I’ve never been one to believe much in God although, I felt there was something beyond us. It wasn’t until a few years ago I started to be drawn to my belief in God. I pray on my own and don’t join any organization or religion. I’ve also enjoyed history and understanding our past...our real past. About a year ago I met a Mason, expressed my interest and received and invite to a Lodge. I haven’t gone. The stronger my faith in God becomes, the more I feel compelled to move away from the invite I received. I’m curious. Any Masons here that want to chime in?
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Masons teach a 'technology' for ordering people in organizations.
Think of the organizational structures needed to build a large structure like a church. Now think there are no banks to process payroll, there may not even be any money in circulation, there are no corporations, there are no stores for hammers and nails and 2x4's let alone the food and personal items needed by a large workforce.
How do you organize all these people and get them all pulling in the same direction? Well, you have a masonic lodge. The lodge has officers that each have specific responsibilities and they have ritualized systems for accomplishing tasks. Their meetings are highly ritualized, in the way that they are conducted. Why? Because there were no universities and most people were illiterate, so people would repeat the same things each time they met so they would learn it.
Part of the teachings is how to keep the organizations actions secret. They have a guy sitting on the inside of the door with a sword. They have a guy sitting on the outside of the door with a sword and those two guys are two of the officers of the lodge. Why? Well, because, operational security is a thing. Do you let everyone have access to your email password? No. Why? Because operational security is a thing. How do you teach operational security both in principle and in practice to illiterates? You make it a ritual.
Once you have the 'technology' of organizing people into a cohesive group that knows how to keep secrets and knows how to get stuff done, what do you do with that knowledge? These is were the age old maxim of technology being a double edged blade comes into play. You can use a gun for good (hunt and feed your family) or bad (armed robbery). It is not the gun that is at fault. It is the person that is holding the gun.
Some lodges are evil, and some are not. Really depends on the people in them. Also consider that the church has been perverted for ... ages (think how long pedophile catholic priests have been protected, and if we go back 100 years to when we didn't hear about it, is that because it wasn't there or just we dodn't hear from the victims?).
So if evil people were in the masonic system, some would rise. There was a recent study on psychopathic children in school yards. The psychopaths will recognize each other and team up to make abusing the other kids easier. So the psychos would team up. The psychos would then form their own lodges and not invite normal people.
All this to say, there are evil masons. There are good masons. The masonic teachings are not evil in and of themselves. The teachings are more about establishing and maintaining human organizations in spite of poor education and during periods of adverse social conditions. It's a great technology for evil psychopaths to use and organize themselves.
Calling it a technology for organization .... do you know how to take 15 people and organize them into an organization so that they will each do a part of the work and keep that organization going, even after you are long gone?
Once you have risen through the ranks and become a master of a lodge, you do know how to do that because you have performed each of the roles required to make it happen.
If you want to join, go for it. A condition for membership is a belief in a higher being. Do nothing that goes against your faith in God. Keep your faith. The evil ones will see that you are not interested in their corruption and will stay away, meaning the opportunities to be 'promoted' into those evil lodges simply will never materialize.
Very good point
Interesting perspective.