Do Masons Have Their Own Plan of Salvation?
According to John Ankerberberg
& John Weldon, authors of "The Facts of The Masonic Lodge",
Masons do have their own plan.
Here is what they say:
1. "Every candidate who enters the Blue
Lodge is told again and again during the first three degrees of Masonry that
God will reward those who do good deeds."
This is quite an exaggeration,
however, who would say that God doesn't reward good deeds. God would have
everyone to do good deeds, and I think He blesses those who do them. Masons do
not say that good deeds will earn entrance into Heaven. Good deeds are
wonderful, but we only enter Heaven through faith. James said "Works
without faith is dead." Both are needed.
2. "Masonry
teaches that God will reward man with eternal life in the Celestial Lodge
Above" and they quote out of a Mason Monitor "He who wears the
lambskin as a badge of a Mason is thereby continually reminded of purity of
life and conduct, which is essentially necessary to his gaining admission into
that celestial Lodge above, where the Supreme Architect of the universe
presides."
Allow me to put the emphasis
where it belongs. "Mason is thereby continually reminded of
purity." The Bible teaches that a pure heart is necessary to see God.
There is no guarantee here that a Mason is going to be pure just because he has
an apron. The apron simply reminds him that he needs purity of life and conduct
into order to see God. It is not a magic charm, or a free ticket to Heaven. The
Mason will not find purity by being a Mason. We expect the Mason to find
spiritual purity through his house of worship and through his inspired
writings.
3. "Does the Masonic Lodge have its
own distinct doctrinal statement like a church does?" Of course the
authors believe that we do. Here is what they state: "How can any Mason
honestly say he has no confession of faith when he must believe in the
teachings of the Landmarks concerning the universal Fatherhood of God and
brotherhood of man, when he must believe in immortality of the soul, when he
must believe in a Supreme Being, and when he must believe that as a good Mason
he will reside in the 'Celestial Lodge Above' for all eternity?"
We would have to agree that
these are statements of belief, but that does not quite put them on the level
of "doctrinal" belief. The purpose of having the above beliefs is not
to make ourselves into a organized religion, but to
establish a foundation for a Fraternity. There is a very real sense in which
all men are the children of God. It is a statement of origen. We all came from our father Adam, who was the
son of God. We are all on this earth as flesh and blood relatives who all stem
from the same source. Now, in a spiritual sense, there are many who believe
that one must have a "conversion experience" before they become a
child of God. Freemasonry is not opposed to that definition, but it is the
first definition that is a tenet of Freemasonry.
Is belief in a Supreme Being a
doctrinal statement? There are many people who believe in God who never become
involved in an organized religion. Doesn't the Boy
Scouts make a pledge involving a belief in God?
A belief in the immortality of
the soul is as old as man himself. It is something that has been engrained into
our spirits. Man is flesh and soul and knows that this life is not the end of
all things. Again, this is not necessary for an organized religion.