question about free masons?

Question

im a little confused asout what they actually are classified as

i didnt know wheather or not they were a religion or not

another one of my freinds said that they were a cult

and yet another one of my friends says there neither there just an orginization

can anyone give me some insight on this topic??

Answer 1

We are a fraternal organization. The tenants of our fraternity are brotherly love, charity, and truth. We are not a religion and we are not a cult.

If you know what a stone mason is, you are familiar with some of the jobs that a Mason might have, as far as building with stone and brick. Masons use certain tools and concepts to do their work. These are called operative Masons.

Freemasonry is also referred to as speculative Masonry, and this is a fraternal organization that (to make things simple), assigns certain ideas or principles to the working tools of operative Masons, and uses these to teach certain moral lessons. Our group is a fraternity based on this concept of conveying intangible ideas through the use of symbolism derived from ancient Masonic teachings.

As an example, Masons use a square to make sure that structures adhere to perfect angles. We may use this to remember to square our actions with others (to deal with people squarely and fairly). Also, an operative Mason uses a level to make sure that something is evenly perpendicular to the ground. Speculative Masons use this to teach that we are all equal and on the level with others.

Those are just a few examples of how Freemasonry and operative masons are related. However, it in not required that Freemasons be operative masons. We are bankers and ditch diggers, waiters and software engineers, preachers and bartenders, and all other occupations.

While it was pretty common for men at the time of the founding of the United States to be Freemasons, not all of the Founding Fathers were brothers. Ben Franklin, George Washington, Paul Revere were members, but John Adams and and others were not. Thirteen signers of the Declaration of Independence were Masons. The reason that so many were members is because the Masons believe in freedom and equality, so it stands to reason that men of such belief would be involved in the creation of our country. It should be mentioned, however, that this political activity was not done as an act of the Masons. In fact, many Masons at the time were also loyal to England.

There are a lot of conspiracy theories about the Freemasons out there, and many outrageous claims that we are Satanists or that we rule the country. First, how could an organization that gives about $2 million dollars A DAY to charity be an evil organization. Second, we are forbidden to discuss politics in our lodge meetings, so it would be pretty difficult to run a country while not speaking of politics.

Also note that all of these crackpot accusations about the Masons are made by non-Masons, so they really wouldn't know what they are talking about, would they.

If I can answer any further questions, please feel free to contact me.

Answer 2

Father K has given you a very accurate, very concise explanation and definition. There is nothing Satanic about the Freemasons; quite the opposite. Some of the finest men in the world have been Freemasons. To be fair, there are also some not so fine, but the ones who are not so fine don't care about the santions their Order would impose and aren't of the same "stock" as their Brothers. To the poster who said she "knew a Freemason" who said they were "kind of a cult".....I think you knew someone pretending to be a Freemason. No Freemason would tell someone the organization was a cult. Basically, the requirements for becoming a Freemason are:

Be a man who comes of his own free will.
Believe in a Supreme Being.
Be at least the minimum age (18–25 years old depending on the jurisdiction).
Be of sound mind and body (Lodges do not deny membership to a man because of a physical disability; this is largely a historical holdover, and if a potential candidate says there will be no problem, he will be taken at his word).
Be of good morals, and of good reputation.
Be free-born (or "born free", i.e. not born a slave or bondsman).[43] As with the previous, this is entirely an historical anachronism, and can be interpreted in the same manner as it is in the context of being entitled to write a will. Some jurisdictions have removed this requirement.
Have character references, as well as one or two references from current Masons, depending on jurisdiction.

There is no separate "Masonic God". There are many, many sites pertaining to Freemasons all over the internet; some for and some against. Read them all, then make your decision.

Answer 3

They are considered a fraternal organisation. While their beliefs do include a supreme being, they don't consider themselves a relgion nor a group that should replace a relgion in a persons life. It's sort of a mix of all things, that while they do believe in a higher power, it's not about how to life in order to be like or end up with that higher power (like being good so you will go to heaven in death). Check the source for much more info and detail.

Answer 4

It's definately a cult, although Masons loudly dispute this. Folks who support the Masons have no idea how truly evil this cult is. For example, page 95 of the 'Kentucky Masonic Handbook' reads:

"Masonry makes no profession of Christianity . . .
but looks forward to the time when the labor of our
ancient brethren shall be symbolized by the erection
of a spiritual temple . . . in which there shall
be but one altar and one worship; one common altar of Masonry on which the Veda [Hinduism],
Shastras [Buddhism], Sade [Astrology], Zend-
Avesta [Zoroastrianism], Koran [Islam], and Holy
Bible shall lie untouched by sacrilegious hands,
and at whose shrine the Hindoo (sic), the Persian,
the Assyrian, the Chaldean, the Egyptian, the
Chinese, the Mohammedan, the Jew, and the
Christian may kneel and with one united voice
celebrate the praises of the Supreme Architect of
the Universe."

After reading the above, any casual reader of the Bible can tell you that Masonry is nothing more than idolatry. It should be avoided at all costs. To learn more, please read this informative booklet on Masonic beliefs and how they conflict with Christianity: http://www.lamblion.com/pdf/2007/Masons%20Magazine.pdf

Answer 5

I have seen the same group of people spewing their misinformed hate and evil rants against Freemasonry on every question about it. They are either misinformed or iggnorant to the truth or bible thumping born agains (pardon me, I got it right the first time).

I can asure you that freemasonry is not evil. It is the worlds oldest and largest fraternity. Period.

I will not waste my time defending us against lies and half truths.

Answer 6

they are classified as a social fraternity

they are not a religion - they offer no path, promise, hope, etc for reward/salvation/heaven... the instruct in morality and provide great amounts of charity

they are not a cult; you have to ask to join, can leave at any time, and do not have to give them anything, other than annual dues which are typically less than a magazine subscription ($35 in Illinois)

here are some links:
http://www.ugle.org.uk/
www.freemason.org
phoenixmasonry.org
bessel.org

and of course check out the anti mason sites
freemasonrywatch.org
http://usminc.org/freemasonry.html

and sites that offer counter points to anti-masons
masonicinfo.com
http://community-2.webtv.net/JohnFromHurst/WelcometomyMasonic/

freemasonry is alive and well

Father K provides a good response

Pike and Lucifer - the plight of the ignorant anti-mason. let me help you explain it (there is more on the above response sites too)... lucifer is latin for bringer of light and in ancient times referred to venus, the morning star, who "led the sun into the sky". in Pike's comment, if you read it, he is saying God is the bringer of light, but he does is using the negative so its an easy target for anti-masons... (lucifer, bringer of light, if you are not God...) should be read "if God is not the bringer of light, who is?)

special section just for "myfrenzcallmeheath"
* please do some research, none of what you "know" is correct, so you are full of false "knoweldge" and hate
* how do you know freemasons are evil
* they do not spit on the cross, there are no crosses in masonic Lodges, they are not religions nor places of worship
* freemasons do not advertise their charity, because they do not do it for recognition, they do it because it is right... most people are unaware of what freemasons do
* Bush (both of them) are NOT freemasons, they are Skull and Bones a college group from Yale that has never had an association with freemasonry
* freemasons serve the God of their religion which is outside of freemasonry, you do not serve anyone inside of freemasonry, and there is nothing in freemasonry that would conflict with your service to God. the whole point of masonry is that you will better serve your God
* they are not secretive, no on has ever been killed in freemasonry/by freemasons for saying anything about the fraternity; everything is published in books available at the library of congress, on ebay, at phoenixmasonry.org, amazon, etc...
* what fishy things are going on?
* the old "if they didn't have anything to hide"...which implies that if they had something to hide it is evil. my biology club in high school had "secrets" and i assure you we were not evil... this is a rediculous point that is over 700 years old in the Church and led to the Inquisition and Dark Ages. nothing positive has ever arisen out of this type of thinking
* the highest you can get in Masonry is the 3rd degree. the scottish rite goes up to 32nd (and a 33rd honrary degree) but it (along with the york rite, shrine, etc.) is an appendant body and not a part of freemasonry, furthermore it is not higher than the 3rd degree blue lodge but is subservient to the blue lodge....
* i've been to more than 2, nay even more than 15 meetings, and there is nothing evil or different going on than when you start, another crazy line of paranoia
* there is no brainwashing in freemasonry
* the old "a god" not "THE GOD" argument... again, only you have the truth, only your beliefs are true and nothing else in the world can exist... i'm glad you can exist happy in that small world. there are over 6 billion people on the planet, half of them are hindu or buddhist, following traditions that are older than Christianity or Judaism.... but this matters not, freemasonry is not a religious group, nor is it a religion; it merely requires that its members have a religious conviction.

* i've posted on the fraud of the "Kentucky Masonic Handook" before... there is no such book, the citation comes from an anti-masonic site.

* they are about as far from the KKK as you can get buddy... they do not protect other freemasons who break the law; in fact if they do they can get kicked out of the fraternity for it. read the UGLE site above for more info (the FAQ page)

********

usminc.org is garbage spewed by anti-masons

Answer 7

theyre evil!! i answered a question likethis yesterday, go check it out...


stayclear of them. they have all these twisted rituals. they spit on the cross, and all kinds of evil crap. they will be the first to tell yuo theyre not a cult, but thats what all cults say. they will tell you how much they "help" charities and organization, but of course they do! its a great cover! and they make sure that everyone knows how much they donate. thats to further mislead ppl.. because then, some ppl might say, "oh well, they cant be that bad, they have donated all this money,"

geroge w bush, and george sr are freemasons if that tells ya anything.
i dont care what those guys tell you... you CAN NOT be a freemason and a christians... you cant serve 2 masters.

another red flag should be the fact of how secretive they are... back in the day, they used to kill ppl for even hinting to anyone outside the organization what it was all about. they have too many fishy things goin on. ppl who have nothing to hide, hide nothing. but, you have to be pretty high up before they start revealing all the evil twisted things they do. so some freemasons, who are fairly new to it, dont even know how evil they are. they wont start off at the first, second or even the 15th meeting tellin you of their evil rituals. its too risky for them... they like to make sure they have you good and brainwashed before they do that.

edit: the guy below me says you have to believe in God to be a free mason.....HOGWASH! all they say is you have to believe in A god. not THE God.

Answer 8

They are not a "cult". They are a very old fraternal organization, a secrete society that have had a massive impact on the world. In order to be a mason, you have to believe in God...

If you are interested, call the lodge.

It is a good organization and all of the satanic crap is the catholic church demonizing them, as they are the "sons" of the Knights Templar, who the catholic church erased from existence in order to gain their earthly treasure.

I should say "old" catholic propaganda... They don't have an issue with them today, but did in the 1500's to the 1800's...

Answer 9

I always thought of them as a club or service organization, like Rotary or Kiwanis

Answer 10

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.