It took me a looong time to finish it, but finally I have finished it:
A very detailed article of why Charles Taze Russell was NOT a Freemason. Includes comments from WT historians such as B.W. Schulz and R.M. de Vienne, Barbara Anderson, James Penton, and The One We Don't Mention On JWN. = P
It's in Spanish for now, because I had written the majority of it in Spanish previously, but it should be relatively easy to put it in English.
If you understand Spanish, or don't mind using Google Translate, here it is:
http://verdadtj.com/atalaya/russell-no-fue-mason.php
It's in Spanish right now, but soon will be in English: Why Charles Taze Russell was NOT a Mason
by ILoveTTATT2 3 Replies latest jw friends
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ILoveTTATT2
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Hairtrigger
Thanks I LoveTTATT2.
Your article has several very interesting points. That Russel claimed that Masons gave him a particular handshake and he recognized it and returned it, points to two things.
1. Either he was close with a particular Mason and that person divulged the secrets of Masonic handshakes to him and he continued to use it with other Masons for reasons not clear .Or he was bsing.
2. If yu notice I've used the plural handshakes and not handshake. Along with every different handshake is a particular password. No Mason in his right mind will "recognize" another Mason just by a paticular handshake. The corresponding password is required for recognition. So Russels claim that he received and returned handshakes and was accepted by some - erronously- as a Mason is -in my opinion- pure bs if the first point I made is true; in which case he would be found out sooner or later by someone in the Masonic fraternity.
Your article is well written and goes a long way to disprove his membership in Masonry but also makes clear his close association with a member or members of that fraternity.
The square and the compass is the primary symbol of Masons. Did Russel at any time use or idolize that symbol in his misguided mission to establish his own religion? If he did, then the issue cements point one above, concomitant with you irrefutably having disproven his Masonic membership.
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ILoveTTATT2
Ok it's done now. Click on the link below to read the article in English.
http://verdadtj.com/atalaya/russell-not-a-freemason.php -
intropist
He himself declared that he is not.
If you feel that still he is, please read it again.
"I am very glad to have this particular opportunity of saying a word about some of the things in which we agree with our Masonic friends, because we are speaking in a building dedicated to Masonry and we also are Masons. I am a Free Mason. I am a free and accepted Mason, if I may carry the matter to its full length, because that is what our Masonic brethren like to tell us, that they are free and accepted Masons. That is their style of putting it. Now I am a free and accepted Mason. I trust we all are. But not after the style of our Masonic brethren. We have no quarrel with them. I am not going to say a word against Masons, and I can appreciate that there are certain very precious truths that are held in part by our Masonic friends. I have talked to them at times, and they have said, How do you know about all these things? We thought nobody knew anything about these things except those who had access to our very highest logic".