hey everybody :)
Did anybody happen to catch the Discovery Chanel special on Saturday night about the Freemasons? It was pretty interesting. They interviewed masons and were even allowed to film an initiation ceremony. They brought up all kinds of conspiracy theories about Masons, and at the end dispelled them. Fact from fiction. Given the bad rap they get and then people attributing Russell to being a mason I thought it was good information.
Discovery Chanel special on Freemasons
by feenx 11 Replies latest jw friends
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feenx
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B_Deserter
I'm surprised they didn't take the conspiracy theorists more seriously. Usually those History Channel programs are awful and end up taking the side of the nutjob conspiracy, especially with all the Nostradamus specials they like to parade around.
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eclipse
Although the Discovery Channel is very informative,
I have seen some documentaries from them that made me believe I should take everything else they broadcast with a grain of salt.
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freydi
Please describe the initiation process. Are they really blindfolded with a rope around their necks promising to be torn limb from limb if they divulge any secrets? Something tells me their secrets aren't the nice things they do for children.
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Renegade
Biase and exaggeration are the perfect tools to form an interesting program, so don't believe everything you hear. (By the way, I'm not implying that you did believe everything it said, just simply pointing out that you shouldn't just incase. )
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freydi
That's what the wt claims when people expose things about them.
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feenx
no, I certainly didn't it take it as the final word on Masons, but it was informative in a general sense, especially since there were masons on there talking openly about it, and then filming the initiation. Which is basically pretty simple. There's no rope involved, though the initiate is blindfolded. First he goes before the high master (or whatever they call him) who is sitting in a chair and dressed like an ancient priest in a fake beard. Then there's an exchange of words after which the initiate is led, still blindfolded, to the alter in the center of the room. There he is instructed to pray to the God of his choice, after which he rises and then he is lead back towards the high master, but is stopped by three men dressed in robes, each asking him the secret password, when the third one asks and the password is not revealed they then act out hitting him in the head and killing him which he then falls backwards and is caught in a blanket by the other members present. Then his blindfold is removed and he's given an apron, and congratulated by the other members. That's the whole thing.
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eclipse
If the freemasons were smart,
and I am assuming they are...
they would make a docu giving a representation of their initation rites, etc, but change the important details...
thereby keeping their secrets a secret and satisfying the curiousity of outsiders.
For some reason, that docu scores a 9/10 on my bullshit detector...I don't why, but it just sounds like a comedy act.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention, I hope to look it up online or see a rerun of it in the future.
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freydi
Was any of this symbolism explained? It's my understanding having researched a number of sources that not all masonic ritual is the same. Since this was a made for public viewing, I would imagine it was cleaned up a bit. That of course because they wanted a "fair and balanced" reporting on their activities. And did the "worshipful master" ask the inductee what he was there in search of?
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feenx
yes the symbolism was explained, however I don't remember the specifics off the top of my head. But yes you are correct, essentially each lodge is different and on their own, there is no central point or place of origin. No HQ directing everything. So some rituals and practices could be much different.