Do Mason Deny The Deity of Jesus?
In the ritual for the Fellow Craft degree in The Murrow Masonic Monitor used by
Okalahoma Masons the "Doxology" is
included, with the phrase, "Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." (The Murrow Masonic Monitor, Guthrie: Grand Lodge of Oklahoma,
revised 1988, page 69.)
In the Murrow Monitor, from the ceremony for laying a cornerstone, we find,
"According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise
master-builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth
thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth
thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is
Jesus Christ." page 190.
During the ceremony of the extinguishing of the lights, a Scottish Rite
ceremony held on Maundy Thursday, we find the following: "My Brethern, this is the anniversary of that Last Supper of
which Jesus of Nazareth partook with His humble disciples, after which He was
betrayed and crucified. Who, of any creed, can picture to himself, unmoved,
that noble and sweet countenance, which never looked on any
thing in anger, pale with agony, and streaming with tears? His back was
torn by the lash, His brow pierced by the thorns. He suffered, willingly, until
it seemed, even to Him, that His God and Father had forsaken Him. And yet, even
then, bruised, hanged upon a cross, betrayed by one He loved, suffering and,
for a moment, questioning, He still calls down not curses but blessings and a
prayer for forgiveness upon those who had so treated Him. When any man might be
forgiven for cursing or, at the least, indluging in
self-pity, He thinks not of His own pain, but of the pain and suffering of
others." (Ritual of the 15d to the 18d of the Scottish Rite,
page 251.)
From the 18th degree of the Scottish Rite: "That wherein they were defeicient [Masonry] found in the New Law of Love, preached
by Jesus of Nazareth, and which He sealed with His blodd
... We regard Him as our Master, and use such terms only as none can dissent
from." (page 145.)
From the 26th degree of the Scottish Rite: "In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
All things were made through Him; in Him Life was, and the Life was the Light
of mankind. The true Light, which lighteth
every man that cometh into the world. And the Word became incarnate, and dwelt in man and they beheld His glory, a
glory as of the Only-born of the Father." (page
82)
In the York Rite of the Red Cross of Constantine, Mark 16:1-6 is quoted
verbatim.
Courtesy of John
Rutherford.