Freemasonry?

by inkling 40 Replies latest watchtower bible

Uzzah

To answer the original question, Masons are simply a fraternity with a focus on behind the scenes charitable works. For example my lodge funds a woman's shelter and we also had a fundraiser to pay for three seeing eye dogs last year. There is no fanfare, just neighbor helping neighbor.
There is a close bond between Masons and that has been a cause for concern in the past since the ties from Lodge can influence a choice in contractor, roofer, insurance agent, etc prefering to do business with someone you know from Lodge rather than a non-Mason. However that is a personal choice and not something inforced.
The Shriners which at one time were made up of 32nd degree Masons was more of the public goodwill segment of the Masons. The Shriners circus and the little cars in parades are all used as means of raising money for the various Shriner burn units in place across North America (I can't speak to elsewhere). Now any 3rd degree mason is welcome to join the Shrine. This is because Masonry is dying off. It is mostly older men, long retired that make up the lodges.
The interest generated from National Treasure and the DaVinci Code have swelled the ranks slightly but Masonry of today is a pale shadow of its former self of the late 1600's to early 1900s. This is why you see so much Masonic references in American culture and even in the teaching of Russell. Masonic imagery was everywhere in North America during Russell's time, including most Adventist churches. So yes Russell used a prymid to help justify his chronology and to make predictions of the 'end times' that however did not make him a Mason, anymore than someone carrying an amercian dollar bill has masonic ties because of the 200 year old imagery contained on the currency.
There are rituals (aka lessons) that are involved with each degree of Masonry. Each degree teaches a different life lesson. The general motto of Masons is that we take good men and make them better. This is also why one's family and career take priority over Masonic activity. Masonry is intended to make someone a better husband and father not to take them away from their family. (Which was very refreshing approach considering the JW stance).
Inkling: Hope that gives you some basic information. Feel free to pm me if you have any other questions.
Beta Male

yup, freemasons have secrets alright. plastered all over the damned internet. pretty secret, id say.
and evil too. scary evil. what with their aprons and such. a guy can pack some serious heat behind an apron.
Tired of it all

Anybody who thinks that freemason is harmless should watch this video http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2748614967389038944&q=prophecy+club&total=161&start=20&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2 how many people want to deny that Russell was a fremason, when all the evidence is staring them in face. I mean he buried in a cemetary right next to the largest mason hall in penn. and his memorial is a giant illumnati symbol of the pyramid, he comes from the top bloodlines of the illumnati.
Big Tex

As with many organizations and groups, there is both good and bad. I had a very bad experience in my childhood with the Masons, but I've come to accept that had as much to do with my father, and some very disturbed friends of his, as much as it did with that chapter of Masons. I'm far enough along in my recovery to recognize that experience probably colors any objective view I might have about Freemasonry.
Having said that, I have found secrecy tends to breed, even encourage, more dysfunctional behavior than it does benevolence, irregardless of stated objectives.
Chris
SirNose586

A Shriner came into the dealership today. He had one of those Tin Lizzies in the back of his truck, and played the sound effects for everyone!
I used to scour the 'nets for information on Freemasons (most of which came from conspiracy theorist sites), and have come to the conclusion that it's an old boys' club with deep roots. I don't think they have any crazy secret wisdom that they're hiding; it's just a way to make connections to others--big, important connections. I've occasionally entertained the notion of joining a lodge someday. I've heard that there are different lodges depending on cultural background and income level.
There were two other identifiable Freemasons who came into the shop. One was quite the weird fellow, and seemed to have his life packed away in his Prius. If he didn't have satisfactory hygiene, I'd conclude that he lived in his car...
The other man drove a new Avalon. He got exclusive attention and service from the service manager and the shop foremen. Could it have been his emblem on his car? Or could it have been simply a valued customer who was receiving needed attention for his problem? I don't know.
chappy

There is indeed evil within Freemasonary...
glenster

I have an offhanded undersatanding of Freemasonry. I thought it wad group
that let people of various faiths do community work together. According to
this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry
that's basically it.
It says Freemasonry requires a member to be a moral person of good character
who wants to help the community. I'll go with the choice that he wasn't a Free-
mason, then.
Russell may have had some symbols in common with it and possibly networked
with some for whatever advantage, but I don't think the JWs leaders' originator
of a literal 144,000, resultant propaganda/making the facts fit the theory/slan-
der against most others to make it a phoney elitist literature-selling scam, in-
cluding the beginning of the JWs leaders' harsher shunning ideas in how the
court judged the way Russell cooked up his friends to treat Maria during his
divorce, fits the definition.
It seems like he was about as much a Mason as his flavor of Christian, I
should say Russellite, Zionism, complete with specific date-setting predictions
and historicism, made him an orthodox Jewish person.
freyd

QUOTE: Jedi Master
"http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/images/t.gif"> Claims have been made that "Pastor" Russell (1852/02/16-1916/10/31), founder of the International Bible Students Association — forerunner of the Jehovah’s Witnesses — was a freemason; that the banner on the front of early issues of the Watchtowercontained masonic symbols; and that Russell’s gravestone bears a masonic cross and crown symbol. Russell was not a freemason. Neither the symbols found in the Watchtower nor the cross and crown symbol are exclusively masonic. And the cross and crown symbol does not appear on his gravestone in the Rosemont United Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania — it appears on a memorial erected some years later. In an address delivered in a San Francisco masonic hall in 1913, Russell made positive use of masonic imagery by saying, "Now, I am a free and accepted mason. I trust we all are. But not just after the style of our masonic brethren." He further develops this idea: "true Bible believers may or may not belong to the masonic fraternity, but they are all masons of the highest order, since they are being fashioned, chiselled and polished by the Almighty to be used as living stones in the Temple Built Without Hands. They are free from sin, and therefore accepted by the God of Heaven as fit stones for the heavenly Temple." Later in this address, Russell stated quite clearly that "I have never been a mason." Those who claim Russell was a freemason quote this address out of context without noting the rhetorical imagery. Although Russell wrote about the pyramids and the Knights Templar, the pyramids are not a part of Freemasonry and Russell’s understanding of the relationship between the modern Knights Templar and Freemasonry displays an outsider’s ignorance of both organizations.

http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/anti-masonry03.htm

Another Mason site saying NO!

http://www.masonicinfo.com/famousnon.htm#4

"There is no credible evidence whatsoever that Charles Taze Russell, the founder of the Jehovah's Witness faith, was a Mason. Some have charged that his tombstone appears as a keystone (a symbol used in Royal Arch Masonry), that there appears on the stone a crown and cross and that the stone is in the shape of a pyramid. (Those who make the claim do so for their own ends ignoring the fact that the cross and crown have long been symbols of Christianity, that the pyramid is often used in one-dimension view to represent the Trinity etc.) A review of Russell's personal life would have likely found him unwelcome within a Lodge. A current author says of him "Russell's faults as a writer were perhaps the least of his shortcomings. Accusations of sexual and financial improprieties, for example, dogged him throughout his adult life. Russell's notorious difficulties with his long-suffering wife Maria, aired during a series of sensational libel, separation, and alimony suits near the turn of the century, became a particular source of embarrassment for both the pastor and his flock. (Russell's stature couldn't have been enhanced when a Pennsylvania judge concluded that his "continual arrogant domination" of his wife was enough to "render the life of any sensitive Christian woman a burden and make her life intolerable."4 This notwithstanding, Pastor Russell did, upon occasion, make reference to Masons. One internet supporter of Russell's regularly argues that Freemasonry was totally against the Preacher's philosophy but the argument he makes is based on his interpretation rather than facts. Those attempting to condemn Russell based on Masonic membership fail to produce any evidence of his membership (the name of his lodge or the names of lodges he ostensibly visited, for example) and his supporters use faulty logic in arguing against it. Russell is not mentioned in any Masonic reference works, a unique situation indeed if he were a Mason because of his notoriety. Oh, and did we mention?: the "tombstone" that's so often referred to is actually a monument erected to Russell by the Watchtower Society which has regularly criticized Freemasonry. Pastor Russell's actual gravestone is a couple of dozen yards away...."
Brother Apostate

http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/NWO/33rd_Initiation.htm
http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/NWO/Freemasonry.htm
BA- Read and come to your own conclusion.
Uzzah

too funny. I wear my Masonic rings daily (usually third degree but often rings indicating higher degrees as well.) For the most part someone will come up and say 'hey you're a Mason." I will say "yup". Damn those secrets.
Most of the "passwords" are part of ritual within the Lodge and are not part of daily life. The handshakes simply confirm the assertation that "I am a Mason"
To an ultra Right wing Born again fanatic, I can see how one might find fault with some symbolisms and analogies used in Masonry. But it is a MULTI-FAITH fraternity, not intended to replace your religion.
Here's a clue, if it bothers you, don't be part of it. The cool thing with the Masons is that if you decide to quit, you can and they will still all talk to you and your family doesn't have to disown you.

Freemasonry?

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