2008 Masonic count off....
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77 Posts
Portales New Mexico lodge #26 AF&AM .mike
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1,389 Posts
PM('94) from Beech Grove IN #694
count off # 0007
count off # 0007
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550 Posts
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1,156 Posts
Iam with Willy???????????????????????????
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11,891 Posts
i hail from ohio. masons in the family but honestly find the whole thing kinda creepy. my dad and his brother (died a couple years ago) were/are masons.
it is funny that i have no interest but a few females that i know quite well who are pretty high power jobs and such will not let the idea go. my gf wanted me to join so she could be part of the eastern star. that was halted quite quickly. you people want a secret society, you have it. it is of no business of mine
r
it is funny that i have no interest but a few females that i know quite well who are pretty high power jobs and such will not let the idea go. my gf wanted me to join so she could be part of the eastern star. that was halted quite quickly. you people want a secret society, you have it. it is of no business of mine
r
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600 Posts
You have it exactly right -
If it were a "secret" order then none of us would admit to belonging - Would we?
Joined
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1,053 Posts
Freemasonry, teachings and practices of the secret fraternal order officially known as the Free and Accepted Masons, or Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.
Organizational Structure
There are approximately 5 million members worldwide, mostly in the United States and other English-speaking countries. With adherents in almost every nation where Freemasonry is not officially banned, it forms the largest secret society in the world. There is no central Masonic authority; jurisdiction is divided among autonomous national authorities, called grand lodges, and many concordant organizations of higher-degree Masons. In the United States and Canada the highest authority rests with state and provincial grand lodges. Custom is the supreme authority of the order, and there are elaborate symbolic rites and ceremonies, most of which utilize the instruments of the stonemason—the plumb, the square, the level, and compasses—and apocryphal events concerning the building of King Solomon's Temple for allegorical purposes.
The principles of Freemasonry have traditionally been liberal and democratic. Anderson's Constitutions (1723), the bylaws of the Grand Lodge of England, which is Freemasonry's oldest extant lodge, cites religious toleration, loyalty to local government, and political compromise as basic to the Masonic ideal. Masons are expected to believe in a Supreme Being, use a holy book appropriate to the religion of the lodge's members, and maintain a vow of secrecy concerning the order's ceremonies.
The basic unit of Freemasonry is the local Blue lodge, generally housed in a Masonic temple. The lodge consists of three Craft, Symbolic, or Blue Degrees: Entered Apprentice (First Degree), Fellow Craft (Second Degree), and Master Mason (Third Degree). These gradations are meant to correspond to the three levels—apprentice, journeyman, and master—of the medieval stonemasons' guilds. The average Mason does not rise above Master Mason.
If he does, however, he has the choice of advancing through about 100 different rites, encompassing some 1,000 higher degrees, throughout the world. In the United States, the two most popular rites are the Scottish and the York. The Scottish Rite awards 30 higher degrees, from Secret Master (Fourth Degree) to Sovereign Grand Inspector General (Thirty-third Degree). The York Rite awards ten degrees, from Mark Master to Order of Knights Templar, the latter being similar to a Thirty-third Degree Scottish Rite Mason.
Other important Masonic groups are the Prince Hall Grand Lodge, to which many African-American Masons belong; the Veiled Prophets of the Enchanted Realm (the “fraternal fun order for Blue Lodge Masons”); and the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (Thirty-second degree Masons who, as the Shriners, are noted for their colorful parades and support of children's hospitals; they were established as a Masonic social organization in 1872). There are also many subsidiary Masonic groups, including the Order of the Eastern Star, limited to Master Masons and their female relatives; De Molay, an organization for boys; and Job's Daughters and Rainbow, two organizations for girls. Many of the orders maintain homes for aged members.
Development of the Order
The order is thought to have arisen from the English and Scottish fraternities of practicing stonemasons and cathedral builders in the early Middle Ages; traces of the society have been found as early as the 14th cent. Because, however, some documents of the order trace the sciences of masonry and geometry from Egypt, Babylon, and Palestine to England and France, some historians of Masonry claim that the order has roots in antiquity.
The formation of the English Grand Lodge in London (1717) was the beginning of the widespread dissemination of speculative Freemasonry, the present-day fraternal order, whose membership is not limited to working stonemasons. The six lodges in England in 1700 grew to about 30 by 1723. There was a parallel development in Scotland and Ireland, although some lodges remained unaffiliated and open only to practicing masons. By the end of the 18th cent. there were Masonic lodges in all European countries and in many other parts of the world as well.
The first lodge in the United States was founded in Philadelphia (1730); Benjamin Franklin was a member. Many of the leaders of the American Revolution, including John Hancock and Paul Revere, were members of St. Andrew's Lodge in Boston. George Washington became a Mason in 1752. At the time of the Revolution most of the American lodges broke away from their English and Scottish antecedents. Freemasonry has continued to be important in politics; 13 Presidents have been Masons, and at any given time quite a large number of the members of Congress have belonged to Masonic lodges. Notable European Masons included Voltaire, Giuseppe Mazzini, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Franz Joseph Haydn, Johann von Goethe, Johann von Schiller, and many leaders of Russia's Decembrist revolt (1825).
Opposition to Freemasonry
Because of its identification with 19th-century bourgeois liberalism, there has been much opposition to Freemasonry. The most violent in the United States was that of the Anti-Masonic party. Freemasonry's anticlerical attitude has also led to strong opposition from the Roman Catholic Church, which first expressed its anti-Masonic attitude in a bull of Pope Clement XII (1738). The Catholic Church still discourages its members from joining the order. Totalitarian states have always suppressed Freemasonry; the lodges in Italy, Austria, and Germany were forcibly eradicated under fascism and Nazism, and there are now no lodges in China.
Organizational Structure
There are approximately 5 million members worldwide, mostly in the United States and other English-speaking countries. With adherents in almost every nation where Freemasonry is not officially banned, it forms the largest secret society in the world. There is no central Masonic authority; jurisdiction is divided among autonomous national authorities, called grand lodges, and many concordant organizations of higher-degree Masons. In the United States and Canada the highest authority rests with state and provincial grand lodges. Custom is the supreme authority of the order, and there are elaborate symbolic rites and ceremonies, most of which utilize the instruments of the stonemason—the plumb, the square, the level, and compasses—and apocryphal events concerning the building of King Solomon's Temple for allegorical purposes.
The principles of Freemasonry have traditionally been liberal and democratic. Anderson's Constitutions (1723), the bylaws of the Grand Lodge of England, which is Freemasonry's oldest extant lodge, cites religious toleration, loyalty to local government, and political compromise as basic to the Masonic ideal. Masons are expected to believe in a Supreme Being, use a holy book appropriate to the religion of the lodge's members, and maintain a vow of secrecy concerning the order's ceremonies.
The basic unit of Freemasonry is the local Blue lodge, generally housed in a Masonic temple. The lodge consists of three Craft, Symbolic, or Blue Degrees: Entered Apprentice (First Degree), Fellow Craft (Second Degree), and Master Mason (Third Degree). These gradations are meant to correspond to the three levels—apprentice, journeyman, and master—of the medieval stonemasons' guilds. The average Mason does not rise above Master Mason.
If he does, however, he has the choice of advancing through about 100 different rites, encompassing some 1,000 higher degrees, throughout the world. In the United States, the two most popular rites are the Scottish and the York. The Scottish Rite awards 30 higher degrees, from Secret Master (Fourth Degree) to Sovereign Grand Inspector General (Thirty-third Degree). The York Rite awards ten degrees, from Mark Master to Order of Knights Templar, the latter being similar to a Thirty-third Degree Scottish Rite Mason.
Other important Masonic groups are the Prince Hall Grand Lodge, to which many African-American Masons belong; the Veiled Prophets of the Enchanted Realm (the “fraternal fun order for Blue Lodge Masons”); and the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (Thirty-second degree Masons who, as the Shriners, are noted for their colorful parades and support of children's hospitals; they were established as a Masonic social organization in 1872). There are also many subsidiary Masonic groups, including the Order of the Eastern Star, limited to Master Masons and their female relatives; De Molay, an organization for boys; and Job's Daughters and Rainbow, two organizations for girls. Many of the orders maintain homes for aged members.
Development of the Order
The order is thought to have arisen from the English and Scottish fraternities of practicing stonemasons and cathedral builders in the early Middle Ages; traces of the society have been found as early as the 14th cent. Because, however, some documents of the order trace the sciences of masonry and geometry from Egypt, Babylon, and Palestine to England and France, some historians of Masonry claim that the order has roots in antiquity.
The formation of the English Grand Lodge in London (1717) was the beginning of the widespread dissemination of speculative Freemasonry, the present-day fraternal order, whose membership is not limited to working stonemasons. The six lodges in England in 1700 grew to about 30 by 1723. There was a parallel development in Scotland and Ireland, although some lodges remained unaffiliated and open only to practicing masons. By the end of the 18th cent. there were Masonic lodges in all European countries and in many other parts of the world as well.
The first lodge in the United States was founded in Philadelphia (1730); Benjamin Franklin was a member. Many of the leaders of the American Revolution, including John Hancock and Paul Revere, were members of St. Andrew's Lodge in Boston. George Washington became a Mason in 1752. At the time of the Revolution most of the American lodges broke away from their English and Scottish antecedents. Freemasonry has continued to be important in politics; 13 Presidents have been Masons, and at any given time quite a large number of the members of Congress have belonged to Masonic lodges. Notable European Masons included Voltaire, Giuseppe Mazzini, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Franz Joseph Haydn, Johann von Goethe, Johann von Schiller, and many leaders of Russia's Decembrist revolt (1825).
Opposition to Freemasonry
Because of its identification with 19th-century bourgeois liberalism, there has been much opposition to Freemasonry. The most violent in the United States was that of the Anti-Masonic party. Freemasonry's anticlerical attitude has also led to strong opposition from the Roman Catholic Church, which first expressed its anti-Masonic attitude in a bull of Pope Clement XII (1738). The Catholic Church still discourages its members from joining the order. Totalitarian states have always suppressed Freemasonry; the lodges in Italy, Austria, and Germany were forcibly eradicated under fascism and Nazism, and there are now no lodges in China.
Joined
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1,053 Posts
In my barefooted travels around many parts of this world as a Grasshopper, I have met many different people...many different cultures. With no intentions of putting this subject or any other group or culture down.... It is my opinion that 70-90% of the people who belong to "any defined specific group"....can not correctly explain the beliefs...bylaws...history...or basic reasons for their groups exisitance. They belong to something....their peers....or their family belongs, and that is what matters formost. It doesn't matter usually whether I'm talking about specific religious secs...fraternal orders...political advisaries...Nazi's...KKK members ...Catholics ..Baptists, Protestants....etc..etc etc....
When I single one out and sit them down and ask them to clearly, consicely, and accurately explain the basic history, beliefs, and guidlines to what they say they believe in.....the majority of them can not do it. Next March when St. Patricks Day is coming up....and your Irish friends start making comments about looking forward to it coming up...and their going to celebrate...Stop one of them and ask them to explain exactly who St.Patrick was, what did he do, and why do the Irish celebrate that day??? I will offer a standing bet (a bottle of Crown Royal)....that 8 out of 10 can not tell you.
TiredIron
When I single one out and sit them down and ask them to clearly, consicely, and accurately explain the basic history, beliefs, and guidlines to what they say they believe in.....the majority of them can not do it. Next March when St. Patricks Day is coming up....and your Irish friends start making comments about looking forward to it coming up...and their going to celebrate...Stop one of them and ask them to explain exactly who St.Patrick was, what did he do, and why do the Irish celebrate that day??? I will offer a standing bet (a bottle of Crown Royal)....that 8 out of 10 can not tell you.
TiredIron
i belong too
i am a member of the son's of herman, some german guy. i get cheap liquor and a chance of winning thousands if i remember to sign in. great food at the ohio state football games, and a nice place to get away. just can't have a smoke there anymore ( new state law). so i join the outlaws outside the door for a smoke and freeze my ass off with the rest of em. heard about the mason thing in the civil war( alot of guys both sides) and have always wondered about it. thats all i got. thannks. tomt
i am a member of the son's of herman, some german guy. i get cheap liquor and a chance of winning thousands if i remember to sign in. great food at the ohio state football games, and a nice place to get away. just can't have a smoke there anymore ( new state law). so i join the outlaws outside the door for a smoke and freeze my ass off with the rest of em. heard about the mason thing in the civil war( alot of guys both sides) and have always wondered about it. thats all i got. thannks. tomt
Joined
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11,891 Posts
i am not really putting it down per se more just i have far too much going on in life and really never saw the advantages of it.
never really settling in one place may have added this notion to me as well as these are very centralized groups of neighbors and friends... sort of.
r
never really settling in one place may have added this notion to me as well as these are very centralized groups of neighbors and friends... sort of.
r
Joined
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3,402 Posts
Very interesting group, the Freemasons. Their history goes WAY back into some of the earliest of recorded history, and there is quite a bit of information out there, if you look past the anti-masonic propaganda. So much of the peculiar aspects of their rituals have historical ties that are not obvious, but make sense if you read deep enough. I kind of tripped over them while reading up on the Grail legends (another hobby of mine from my college years). Plus, I've had a lot of family who were Masons, so they really don't give me "the creeps". I did get a little freaked out when I first started reading up on some of the lessor-known aspects of the religion I was raised as (Christian; specifically Methodist) but to me that's more the fault of those who run the churches, for not being more open and up-front about Paulinian Christianity, than it is for anything the Masons have done in their history.
Haven't joined yet, but I have considered it a few times and may well do so at some point.
I did get a little freaked out when I first started reading up on some of the lessor-known aspects of the religion I was raised as (Christian; specifically Methodist) but to me that's more the fault of those who run the churches, for not being more open and up-front about Paulinian Christianity, than it is for anything the Masons have done in their history.Haven't joined yet, but I have considered it a few times and may well do so at some point.
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