Unfortunately, it appears one misses the point by noting that Freemasonry is not "against" the Church. Particularly, since the very texts of Freemasonry themselves reject Jesus Christ as the Savior of the World. Instead, they accept Lucifer, aka Satan, as the "God of good." Further, as is pointed out by Mr. Traveler, Freemasonry's insidious tendency is to unite all religions into one, namely to practice syncretism. In which case, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God and the only savior of mankind, becomes equal to Buddha or to Mohammed. This is something which the Christian Faith cannot tolerate since it betrays ignorance and half-heartedness, for which Christ would spew one out of his mouth (Rev 3)! Buddha himself said, "I am not God." Jesus, however, said, "I am the way, the Truth and life. Nobody comes to father but through me." Freemasonry, due to its indifference to Christ, cannot - if one is honest with oneself - accept one religion over another precisely because the focus of freemasonry IS unity. But this unity comes to the exclusion of Truth! This is the unfortunate thing about this Masonic Religion.
Where Masonry presumes it is taking up the slack by offering "charitable works" for its members, it unfortunately removes itself from the "sola fides" (faith alone) which is required of Protestant Christians - as Mr. Traveler points out at the end of his comments. For Catholics, however, faith and works are not and can not be divorced as such. Rather for Catholics we already live the universal life of both faith and works, that is to say, our faith informs our works. We need not believe in both the Holy Trinity and "the Great Architect of the Universe" (i.e. the God of the Masons). Rather, we only need to love as Christ loves in our daily lives - a great challenge to be sure.
No Catholic should be involved with Freemasonry because it seeks to build what the Holy Faith of St. Peter and St. Paul cannot support: a brotherhood of man devoid of the Savior of mankind. One would effectively, as Masonry itself purports, make oneself their own savior if one believed that by merely gathering men together peace can be established among men without Christ the Lord, who heals us of our sin.
If one need more explanation I would encourage any one to consider this video:
To prove the point, notice that one of freemasonry's tenents is that no man shall have authority over another, and yet what shall one make of Christ the King, true God who has become true man?
Posts
1 comment:
Interesting though, isn't that similar to the idea of the Gnostics of the early church? Perhaps it was later interpretation that ruled their version of Universal faith as wrong, but doesn't that still smack of a manipulated interpretation of telling one how to believe? Even in a Gnostic faith view, the divine essence was within, not without, and the way to find it was through the works you do individually. Isn't that the way of the Essenes, the tribe Jesus himself was said to be from?
To the contrary of your point, Freemasonry does not reject the validity of ANY faith, including Christianity. As you trace the lineage of Freemasonry back to its origins, most of its early adherents were in fact Christians and practitioners of the many denominations of Christianity. It wasn't until much later that Masonic scholars delved into the origins of ideas and faith, but not in any way of saying it follows Lucifer or Satan, to say that is simply a misstatement of fact.
The term syncretism seems to be a catch word these days with many in leadership roles of Christianity, and is a remarkable pot in which to lump any group or idea that accepts others as being right within their own system. By labeling ideas this way tends to create a exclusivity rather than a tolerant community, and really only builds walls.
in the end, I think its safe to say the it comes down to faith and what someone chooses to believe. Do you believe what someone else tells you to, or do you spend the time figuring it out for yourself. the Holy See likes to tell its followers what to do on a lot of issues, what would happen if those same followers stopped to figure it out for themselves? When you stop and look at the Divine figure of antiquity, many seem to suddenly share MANY of the same lineage and virtues, from Mithras to Baal. But then perhaps thats just another form of syncretism.
And for the record, Charity, and Masonic charity for that matter, are not institutional requirements, but the results of the practice and teachings of the fraternity.
Post a Comment