FREE MASONRY - the Principles

[blackwidow]

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OT:
Welcome Bro.Spot!
Glad to have you here!

[SPRINGFIELD_XD_40]

FREEMASONRY is not a religion .

http://www.masonicinfo.com/religion.htm

FREEMASONRY AND RELIGION

Basic Principles. Freemasonry is not a religion, nor is it a substitute for religion. It requires of its members belief in God as part of the obligation of every responsible adult, but advocates no sectarian faith or practice. Masonic ceremonies include prayers, both traditional and extempore, to reaffirm each individual's dependence on God and to seek divine guidance.Â* Freemasonry is open to men of any faith, but religion may not be discussed at Masonic meetings.

The Supreme Being. Masons believe that there is one God and that people employ many different ways to seek, and to express what they know of, God. Masonry primarily uses the appellation, "Grand Architect of the Universe," and other nonsectarian titles, to address Deity, In this way, persons of different faiths may join together in prayer, concentrating on God, rather than differences among themselves. Masonry believes in religious freedom and that the relationship between the individual and God is personal, private, and scared.

Volume of the Sacred Law. An open volume of the Sacred Law, "the rule and guide of life,'' is an essential part of every Masonic meeting. The Volume of the Sacred Law to a Christian is the Bible; to Freemasons of other faiths, it is the book held holy by them.

The Oath of Freemasonry. The obligations taken by Freemasons are sworn on the Volume of the Sacred Law. They are undertakings to follow the principles of Freemasonry and to keep confidential a Freemason's means of recognition. The much discussed "penalties," judicial remnants from an earlier era, are symbolic, not literal. They refer only to the pain any honest man should feel at the thought of violating his word.

Freemasonry Compared with Religion. Freemasonry lacks the basic elements of religion:
Â* Â* Â* (a) It has no dogma or theology, no wish or means to enforce religious orthodoxy.
Â* Â* Â* (b) It offers no sacraments.
Â* Â* Â* (c) It does not claim to lead to salvation by works, by secret knowledge, or by any other means. The secrets of Freemasonry are concerned with modes of recognition,Â* not with the means of salvation.

Freemasonry supports Religion. Freemasonry is far from indifferent toward religion. Without interfering in religious practice, it expects each member to follow his own faith and to place his Duty to God above all other duties. Its moral teachings are acceptable to all religions.

source : http://www.masonicinfo.com/religion2.htm

[BaDBoY]

thanks for the information...

[Archer sensAtion]

@Spot:

Brod welcome to istorya.net ...just ignore Manny, he will not believe whatever you post here... cuz he thinks he is always right...and we are wrong...(in other words feeling nya kabalo cya tanan, pero feel ra na nya)...his evidinces came from articles only, yeah only (what the)...

by the way im archer_sensation: International Order of DeMolay (Ozamiz Chapter)

[Jacks]

um, manny, don't get me wrong, but i'm not asking for where or to what principles you base you position from... i also wouldn't want to assume if your answer is a yes or a no basing on that article you pasted... so again:

"fact of the matter is.. freemasons are excommunicated by the church.. klaro kaayo na sa mga rules sa catholic church.
but that doesnt make you bad persons."

do you agree on that?... that that doesn't make them bad people... it's just a yes or no question really...

also, i've stated earlier that i wanted to be enlighted on things... this, for one, means i'd like you to talk to me like i'm a four year old... it may sound silly, but that's how expressing an idea and sharing it to others in the simplest way is done... i believe you know that... and i'd rather read things coming from YOU manny, not from those articles or whatever your posting... if you want, just give me a link, i might go there, but what i'd like to read is YOUR idea...

@shot

it's so nice you posted... LOL... it's GOOD to know that such a scenario does exist... really... you should have posted long before today... ...

[mannyamador]

YES it is a public forum but you are if not sounding claiming to gain alliances of DIASAGREEING with me whom I am not forcing anyone including you to absorb what I said . I was aksed , I just answered . You are very hard headed , you keep on blabbing that credibility ... might as well not ASK at all not only to me but to all because you brand answers with INACCURACY because of its CREDIBILITY.

You're not making sense. You claim to be credible and don't present any evidence of it. Instead you display unbelievably bad reasoning andf self-contradiction. Need I say more?

I thought you were really INTELLIGENT when I first saw you posting here . I am wrong . DOnt pass to me your dirt please .

Judging from your posts, you wouldn't know intelligence if it bit your nose off.

? As ive said .. I dont need to prove a point . Its up to you to ABSORB , COMPREHEND and INSTILL answers whom you yourself is searching for that answer also.

In other words, I should take just believe you, without any evidence and despite your display of irrationality. Yeah right. Maybe you want people to buy Baguio beachfront property too.


@Jacks

Hi Jacks. My position is accurately stated by that which I quoted to you earlier. I apologize if I am not as creative, eloquent, or "original" as some others. That's my limitation. So instead of "reinventing the wheel", so to speak, I find that others have stated what I want to communicate better than I. So I quote them. In any case, it's the content that I am find important, not the originality. I gotta make do with what limitations I've got

[mannyamador]

CATHOLICS AND THE FREEMASON 'RELIGION'
http://www.ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/WHATMAS.HTM
Fr. William Saunders

What are the Masons? Are Catholics allowed to belong to this organization? -- A Reader.

The origins of the Masons, or what is officially called Freemasonry, are hard to pinpoint. With the decline of cathedral building in the aftermath of the Protestant movement, the guilds of masons began accepting non-masons as members to bolster their dwindling membership. Eventually, the non-masons outnumbered the masons, and the guilds became places for the discussion of ethics and morality while retaining the secret signs, symbols and gestures of the original guild. Four such guilds merged in 1717 in London, England, to form the Grand Lodge of Freemasons. (A "freemason" was highly skilled mason who enjoyed the privileges of membership in a trade guild.) The Masons then spread throughout the world.

Old "handbooks" of Freemasonry define the organization as "a peculiar system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols," "a science which is engaged in the search after the divine truth," and "the activity of closely united men who, employing symbolic forms borrowed principally from the mason's trade and others and thereby to bring about a universal league of mankind which they aspire to exhibit even now on a small scale."

James Anderson (d. 1739), a Scottish Presbyterian minister, wrote the Book of Constitutions in which he contrived the "traditional," albeit spurious, history of Freemasonry. Masons hold that God, "the Great Architect," founded Freemasonry, and that it has as patrons Adam and the Patriarchs. Even Jesus is listed as "the Grand Master" of the Christian Church. They credit themselves with the building of Noah's ark, the Tower of Babel, the pyramids and Solomon's Temple. In all, Freemasonry borrows liberally from the history and traditions of cultic groups such as Druids, Mithars, Egyptian priesthood, Rosicrucians and others to weave its own history.

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.

The history of Freemasonry has proven its anti-Catholic nature. In the United States, one of the leaders of Freemasonry, General Albert Pike (d. 1891) referred to the papacy as "a deadly, treacherous enemy," and wrote, "The papacy has been for a thousand years the torturer and curse of humanity, the most shameless imposture, in its pretense to spiritual power of all ages." In France, in 1877, and in Portugal in 1910, Freemasons took control of the government for a time and enacted laws to restrict the activities of the Church, particularly in education. In Latin America, the Freemasons have expressed anti-Church and anti-clerical sentiment.

Since the decree "In Eminenti" of Pope Clement XII in 1738, Catholics have been forbidden to join 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.
_________________________________________________
Fr. Saunders is president of the Notre Dame Institute and pastor of Queen of Apostles Parish, both in Alexandria.

[Jacks]

"fact of the matter is.. freemasons are excommunicated by the church.. klaro kaayo na sa mga rules sa catholic church.
but that doesnt make you bad persons."

again manny... do you agree on this or disagree... it's only a yes or a no... i didn't mention being original, eloquent or any other adjectives... i also didn't ask for articles, or a dogma or anything... what i'm asking if a yes or a no answer... ...

[Archer sensAtion]

ARTICLES ARTICLES ARTICLES ARTICLES ARTICLES

go beyond your limitation...maayo man kaha ka diba?...

[mannyamador]

again manny... do you agree on this or disagree... it's only a yes or a no... i didn't mention being original, eloquent or any other adjectives... i also didn't ask for articles, or a dogma or anything... what i'm asking if a yes or a no answer... ...

The statement being analyzed is vague, and is really more of a motherhood statement. That is why I quoted another very clear statement. It makes my position clear. A yes or no won't. Perhaps you would like to give us your answer on whetheer you agree or not, with any accompanying qualifications as necessary?