time, but i was an acute youngster, i detected not the slightest trace of deception or guilt throughout it all. Neither did any of my aunts or uncles, or my father. In fact, they made a big joke of it all, and delighted in teasing my grandfather and the other lodgemembers about it.
None of my uncles, or any of my cousins, has followed in my grandfather's footsteps and joined the lodge. So obviously whatever benefits it had, they weren't that tangible.
Thanks for your input guys and thanks to Indi for that in-depth and personal reply. Your candid approach, time and effort is greatly appreciated. 
peace be upon you.
freemasons? this reminds me of the theory that they control the whole world and have manufactored most wars...anyway they DO seem to have lots of power. America might be a freemasonic state and on some dollar bills, one of the freemason symbols are there, which either indicates they have influence, or the designer was a freemason or something else.
may God bless you.
| loyal wrote: |
peace be upon you.
freemasons? this reminds me of the theory that they control the whole world and have manufactored most wars...anyway they DO seem to have lots of power. America might be a freemasonic state and on some dollar bills, one of the freemason symbols are there, which either indicates they have influence, or the designer was a freemason or something else.
may God bless you. |
The Freemasons had a loot of influence in the early US but there secrecy and a murder of a man who wrote a book about the traditions and rituals of the Freemasons wiped that influence out. They now have little influence in the government.
There are always people who say crazy things like "the Freemasons control the world" but they don't, its just a club. | The Conspirator wrote: |
The Freemasons had a loot of influence in the early US but there secrecy and a murder of a man who wrote a book about the traditions and rituals of the Freemasons wiped that influence out. They now have little influence in the government.
There are always people who say crazy things like "the Freemasons control the world" but they don't, its just a club. |
hmm yeah maybe you're right. they have little influence on the goverment, but they still can use influence though. i mean lots of policemen are masons. i've read it's hard to become promoted if you're not a mason.
may God bless you all. | loyal wrote: |
| The Conspirator wrote: |
The Freemasons had a loot of influence in the early US but there secrecy and a murder of a man who wrote a book about the traditions and rituals of the Freemasons wiped that influence out. They now have little influence in the government.
There are always people who say crazy things like "the Freemasons control the world" but they don't, its just a club. |
hmm yeah maybe you're right. they have little influence on the goverment, but they still can use influence though. i mean lots of policemen are masons. i've read it's hard to become promoted if you're not a mason.
may God bless you all. |
No, Freemason are a very small group, very, very few of the police are Freemasons. | Quote: |
Apparently, he was passed over for service in WW2, for some medical reason or another - but he used his masonic connections to enlist in some non-military service (i believe similar to the US coast guard). He did this even though he didn't have to because apparently the Nazis were persecuting freemasons. Apparently they even sunk a U-boat (or at least, they shot at one and it vanished).
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why should he be afraid persecuting of the nazis?
| Quote: |
No, Freemason are a very small group, very, very few of the police are Freemasons.
|
in which country they are a small group in the police.
in my country(turkiye), they don't have any power in police but alot in foreign ministry. | Captain Fertile wrote: |
At best they seem to be a sad collection of anachronistic old fuddy-duddys with one foot in the past.
|
That seems like an apt description. I don't think there's anything sinister about them these days. As someone said above, it's just a club more akin to drinking buddies getting together to sink a few.Yet again im the GIRL (its my friends account for OUR site)
Im in Rainbow which is the Girls Youth Organization Sponsered by the masons!
Its not a Religion it just supports the ideas of being religious!
They dont tell you what to believe and the secrets that they have isnt anything dark or something its just specific things that make up the Freemasonry way of life and they way they act.
My dad and uncle and both of my grandfathers and great Grand fathers where ALL MASONS
Its just an understanding of what they believe and with the Movie National Treasure out you find out SOME of the truth behind some of the secrets of the order but not enough to have a really good understanding of them or what the believe in!
Youd have to be in it to undertand what they are all about but if Dave Thomas was a mason there is NO WAY they can be all bad!!!
They did have a MAJOR part in the United States history as MANY of our Former Presidents INCLUDING George Washington where masons as where the men who wrote the Decloration of Independence as well as the Constitution of The United States!!
| palavra wrote: |
| Quote: | Apparently, he was passed over for service in WW2, for some medical reason or another - but he used his masonic connections to enlist in some non-military service (i believe similar to the US coast guard). He did this even though he didn't have to because apparently the Nazis were persecuting freemasons. Apparently they even sunk a U-boat (or at least, they shot at one and it vanished).
|
why should he be afraid persecuting of the nazis? |
Who said he was afraid of persecution?
i said that he was exempt from military service, but found another way to serve because his "brothers" were being persecuted. It's impossible to say now, but i don't imagine that he would have bothered if that hadn't been the case. | Indi wrote: |
i said that he was exempt from military service, but found another way to serve because his "brothers" were being persecuted. It's impossible to say now, but i don't imagine that he would have bothered if that hadn't been the case. |
sorry, misunderstood.
do you mean "german brothers"?
in war time did your grandpa has a contact with his "german brothers"? | palavra wrote: |
| Indi wrote: |
i said that he was exempt from military service, but found another way to serve because his "brothers" were being persecuted. It's impossible to say now, but i don't imagine that he would have bothered if that hadn't been the case. |
sorry, misunderstood.
do you mean "german brothers"?
in war time did your grandpa has a contact with his "german brothers"? |
i don't imagine he had a direct line, especially during the actual war, but it was no great secret that the Nazi agenda included persecution of freemasons long before the first shots of the war were fired. Anti-masonic pamphlets and so on were probably easily and widely available before the war actually started. Hell, they had freemasons wearing badges - just like the infamous yellow star of David that Jews had to wear, except theirs were red triangles - before the war started.i know its basically been said what they are, but i thought i would just ad my two pence.
from what i know freemasons.
To Join
You need to be a person of some importance or at least little importance, in your society, and must hold some form of religious belief. You must be invited by the masons. But usually if you are a reletive they will ask you and then you can join.
What they do
Nower days it seems t be about helping out charities. Fund raising etc.
Silly ceramonies, rolling up your trouser legs and then hopping around on one leg to be initiated. i here things like if you try to leave they kil you, they ask you a secret, so if you ever turn against them your secret is revealed, stuff like tha, but doupt it goes on nowerdays.
I i dont know if its universal, but the Masons in my home town meet every first friday of the month. All wearing black suits and dressed uber smart and carrying a black briefcase ( i believe containing their robes and other masonic goodies)
Being a mason is rumoured to give you a head start, in the way that, if i went for a job and was a mason, and the interviewer was Mason, they would chose me over a non mason, even if i was under qualified.
Secret handshakes, rings, etc etc.
if i went to prison for murder and the judge was a mason, he would make me not guilty.
i would liek to point out i am not a mason.
Also being mason is a secret ^^
Being a Freemason is not actually a secret. As the post above me noted, you can watch them walk in. Yes, my mother lodge also meets on Fridays, but this is not universal. We meet three Fridays a month.
If you see them dressed smartly in black, maybe a tuxedo or three, I would assume that that is quite an active lodge. Such dress usually suggests a Master Mason is being raised - definitely so if you see tuxedos.
The only real secrets a Blue Lodge mason has is who is and who isn't a mason. All the grips and passwords have all been published, so have most of the rites. The real secret of a Freemason is in his heart, what his experience of the various grades has taught him and informed his worldview.
Freemasonry is indeed more than a club, but for many men it isn't. That is the sad part about the Order... some of it's glory is lost to most members.
Could Freemasonry be responsible for all these conspiracy theories. Only in as much as any place where more than three people meet and might later act on something could be held responsible. If every suspect involved in the JFK assassination had met at the YMCA, would people start suspecting the YMCA of being some horrendous organization bent on overthrowing the government? Probably.
Being a Freemason cannot make a judge find you not guilty. That decision is left to a jury in the United States. But being a Freemason does come with its privileges. Perhaps leniency. But, in this country, leniency is also granted for those caught in crimes who have otherwise previously shown an exemplary life and so such is always considered when making sentencing decisions. If a Freemason normally acted on behalf of the good of his community, but then was convicted of a crime, he'd surely get a shorter sentence than a repeat offender... but not necessarily due to his lodge affiliation. This is called Judicial Discretion. It goes that way for all sentencing procedures in the States. Think of the old philosophical question: Do you punish a woman who stole bread to feed her starving babies the same way you punish a common miscreant who stole bread because he said it smelled good?
I've heard that the freemasons who are quite high up in the degrees, are told that the freemasons have to worship a God called Jahbulon. I tried to find out who this god is, but all i found out was that the name is made from three different gods:
Jah from Yahweh
Bul from Baal
On from Osiris
anyone have any ideas?
may God bless you all.
Freemasonry is an organization that is focused on two things: destroy the Catholic church and destroy monarchies. For them the best Freemasonic country is the United States.
My opinion is that if ever there was more intent in the organization known as Freemasonry, the existence of that Intent has been long since dead due to membership being mostly just a bunch of old boys looking for something to do and a place to go.
FreeMasonry is informal organization. Their objective is not clear and depence on level in structrure. The lowest rank could get better job and highest decide of policy and economy in the world. History not exactly known - but for sure they exist in 18 century. French Revolution was his great success.
Exist many lodges and a few rituals. FreeMasonry use many symbols and ritual. One of this ritual was shown in movies with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman - Eyes wide closed.
Freemasons they seem to always attract the conspiracy theorists and curious scholars in there prime. what is a fact is that the organization has been in existance for a long time. more than a club it a guild of antiquity. Masonry involves the science of math and engineering. in ancient times a properous king would set out to build an empire, a kingdom; this required buildings. to be knows as the best king would require the best buildings. the pyramids are a classic example of this. a person in the masonry guild would have access to the knowldge required of the day to build the latest designs. so these guilds where designed to keep secrets from other members of society.
But as the guild has evolved has it kept other secrets from members of society? it is a fact that the most influential people in history have all been freemasons: most of our presidents and bankers. do they house secrets to help people evolve into the most spiritually advanced human that they can be? or are they simply a bunch of old people doing charity work?
