JOSEPH SMITH AND FREEMASONRY

[_moksha]

Every once in a while I have copied an intriguing post from the Mormon Issues forum at Beliefnet, because it seemed like a unique approach to familiar topic that you might enjoy. Here is another one from our philosopher Bill Kilpatrick.

JOSEPH SMITH AND FREEMASONRY

Joseph Smith joined the Freemasons and even became a 33rd degree Master Mason. The Masonic Lodge in Nauvoo was a busy place - built by Mormons and attended by a Who's Who call of first-generation Mormon leaders.

Usually, the discussion about Joseph Smith and Freemasonry is designed to suggest that Joseph Smith stole various symbols and rituals from the Masons, which he then plugged into Mormonism, particularly the temple. The idea, of course, is that if Joesph Smith got this stuff from the Masons, then he didn't get it from God.

The typical Mormon response is to argue that the Masons had a corrupted version of the original symbols and rituals, didn't really know what they had, and that Joseph Smith restored their true purposes by revelation. The argument then ensues between those who accept this explanation and those who doubt the Masons ever had anything ancient to begin with. If the Masons only go back a few centuries, then the claim that Joseph restored their corrupt versions of the original symbols and rites from Solomon's Temple - is bogus.

Bogus! Bogus! Bogus!
It's All a Big Lie!
Run for Your Lives!
The Sky is Falling!
Pepsi Tastes Better Than Coke!

But what if Joseph Smith took something else from Freemasonry? What if the biggest cross-over wasn't so much the symbols and rituals of the Masonic Lodge but the creative, maybe even whimsical, use of myth for social reasons?

Long before Joseph Smith touched it, Freemasonry was the object of anti-Masonic fear, not just in the U.S. but in Europe. To this day, Catholics are not allowed to become Masons - and vice versa. The Catholic Church has condemned the Freemasons for their secrets and secret rituals. Yet, who cares about the secrecy of a fraternity, or the Paganism inherent in its symbols, especially when so many Christian holidays were Christianized coverings for Pagan holidays in the first place?

The real unforgivable sin of Freemasonry is not in its secrecy or its ritual, but in its reverent irreverence. The Masons aren't even masons. They're a fraternity that used the symbolism of masonry (bricklaying) to create an ideology and lore all its own. In creating a richly textured mythos, the Freemasons came under fire from the Catholic Church because its rites and activities - which were open to Jews as well as Christians - gave competition to a church which saw itself as the only provider of the franchise.

To this day, there are still "true believers" who swallow, uncritically, whatever Freemasonry claims, just as there are Scientologists who buy into the outrageous lies invented by those who held in contempt the very idea of religious truth. Having watched the behavior of Scientologists, running in and out of their building in Clearwater, I'm convinced that the leadership of Scientology believes something but not what they've been dishing out to the perpetually naïve.

Freemasonry created a broad deist approach to social improvement by giving its adherents an ideology to play with, rituals labeled as secret, symbols labeled as ancient and meaningful, and a series of steps - not unlike the colored belts of a karate program - to give its adherents a sense of satisfaction as each progressed in the program toward the final objective of becoming a Master Mason.

The most dangerous thing Joseph Smith could have taken from Freemasonry was not a few exclusive rituals and symbols. It was the idea of inventing or shaping narratives to create a kind of social script designed to get people to play together.

[Ahoody]

Yeah, but Coke tastes way better than Pepsi. Just sayin'.

It is a kinda a fun argument. And I do credit Joseph Smith's creativity. Its true that the myths and stories he invented did "create a kind of social script" that got "people to play together," too. But intentionally?

[_skippy the dead]

Yeah, but Coke tastes way better than Pepsi. Just sayin'

It totally does not. Just sayin'.

[_Blixa]

You are wrong and I'm just sayin'. Not starting a Coggins/Scratch war. Just sayin.'

Ironically, sister wife is a big Pepsi drinker, so now my place is filled with it...

[_harmony]

You are wrong and I'm just sayin'. Not starting a Coggins/Scratch war. Just sayin.'

Ironically, sister wife is a big Pepsi drinker, so now my place is filled with it...

Sister wife?

[_Blixa]

Yeah, that's right, I'm one of those atheist polys!

My nevermo husband likes to rib me about Mormonism, so when a friend of ours moved in as a roommate (she needed rent help and we could use the extra cash to buy some nice furniture), he started refering to her as Sister Wife.

I guess I thought I'd made the joke and explained it before, but maybe I didn't.

[_Bond...James Bond]

Yeah, that's right, I'm one of those atheist polys!

My nevermo husband likes to rib me about Mormonism, so when a friend of ours moved in as a roommate (she needed rent help and we could use the extra cash to buy some nice furniture), he started refering to her as Sister Wife.

I guess I thought I'd made the joke and explained it before, but maybe I didn't.

LOL....you gotta pull rank as First Wife and make sure that only Coke is drunk...or at least compromise on some alcohol.

[_Blixa]

Believe me, I've tried all the Coca-Cola Classic apologetics I can muster. I've even asked her to pray to God to see if these thing are not true...

[_Seven]

Freemasonry created a broad deist approach to social improvement by giving its adherents an ideology to play with, rituals labeled as secret, symbols labeled as ancient and meaningful, and a series of steps - not unlike the colored belts of a karate program - to give its adherents a sense of satisfaction as each progressed in the program toward the final objective of becoming a Master Mason.

The most dangerous thing Joseph Smith could have taken from Freemasonry was not a few exclusive rituals and symbols. It was the idea of inventing or shaping narratives to create a kind of social script designed to get people to play together.

I haven't done enough study on Masonry yet to draw any conclusions but when I first read "In Sacred Loneliness" there were two main thoughts that came to mind right away. I recalled the scriptures from the Book of Mormon warning that secret combinations/death oaths etc. are only of Satan. I also felt strongly at the time I studied polygamy that the use of Masonic rituals was used/"restored" by Joseph Smith to keep the women quiet and fearful of revealing their adulterous "marriages" to Joseph Smith. Anybody in the "inner circle" of polygamy (men and women) would have been sworn to secrecy so death penalty signs/oaths would have been a perfect way for Joseph Smith to keep them loyal.
I believe that is a little more dangerous than people "playing together."