I was just wondering if there were any other Brother Masons/Shriners on this forum?
I was just wondering if there were any other Brother Masons/Shriners on this forum?
I have some Mason/Shriners among my congregation. I don't know anything about Masonic practice or what is perceived to be practice. I can testify that the men I know are very good Christian men and they do huge work both in and around the community. I know two local children here locally who received and continue to receive medical help from the Shriner's Hospital in Lexington, KY. I also know that they (kids/parents) have never been charged a dime for services and have even been provided transportation to and from the hospital. Needless to say, my experience as a pastor/preacher working with these men has been wonderful. I don't know anything of "pagan practices" and I have not witnessed this with my own eyes. What I have seen with my own eyes, to that I can testify and I have seen much good come from the men that I know.
Yes I have researched it Lisa. Do you know any Masons or Shriners?
Have you ever heard of the Shrine hospitals? They are there to treat crippled and burned children at no cost to the families. All the money to operate these 22 hospitals is raised by the Shriners. Which all Shriners are Masons.
I am a mason and I know what goes on in them. Unlike outsiders who only listen to the conspirisy theorists who do not know about Masonry. Yes I have heard of Albert Pike. Yes there are bad Masons. I also know many Christians that do bad things. That doesn't mean Christianity is an evil religion.
For your information every thim I go to the lodge we pray to Jesus. The same Jesus that every true Christian prays to. Not some goat headed figure or satan. Our main goal is to have a better relationship with our lord Jesus and become better people for the good of mankind.
It is not a church. It is a fraternaty where like minded people get together in order to improve themselves. We even have preachers that are Masons.
Masonry's whole objective is to help people. Yes we do have secrets. The secrets that we have are only hand shakes and words. This way we will know if someone is truly a Mason or not. This way if a brother needs our help for himself or someone else we will know his cause is a laudable one.
Christianity has secret signs also. When we were being persecuted if you seen someone that you thought was a christian you would draw half of a fish if he was a christian he would drat the other half. This way you would be able to talk to him about Christianity without the fear of being killed. Does that mean that Christians are evil? No it doesn't! They just wanted to know if each one was a true brother.
Ritual definition = A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. Yes we have them. They are to instill on our mind the promise we make to be better people and help others in need.
Christianity has many rituals! This does not mean that they are satanists either. If you look at your life you probably have many rituals. Birthdays, Christmas, Easter and so on.
Believe it or not I am not Satan. I have my relationship with Jesus. It might not be the exact relationship as yours. I chose to do other things than just going to church. My journey does not end there. I help through church, the Masons, Shriners and I sometimes just offer hy help to a stranger.
I am not a lost sole. I might have different ways of doing things but that doesn't mean that they are wrong.
To call this a Christian forum is really misleading. Since I have been here I have been called Satan and a sheep in wolves clothing. Probably a few other things. One of the main reasons I became a Christian was to have love and peace in my life, love everyone and not be judged. I thought these attributes were the whole fabric of Christianity? I am starting to now think that it isn't.
We as Chriatians are supposed to, No we are required to spread Gods word and try to recruit others as Christians. Not drive them away because of insults or their views on God. No one here knows if their way of understanding the bible is the right way or not. Only God knows that. That is why Jesus said let he who is without sin cast the first stone. I guess we have several people here that think they are as perfect as Jesus.
I believe I am going to be done with this forum. It is corrupting my relationship with Jesus.
Yes I have researched it Lisa. Do you know any Masons or Shriners?
Have you ever heard of the Shrine hospitals? They are there to treat crippled and burned children at no cost to the families. All the money to operate these 22 hospitals is raised by the Shriners. Which all Shriners are Masons.
I am a mason and I know what goes on in them. Unlike outsiders who only listen to the conspirisy theorists who do not know about Masonry. Yes I have heard of Albert Pike. Yes there are bad Masons. I also know many Christians that do bad things. That doesn't mean Christianity is an evil religion.
For your information every thim I go to the lodge we pray to Jesus. The same Jesus that every true Christian prays to. Not some goat headed figure or satan. Our main goal is to have a better relationship with our lord Jesus and become better people for the good of mankind.
It is not a church. It is a fraternaty where like minded people get together in order to improve themselves. We even have preachers that are Masons.
Masonry's whole objective is to help people. Yes we do have secrets. The secrets that we have are only hand shakes and words. This way we will know if someone is truly a Mason or not. This way if a brother needs our help for himself or someone else we will know his cause is a laudable one.
Christianity has secret signs also. When we were being persecuted if you seen someone that you thought was a christian you would draw half of a fish if he was a christian he would drat the other half. This way you would be able to talk to him about Christianity without the fear of being killed. Does that mean that Christians are evil? No it doesn't! They just wanted to know if each one was a true brother.
Ritual definition = A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. Yes we have them. They are to instill on our mind the promise we make to be better people and help others in need.
Christianity has many rituals! This does not mean that they are satanists either. If you look at your life you probably have many rituals. Birthdays, Christmas, Easter and so on.
Believe it or not I am not Satan. I have my relationship with Jesus. It might not be the exact relationship as yours. I chose to do other things than just going to church. My journey does not end there. I help through church, the Masons, Shriners and I sometimes just offer hy help to a stranger.
I am not a lost sole. I might have different ways of doing things but that doesn't mean that they are wrong.
To call this a Christian forum is really misleading. Since I have been here I have been called Satan and a sheep in wolves clothing. Probably a few other things. One of the main reasons I became a Christian was to have love and peace in my life, love everyone and not be judged. I thought these attributes were the whole fabric of Christianity? I am starting to now think that it isn't.
We as Chriatians are supposed to, No we are required to spread Gods word and try to recruit others as Christians. Not drive them away because of insults or their views on God. No one here knows if their way of understanding the bible is the right way or not. Only God knows that. That is why Jesus said let he who is without sin cast the first stone. I guess we have several people here that think they are as perfect as Jesus.
I believe I am going to be done with this forum. It is corrupting my relationship with Jesus.
Lisa,
If it came off that I was attacking you that was not my intentions and for that I appologize. But as the forum monitor you have seen what I am having to deal with. It seems that there are a few people here that get great pleasure in insulting and putting down people that have a different opnion.
Once again I am sorry if that is how it come off.
Have a great day.
Mr. Bigham. I know you think ill of me because of my few posts to you. You have made that quite clear, not only to me, but everyone else on this board. As you noticed, I did not respond to this thread you started. To maintain peace and tranquility, I chose not to do that......and intend on continuing to do that because of same.
LisaLisa is the moderator of this board and a very gentile, kind, Christian loving individual. She tries hard to keep subjects interesting. Like the rest of us, she is learning everyday. She did not deserve that tirade that was intended towards me. I see that you already apologized and I thank you for that. You may treat me like you wish, as I didn't mean to set off the volcano within you, but my words must have hit an open wound somewhere for you answered me with pure hate. I, in no way, wish anyone to spend eternity in the lake of fire and you were rejoicing that you felt I'll be there. That's the difference between us.
I would be interested to know more about the work of Mason/Shriners. I don't know if it can be revealed but I'd like to know more about funding and how decisions are made and really just the process. Let me be clear, I am not interested in myth, wives tales and speculation. I think this would be a good opportunity for us all to listen and be educated concerning Mason/Shriners about their work.
Brother Bigham the floor is yours..tell us the good that you have seen and taken part.
Well Sir they are two different organizations but are connected. In order to become a shriner you must first become a mason. All Shriners are Masons but not all Masons are Shriners.
Masonry helps more at a local level. Helping mostly widows and orphans with money or something they need like house repairs, yard work things of that nature. If someone gets hurt and can't work we do all we can to try to help them. Their is absolutly no drinking at the Masonic lodge.
Shriners have a different but very noble cause. Helping children that are crippled and burned. There are around 23 Shrine Hospitals in North America. They help these children out at no cost to the families. They will not even take your hospitalization if you have it. Every penny that is needed to operate these hospitals is raised by the Shriners. All Shriners go out and beg for money to keep these hospitals open and all of us contribute what we can. Most times if your child is in the hospital the parents can stay there as well. This is not a typical hospital room. In this situation it is more like a hotel where you can stay in the room with the child. If the parents can not afford to drive to the hospital we have Shriners that are called "Jockys" I think that is what they are called. They drive the families to and from the hospital. Shriners have all kinds of fund raisers and benefits. They even have a Circus to help raise money.
A quick story.
I was going to a persons house to repair their door. I went it and did what I had to do. I had some problems so it took longer than I wanted and had time for. I noticed the time as I was getting done and I had made a comment that I was going to be late for my meeting. The woman ask me what kind of meeting it was. I told her it was a Shrine meeting. She all of a sudden stretched out her arms and ran to hug me. She started crying and telling me how she was crippled when she was a child and that the Shriners and their hospital was able to get her to walk. She told me that her best memories were when the men in the funny hats would come by and visit. They would give her candy and just make her laugh. Needless to say the story brought a tear to my eye.
I have met about 4 people that have recieved help from the Shriners that I just bumped into in my travels. The feeling of joy that you get knowing that you were a part of something that helped someone is unbelieveable.
I do have to question though, why does the Masonic organization REQUIRE a belief in a higher power? If good deeds and helping others are the whole point, what difference does it make whether one is inspired by religion, or just by a love for one's fellow man?
Please understand I am not criticising, and certainly not criticising YOU personally. I just find it to be a silly little restriction, and think you are barring many people who would otherwise be fine members and could contribute, and uphold your traditions and goals, just as much as a believer would.
There is absolutely no doubt that the shriners do incredible charity work, it's almost mind boggling what they have managed to accomplish. I too, am extremely grateful for all of the children that they have helped over the years.
Matthew 25:40 says "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
There is also absolutely no doubt that our Lord and Savior appreciates all of the good works that they do. It's extremely noble, awesome and generous.
My only concern is the allegiance to the "society" or group that masons and shriners have. I believe that we as christians, should only pledge allegiance to one, Jesus Christ. The Masonic Temple has some very questionable roots, but I do understand that most of the lower ranking members (the majority) are not aware of that.
So, how does a Christian balance that out or take that into consideration is my question?