Do Masons Teach Salvation By Works?
This is a total fabrication of the truth. Freemasonry does NOT have a separate plan of salvation through good works. You would be hard pressed to find a Mason who would believe such a thing. Many anti-Masons believe that Masons are engaged in free eye care, free hospitals and other works of charity just because we are trying to earn our way to Heaven. Would they say the same thing about a Red Cross volunteer? John J. Robinson, a popular writer on Masonry says:
Masonry leaves it up to the individual Mason to choose his pathway to God, and that policy naturally includes no rules, advice, or admonitions as to the means of salvation. The Mason is expected, quite properly, to get that spiritual guidance from his own denomination, which he is encouraged to support with both his energy and his personal finances.
Mr. Robinson also said:
Time after time in various lectures, the Freemason is told never to put his duties and responsibilities to the Masonic fraternity ahead of his duties and responsibilities to his church, to his church, to his country, and to his family… In the ceremonies and lectures that lead to a man being raised to the status of Master Mason, he hears no description of heaven or hell. He hears no religious dogma. He hears no mention of Satan. He is told of no Masonic pathway to salvation for the simple reason that there is none.
Albert Pike, one of the favorite targets of anti-Masons, was very clear about the role that Freemasonry plays as far as salvation is concerned:
We do not tell you to be good and upright in order to get to heaven, or because you will go there if you are so, any more than we should try to persuade you to be good by offering to pay for you money for it. We do not tell you not to be bad and wicked because if you are you will go to the bottomless pit and be burned wit fire and brimstone, and more than we should try to keep you from doing wrong by threatening to stave you or ship you. Do what is right, as nearly as you can, because you know it is right, and that you ought to do it, and will deserve to be rewarded for it, whether you are or not. You will soon find that the greatest pleasure in the world is to do what is generous and noble, when you are not compelled to do by force or fear, or persuaded by the hope of reward.
While Pike did not believe in salvation by works, he certainly did believe that works were important. Works should be done because love dictates that it be done. Pike realized that good works certainly was not an un-Biblical concept. He was quoted as saying:
Considering the fact that some people try to insist Pike taught "works righteousness," the idea that salvation is gained by good works, it’s important to notice what he actually said. He did not say that by working to do good here one could earn salvation and another life. He said that good works here prepared one for another life. It’s a matter of having some kind of answer when the question is asked "have you done it even unto the least of these?
John J. Robinson, author of "A Pilgrim's Path" has a good comment about Freemasonry and works. He quotes the following allegations and then answers it:
ALLEGATION:
Freemasonry promises that good works will earn salvation, which is a lie. Salvation is available only to the man who accepts Jesus Christ as his personal savior, and good works have nothing to do with it.
This strongest and most frequent assertion is wrong on two counts. First, Freemasonry does not offer salvation on any basis. Each man must find that within his own faith, for salvation is the highest personal goal of any religion, and Freemasonry is certainly no religion. What Freemasonry does convey in lodge lectures is that Masonry offers a man the opportunity to engage in the good works which ire required from every believer in every moral religion.
"But good works play absolutely no role in salvation," cries the radical fundamentalist. To which I answer that most of the Masons I have met, almost all of whom are Christians, accept a moral code repeatedly defined in the Scripture, a code that requires sympathy, kindness, and charitable good works. They believe that. faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God is all-consuming and that it lives in the mind and heart, not just in the mouth, and so in the deeds as well as words. To live otherwise is to make mockeries of the Sermon on the Mount and the parable of the Good Samaritan and renders the teachings of the Ten Commandments meaningless and unnecessary.
All that is not going to convince a radical fundamentalist of anything, but rather will cause him to search his Bible for quotations, usually taken out of context, to support his position. Since any argument seems to require scriptural citation, I offer these from the Epistle of James (italics mine):
"What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?" (2:14)
''Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead." (2:17)
"But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?" (2:30)
"Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." (2:24)
"For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." (2:26)
And finally, from The First Epistle of John:
"But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth." (3.17-18)
"He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." (2:4)
In essence, what Freemasonry tells a new member is that he should attend and support his own house or worship. When the time comes that his faith and his compassionate humanity prompt him to seek the most effective ways to help those in need, he can join in charitable work with his Masonic brothers who are similarly dedicated.
Masonry does not imply salvation may be attained by one's good works.
Masonry does not teach that they have a path to salvation. That is the responsibility
of a Church, not a Fraternity. While Masonry does not have a doctrine of
salvation they do approach the issue by pointing to the open Bible, and tell
the new Mason to search there for the path to eternal life. Masonry does
believe in the importance of good works, but believes in should be done as an
attitude of gratefulness to God for His many great gifts and should be
approached as an individual moral and social responsibility. The road to
salvation is found in each Mason's house of worship, not in his Lodge.
There has been a great debate in the church world for centuries over the issue of faith versus works. Many theologians want to stress that salvation is only through faith. Those who subscribe to the Christian faith would, for the most part, agree. However, there are many passages in the Bible that speak of works. When Christ spoke to the seven churches in the Book of Revelation He spoke of their good works. In the Book of James Chapter 1, we are told that pure religion is caring for the widows and orphans. Isn’t that good works?
Faith and works should always go together. Works is an outgrowth of faith. Anyone who practices faith in a loving God is expected to show their faith by doing good works.