In 2000, the Southern Baptist Convention issued a new publication called A Closer Look at Freemasonry. The pamphlet expands on the eight "tenets and teachings" of Freemasonry that were declared "incompatible with Christianity" in a report the SBC issued in 1993.
They are:
1) "Freemasonry uses offensive, non-biblical, and blasphemous terms relating to God."Masons | Masonic Critics | Southern Baptists | Freemasonry | BurningTaper.com | Anti-Masons | Burning Taper
2) "Freemasonry insists on the use of 'bloody oaths' or obligation, which are strictly forbidden by the Bible (cf. Matt 5:34-37)."
3) "Freemasonry urges that occultic and/or pagan readings be used, and that their teachings be appropriated in interpreting such concepts as the Trinity."
4) "Freemasonry includes the Bible as part of the 'furniture of the lodge,' but only as an equal with non-Christian symbols and writings."
5) "Freemasonry misuses the term 'light' to refer to moral 'reformation' as a means to salvation."
6) "Freemasonry teaches that salvation may be attained by 'good works' and not through faith in Christ alone."
7) "Freemasonry advocates in many of its writings the non-biblical teachings of universalism."
8) "In some of its lodges, Freemasonry discriminates against non-whites."
"In some of its lodges, Freemasonry discriminates against non-whites."<<
ReplyDeleteBrings to mind some old jokes about Baptists..just who do they think they're fooling, anyhow?
Jennifer, this show your total lack of knowledge of the history of the Baptist church. The Baptist churches were among the very fist in this country to speak out against slavery Many in the church who owned slaves released them as a result of the Baptist church's constant preaching on this subject. This was as early as the last quarter of the 18th century. In fact there were far more white slaves called "Indentured Servants". But make no mistake they were treated worse than black slaves due to their lessor value.
DeletePeople who have hidden themselves behind Freemasonry are responsible for the fight to keep slavery and the mistreatment of minorities alive. Why do you think they operate in the dark and have rituals while blindfolded? Don't choose to be ignorant of the facts and then make statements in favor of that which is wicked and evil. This cult called Freemasonry started in Babylon and included the conjuring up of pre-flood relatives whom were wicked and evil.
being a Northerner who attended religious highschools, I learned that within religions one may find more hypocracy than in masonry. Once men realize that they are responsable for their own souls and man made, or man interpreted laws won't work. Why must men feel they are righteous and need to control the lesser informed masses? More hate,killing and laundering of property and money has been done in the name of christ or any other prophet. When will religious leaders learn to adhere themselves to the teachings and let the rest of us figure it out ourselves. It still was a short time ago that these relious would KILL you if tried to tell them the world was round?
ReplyDeleteYou know... who cares what the SBC thinks?? There is a certain person who succombs to that limited point of view. They will never gain enough credence in the mainstream public to sway public opinion against us. In fact, they're constituency is in decline. This statement from the a gallup poll, conducted in 2001:
ReplyDelete"But the proportion of Americans who identify themselves as Southern Baptists has declined steadily and significantly over the past ten years, from 10% in 1993 to just 6% in 2001." (-SBC Statistics)
I wonder if one Southern Baptist preacher we all know who is tickled pink at the decline in membership of most blue lodges will acknowledge the rate of decline in his own little heretical sect? :)
Darren
Pfft, that's nothing!
ReplyDeleteI have at least 93 things I hate about Freemasonry.
Seems to me that what SBC hates most about Freemasonry is that it isn't the SBC.
ReplyDeletesouthen baptists are right masons are worshiping devil and going to join himm in HELL when they die!!
ReplyDeleteThere's an intelligent response from Mr. Anonymous! Must be the same hack who couldn't win an argument over at my blog! What a waste of air space!
ReplyDeleteDarren
Tom...I can think of at least 200 things I don't like about the SBC.
:)
Anon - first off, it makes me wonder why someone would continue to make inflammatory statements without being brave enough to post their name.
ReplyDeleteSecond, you're so far off base about the Satan worship thing that I don't know where to begin. Freemasonry is not a religion; Masons come to lodge already members of their own churches, temples, and synagogues. Some are more devout in their own religions, while others are more spiritual than religious.
Interestingly, many SBC members have been Masons. It's so funny to see the SBC up in arms about a fraternity or drinking or whatnot. You'd be a lot more productive if y'all would put that energy into caring for your neighbors and friends in the community.
The Tao of Masonry
My Grand father was a mason, and a southern baptist preacher. I know nothing about the whole thing. My grand father was born in 1892 my father was also a mason but he lrft the lodge. Why? I am unsure.
ReplyDeleteSo any info would be great. I would like to know what was going through my PaPas head while preaching.
There's one certain thing I hate about Freemasonry and it's that racist Albert Pike as a mason!
ReplyDeleteThat right, Albert Pike, your masonry hero is a Confederate racist out to keep slavery! That's a real good job to keep in 'freemason' lines to uphold slavery.
Alright, now try to fight for old Albert Pike, swines.
@Tommy
You mentioned about the Dao from Lao Tze. The mason ain't anything of the Dao. If the mason is about the Dao, then the mason should not give a damn about setting up a social order or material possessions in the first place.
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Another splinter to the 'eye', why not take a look for Pythagoras, the mason god? That's your god right there.
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More to come, Freemasonry is a religion. Freemasonry don't accept any member freely b/c of some retarded oaths of faith (you be glad it's not a legal contract or even the law). These oaths require tasks questioning personal beliefs. In fact, one of these oaths are sworn secrey. Compare that to the Roman Catholic pedo-priest scandals and you may get second thoughts about letting freemasonry be secretive.
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Hell, if the government is cracking down on corporations and firms for their finanicial failures, the government might as well include any entity involved with those corporations, firms, and "high places". That entity is the Freemasonry, and it is time for some justice! It is time for the freemasons to practice what they preach!
and i guess the guy above thinks the Civil War was fought over slavery. Have we not covered that this is an indirect issue. Pike was a great man. he may have been racist, but so was everybody then. Im not racist and i know that he is more luminescent than you could ever consider
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ReplyDeleteif we take good men and make them better then where does that imply we teach moral. Moral should be known before entering the lodge. why else is there a petition and vote. wow i was expecting to learn something here. American masonry has lost its way, i wonder if it shall ever regain what has been lost. O and for the rest of you. yes we hold tradition from a stone masons guild. Esoteric or free and accepted masonry came about in the mid 1600's in a crappy bar in london. Great place for morals. And we had friends like the Hell Fire Club. Real morel sounding people by the way. Our creators were not upstanding moral people happily sitting in a room with other people of a different religion discussing morals. we were founded by mystics and occultists. Rebels against the Religious Regimes. Duh i mean hell Alister Crowley was and i consider still is a mason. I don't think he really wanted to sit around and talk of morals. and Manly P Hall the mystic and sublime occultist of the 20th century. wow people where have you been what do u read and talk about other than morals. I could give a dam about your morals my morals they are all subjective. I joined Freemasonry because i am an occultist.
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ReplyDeleteHey if i spout crazy enough words will the baptists issue a nice pamphlet against me. I hope so.
ReplyDeletewow you took a very graphic oath to sit around and talk about morals. I understood most American masons have no idea what they are talking about, but i was expecting a little more. o wait you all did know Ben Franklin was an occultist and bisexual right. wow i had no idea it was this bad.
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ReplyDeletewow and to think we had a lot to do with the enlightenment. The historical period ya know. Logic, reason all that good stuff where did all that go.
ReplyDeletewe are a secret society thats not secret anymore so you all have no excuse for not knowing what you joined. Except you guys over like 60 or whatever. i could see not being informed from that standpoint. the internet is handy, if ya know how to find good resources.
Masonry was created to understand theology on a comparative level. Why else would you mix symbols from different traditions. it is called syncretism or to mix from different patterns of thought.
No religion is a full truth only a half truth. That was a manly hall quote ya know he was a 33.
ok i promise this is the last post today, but i have much more i could say.
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ReplyDeletesome anonymous poster who claims to be a Freemason claimed:
ReplyDelete"Esoteric or free and accepted masonry came about in the mid 1600's in a crappy bar in london. Great place for morals."
I offer evidence from the 1600s that Morals were taught in taverns:
"Meetings took place in church and the taverns as Puritans had always favored beer, wine and rum and the discussion of politics."
http://www.ehow.com/facts_7322928_puritan-lifestyle-1600s.html#ixzz1fmI9V175
Someone claiming to be a Freemason yet offering no confirmation on his identity while spouting typical anti-Masonic rhetoric wrote:
ReplyDelete"And we had friends like the Hell Fire Club."
I offer evidence that disputes the claim:
"WHILE anti-masons will point at the Hell-Fire Club as an example of masonic immorality, and conspiracy theorists will see the Club as an exercise in political mechination, there are few facts to support either opinion.
The practices and philosophies of the several Hell-Fire Clubs would certainly appear to be antithical to those of Freemasonry. Where Freemasonry taught moderation, the Hell-Fire Clubs promoted excess; while Freemasonry bound its members to obey the moral law and to be lawful citizens, the Hell-Fire Clubs encouraged drunkenness, debauchery and a disregard for social convention."
http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/history/hellfire/hellfire.html
Someone claiming to be a Freemason yet offering no confirmation on his identity while spouting typical anti-Masonic rhetoric wrote:
ReplyDelete"I could give a dam about your morals my morals they are all subjective. I joined Freemasonry because i am an occultist."
Nearly everyone has secrets; thus, nearly everyone is occultist. That's why I don't have your bank number, and nor you mine. Christianity is very occultist in its history, partially by necessity: hiding from the Pagan Roman government persecutions, hiding from the persecutions of the Inquisition &c.
"Alright, now try to fight for old Albert Pike, swines."
ReplyDeleteWhy should anyone fight for Albert Pike? He wrote his opinion, and we are in no way required to agree or disagree with Pike. In fact, if we were, we would be in direct contradiction with his statement in the preface to his book, Morals and Dogma; "Every one is entirely free to dissent from whatsoever herein may seem to him untrue or unsound." So, if we are forced to agree with any portion of M&D, we are disagreeing with Pike. We can't mindlessly agree with Pike, as that would be in disagreement with Pike. :.) Pike's not a god, and Morals and Dogma is not law. Not one single Mason is beholden to Pike or any other Masonic writer, and is free to disagree with all of them should they choose to do so.
Someone claiming to be a Freemason yet hiding their identity and spouting common anti-Masonic rhetoric wrote:
ReplyDelete" Logic, reason all that good stuff where did all that go.
we are a secret society thats not secret anymore so you all have no excuse for not knowing what you joined."
If you are assuming 'logic and reason' is gone from Freemasonry, perhaps you can offer evidence of the same? For someone who claims to have a 'subjective morality', you moralize about how much an individual should be required to know? Certainly, I fervently hope that any Freemason learns as much as they can about Freemasonry; even and especially if this leads them to conclude that Freemasonry is less than they'd hoped it would or should be. I wonder why you care (giving the benefit of the doubt that you actually do care at all) so much that others have 'an excuse for not knowing what they joined'.
ihateaim wrote:
ReplyDelete"Another splinter to the 'eye', why not take a look for Pythagoras, the mason god?"
Pythagoras was a great man with much to adimre, but not 'God' or a god at all. Never was, never will be. The same goes for Pike, who was long-winded and had opinions with which we are all entirely free to disagree.
Pike wrote: (in the 1887 Address to Masonic Veterans Association) "We adhere to the faith of our Fathers, believing there is a God, who is a protecting Providence, sympathizing with the creature that have their life from Him, and to whom it is not folly to pray." "We do not believe that Atheism or materialism, the deification of the blind forces of matter, the substitution of ourselves for God, the swinish doctrine of Epicurius, or any vain philosophies of the modern age can secure to States stability and true prosperity."
It is true some Freemasons consider Crowley a Mason, those who even know who he is and are interested, but many, such as myself, find him to have failed to display an ability to comport himself as one, and disagree that he ever was a Mason, though he thought himself a Mason. As to Manly Palmer Hall, he was a Freemason in my opinion. I know Manly's close friend, who is likewise a friend of mine. Again, I can appreciate and/or agree with some, all, or none of what Hall, Pike, Crowley, or any other individual may have said regarding Freemasonry.
ReplyDeleteAs to the Southern Baptists, I do not hate them. My older brother is a SB minister in Louisiana. I find their reasoning to be quite faulty in the above list, yet I fully support their right to govern their organization in the ways they deem fit and to freely hold opinions not necessarily in agreement with my own.
ReplyDeleteK.N.O. perhaps i spoke to quickly and with anger. Many of your words make good sense. I come from a small lodge in the south where most of the people i am around are close minded and staunch conservatives. From my research Masonry was founded out of something different. In truth i cant even be honest about what i believe to my fellow Masons. I should have slowed my typing down, i believe i would have been understood better. i conceal myself so i can speak my mind and not be ridiculed for it. Thank you i was speaking emotionally when i should have spoke rationally. And your right Manly P Hall is a much better example of a mason than Crowley.
ReplyDeleteI apologize if I came of as brusque. I understand the necessity for anonymity, and have used it in the past.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing I wholeheartedly believe about Freemasonry is that, at its base, we are all trying to get a better handle on our understandings of the world and each other and how to deal with each other freely and in peace. The secret is so well hidden because it's blindingly in front of the eyes of all.
i think what christians hate about masonry is that it does not force any particular religion on its members. although i am christian, i do not like the attitude of most christians (it is my way or the highway to hell) i cannot say which religion is right/wrong i can only explain my reasoning. besides, if you were raised in america, you are likely christian, if you are raised in india, you are hindu, if you are raised in iran, you are muslim... etc etc etc. who i am i to say who is right/wrong? that is all that masonry says.
ReplyDeletethe title alone espouses the hate that has become so many religions, why can we not live in peace and respect each other?
Of course, it is too-broad a term to state 'Christians hate Masonry'. This is the opinion of some, yes, yet I know many Christians in Freemasonry. I am a Perennial Philosopher myself, so I do not see an extreme distance at base between classifications like Hindu, Muslim, Christian. Certainly, among some sects of Christianity, it is recognized that we are not so distant from each other, and that geographic and language disparities need not keep us apart on that basis alone. People ought to have the freedom to practice whatever religion they wish, as long as they are not infringing on the rights of others in their practice.
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