Farnsworth Posted December 8, 2012 Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 Congrats, GLOF, on the anniversary! Most alliances fall short of the 5 year mark. I'm sad about Colossus, but I'm sure they've found a great place to reside, and I look forward to continued relations with them and fostering relations with those already at GLOF. o/ GLOF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igumen Posted December 8, 2012 Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 [quote name='Igumen' timestamp='1354911914' post='3061507'] [b]Christians of Planet Bob, and more particularly confessed Christians of the Grand Lodge of Freemasons, please read the following statement, offered in love.[/b] [size=5]Official Statement of the Bishops and Abbots of the Free Land of Cathari regarding Freemasonry:[/size] [size=6]F[/size]reemasonry is not simply a philanthropic union or a philosophical school, but constitutes a mystagogical system which reminds us of the ancient heathen mystery-religions and cults—from which it descends and is their continuation and regeneration. This is not only admitted by prominent teachers in the lodges, but they declare it with pride, affirming literally: "Freemasonry is the only survival of the ancient mysteries and can be called the guardian of them;" Freemasonry is a direct offspring of the Egyptian mysteries; "the humble workshop of the Masonic Lodge is nothing else than the caves and the darkness of the cedars of India and the unknown depths of the Pyramids and the crypts of the magnificent temples of Isis; in the Greek mysteries of Freemasonry, having passed along the luminous roads of knowledge under the mysteriarchs Prometheus, Dionysus and Orpheus, formulated the eternal laws of the Universe! "Such a link between Freemasonry and the ancient idolatrous mysteries is also manifested by all that is enacted and performed at the initiations. As in the rites of the ancient idolatrous mysteries the drama of the labors and death of the mystery god was repeated, and in the imitative repetition of this drama the initiate dies together with the patron of the mystery religion, who was always a mythical person symbolizing the Sun of nature which dies in winter and is regenerated in spring, so it is also, in the initiation of the third degree, of the patron of Freemasonry Hiram and a kind of repetition of his death, in which the initiate suffers with him, struck by the same instruments and on the same parts of the body as Hiram. According to the confession of a prominent teacher of Freemasonry Hiram is "as Osiris, as Mithra, and as Bacchus, one of the personifications of the Sun." "Thus Freemasonry is, as granted, a mystery-religion, quite different, separate, and alien to the Christian faith. This is shown without any doubt by the fact that it possesses its own temples with altars, which are characterized by prominent teachers as "workshops which cannot have less history and holiness than the Church" and as temples of virtue and wisdom where the Supreme Being is worshipped and the truth is taught. It possesses its own religious ceremonies, such as the ceremony of adoption or the masonic baptism, the ceremony of conjugal acknowledgement or the masonic marriage, the masonic memorial service, the consecration of the masonic temple, and so on. It possesses its own initiations, its own ceremonial ritual, its own hierarchical order and a definite discipline. As may be concluded from the masonic agapes and from the feasting of the winter and summer solstices with religious meals and general rejoicings, it is a physiolatric religion. "It is true that it may seem at first that Freemasonry can be reconciled with every other religion, because it is not interested directly in the religion to which its initiates belong. This is, however, explained by its syncretistic character and proves that in this point also it is an offspring and a continuation of ancient idolatrous mysteries which accepted for initiation worshippers of all gods. But as the mystery religions, in spite of the apparent spirit of tolerance and acceptance of foreign gods, lead to a syncretism which undermined and gradually shook confidence in other religions, thus Freemasonry today, which seeks to embrace in itself gradually all mankind and which promises to give moral perfection and knowledge of truth, is lifting itself to the position of a kind of super-religion, looking on all religions (without excepting Christianity) as inferior to itself. Thus it develops in its initiates the idea that only in masonic lodges is performed the shaping and the smoothing of the unsmoothed and unhewn stone. And the fact alone that Freemasonry creates a brotherhood excluding all other brotherhoods outside it (which are considered by Freemasonry as "uninstructed", even when they are Christian) proves clearly its pretensions to be a super-religion. This means that by masonic initiation, a Christian becomes a brother of the Muslim, the Buddhist, or any kind of rationalist, while the Christian not initiated in Freemasonry becomes to him an outsider. "On the other hand, Freemasonry in prominently exalting knowledge and in helping free research as "putting no limit in the search of truth" (according to its rituals and constitution), and more than this by adopting the so-called natural ethic, shows itself in this sense to be in sharp contradiction with the Christian religion. For the Christian religion exalts faith above all, confining human reason to the limits traced by Divine Revelation and leading to holiness through the supernatural action of grace. In other words, which Christianity, as a religion of Revelation, possessing its rational and superrational dogmas and truths, asks for faith first, and grounds its moral structure on the super-natural Divine Grace, Freemasonry has only natural truth and brings to the knowledge of its initiates free thinking and investigation through reason only. It bases its moral structure only on the natural forces of man, and has only natural aims. "Thus, the incompatible contradiction between Christianity and Freemasonry is quite clear. Freemasonry cannot be at all compatible with Christianity as far as it is a secret organization, acting and teaching in mystery and secret and deifying rationalism. Freemasonry accepts as its members not only Christians, but also Jews and Muslims. Consequently clergymen cannot be permitted to take part in this association. I consider as worthy of degradation every clergyman who does so. It is necessary to urge upon all who entered it without due thought and without examining what Freemasonry is, to sever all connections with it, for Christianity alone is the religion which teaches absolute truth and fulfills the religious and moral needs of men. Unanimously and with one voice all the Abbots of Cathari have approved what was said, and we declare that all the faithful children of the Church must stand apart from Freemasonry. With unshaken faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ [i]"in whom we have our redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of His Grace, whereby He abounds to us in all wisdom and prudence" [/i](Ephes. 1, 7-9) possessing the truth revealed by Him and preached by the Apostles, "not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in the partaking in the Divine Sacraments through which we are sanctified and saved by eternal life, we must not fall from the grace of Christ by becoming partakers of other mysteries. It is not lawful to belong at the same time to Christ and to search for redemption and moral perfection outside Him. For these reasons true Christianity is incompatible with Freemasonry. "Therefore, all who have become involved in the initiations of masonic mysteries must from this moment sever all relations with masonic lodges and activities, being sure that they are thereby of a certainty renewing their links with our one Lord and Savior which were weakened by ignorance and by a wrong sense of values. The Assembly expects this particularly and with love from the initiates of the lodges, being convinced that most of them have received masonic initiation not realizing that by it they were passing into another religion, but on the contrary from ignorance, thinking that they had done nothing contrary to the faith of their fathers. Recommending them to the sympathy, and in no wise to the hostility or hatred of the faithful children of the Church, the Assembly calls them to pray with her from the heart in Christian love, that the one Lord Jesus Christ [i]"the way, the truth and the life" may illumine and return to the truth who in ignorance have gone astray."[/i] [right][size=2]Adapted from: Freemasonry: [url="http://orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/masonry.aspx"][b]Official Statement of the Church of Greece (1933)[/b][/url][/size][/right] [b]To the rest of the Grand Lodge of Freemasons I congratulate your survival in the cruel climate of the Cyberverse, and pray that you continue your existence on this rapidly dying world at peace with your own conscience and without fear of the Truth and Light, incarnated in the person of Our Lord Jesus Christ.[/b] [/quote] [quote name='Arno Minion' timestamp='1354934053' post='3061601'] How dare you sully our thread with your negative views. At least your information is up to date; 1933?! I'll save you for later when I need some target practice. [/quote] I will first respond to the accusation of "negativity". I replied to this thread in the knowledge that Freemasonry itself espouses the noble virtue of: [i][b]"[standing] upon the religious, political, social, and economic Rock of Truth."[/b][/i] That being the case, I assume that those who join the Grand Lodge do so out of a desire to fulfil this noble ideal. My posting was simply to reach out to those people within freemasonry who, out of zeal for the truth, had jumped into an organization that is fundamentally opposed to the truth, and uses lies (specifically about advocating "freedom of religion") in order to trick people. I am not here to offend people, but merely to reach out. Some will respond and be moved to at least question freemasonry by these words, some will ignore, some will oppose. It is merely done to help people in the Grand Lodge who might be under false pretenses. I doubt you would want "lukewarm" members in your Lodge any more than they would want to be there if they realized the true nature of the GLOF. In short, I am not attacking people but opposing falsehood. No one person needs to be so bound up in falsehood that an attack on lies is an attack on them. Only pride prevents a "letting go" of damaging teachings. It is sad, though unsurprising, that you would respond to "views" (your words) that challenge the ideals of your alliance with military aggression. It is said that [b][i]All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. [/i][/b]It is impressive that on being confronted with this "new" (for you) truth you exhibited the first two stages in one post by both ridiculing and threatening violence. The last stage will take longer of course. I wonder how "initiated" you are in Freemasonry when you mock my source material being from 1933. Freemasonry prides itself on how ancient its teachings and way of life are. This being the case, then 1933 is hardly out-of-date. If you wish to argue that the information [i]is[/i] out of date, and that Freemasonry has changed since the 1930s, then you are undermining one of the claimed strengths of the Lodge: its age and unbroken succession of "secrets" (though after so many years, there is nothing particularly mysterious about the masons). Either Freemasonry is ancient - in which case the year of the statement is unimportant - or it is not, in which case you lose one of your main "selling points". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaric Posted December 8, 2012 Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 [quote name='Mr Havok' timestamp='1354904453' post='3061482'] Where is kuhnini and Alaric [/quote] Still Kickin Hovok, how's you? We're still having fun at the Lodge. Stop on over y'all. Personally, I plan to eat a large cheesecake to celebrate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaric Posted December 8, 2012 Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 Also... A hearty welcome to Colossus! This thread needs moar overalls... Auctor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rush Sykes Posted December 8, 2012 Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 Congrats on your 5th year. Sad about Collossus merging into you though. As last Archon Eponymos of Athens, and the official rewarder of the title of Best Greece, it is sad that there are no longer any worthy greek themed alliances to carry on the culture. For now, I will withhold granting the title of Best Greece until another Greek themed alliance pops up. Happy Birthday GLOF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raasaa Posted December 8, 2012 Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 whoa....5 years...that long.. Congrats guys, congrats. Good to see you guys still around o/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Max Posted December 8, 2012 Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 [font=georgia,serif]Congratulations, GLOF on the anniversary, and best wishes on behalf of everyone at Dark Templar. [/font] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeybum Posted December 8, 2012 Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 I was wondering where Rasaa crawled to Seriously, GLoF has been my internet home for so long...hoping for another five great years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shermanaslovakia Posted December 8, 2012 Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 [quote name='Igumen' timestamp='1354962007' post='3061723'] I will first respond to the accusation of "negativity". I replied to this thread in the knowledge that Freemasonry itself espouses the noble virtue of: [i][b]"[standing] upon the religious, political, social, and economic Rock of Truth."[/b][/i] That being the case, I assume that those who join the Grand Lodge do so out of a desire to fulfil this noble ideal. My posting was simply to reach out to those people within freemasonry who, out of zeal for the truth, had jumped into an organization that is fundamentally opposed to the truth, and uses lies (specifically about advocating "freedom of religion") in order to trick people. I am not here to offend people, but merely to reach out. Some will respond and be moved to at least question freemasonry by these words, some will ignore, some will oppose. It is merely done to help people in the Grand Lodge who might be under false pretenses. I doubt you would want "lukewarm" members in your Lodge any more than they would want to be there if they realized the true nature of the GLOF. In short, I am not attacking people but opposing falsehood. No one person needs to be so bound up in falsehood that an attack on lies is an attack on them. Only pride prevents a "letting go" of damaging teachings. It is sad, though unsurprising, that you would respond to "views" (your words) that challenge the ideals of your alliance with military aggression. It is said that [b][i]All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. [/i][/b]It is impressive that on being confronted with this "new" (for you) truth you exhibited the first two stages in one post by both ridiculing and threatening violence. The last stage will take longer of course. I wonder how "initiated" you are in Freemasonry when you mock my source material being from 1933. Freemasonry prides itself on how ancient its teachings and way of life are. This being the case, then 1933 is hardly out-of-date. If you wish to argue that the information [i]is[/i] out of date, and that Freemasonry has changed since the 1930s, then you are undermining one of the claimed strengths of the Lodge: its age and unbroken succession of "secrets" (though after so many years, there is nothing particularly mysterious about the masons). Either Freemasonry is ancient - in which case the year of the statement is unimportant - or it is not, in which case you lose one of your main "selling points". [/quote] Boooooo get off the stage! No one cares about your nonsense multi-line paragraphs mixed with carefully thought out italics and bolding! You are boring! Congrats to GLOF, lets hope CN & GLOF lasts another 5 years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auctor Posted December 9, 2012 Report Share Posted December 9, 2012 weird to see someone associating with the Cathars get on folk's case about heresy. Also peas peas peas peas eating goober peas goodness how delicious eating goober peas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Xnut Posted December 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2012 Thanks for all the good wishes people! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aromy621 Posted December 9, 2012 Report Share Posted December 9, 2012 awww yeah LETS GO MASONS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imran Ehsan Posted December 9, 2012 Report Share Posted December 9, 2012 Congrats guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nosoup4you Posted December 9, 2012 Report Share Posted December 9, 2012 I always knew that my hard work and dedication to Colossus would one day be repaid with...what's this? Treachery? I hate you ALL. I hope you are pleased with yourselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igumen Posted December 9, 2012 Report Share Posted December 9, 2012 (edited) [quote name='Auctor' timestamp='1355019861' post='3061989'] weird to see someone associating with the Cathars get on folk's case about heresy. [/quote] I am not associating with the Cathars (whoever [i]they [/i]may be; OOC hint), but [i]catharsis[/i], which is a key component of the orthodox Christian spiritual life. Plus, I didn't specifically refer to heresy, as heresy is something that begins within the Church, before going its own way and separating itself from the Christian Faith. Freemasonry may be opposed to the Christian faith, despite protestations to the contrary, but it never denies that it is a [i]separate[/i] organization from the Christian Church, and always has been. Other that those misconceptions, the rest of that line contains salient points, Auctor. Edited December 9, 2012 by Igumen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevastationStation Posted December 9, 2012 Report Share Posted December 9, 2012 Impressive achievement, Masons. Congratulations on the merger, though it is sad to see Collossus go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nosoup4you Posted December 9, 2012 Report Share Posted December 9, 2012 Colossus is not gone, she is back in the hands of her rightful owner. The pretenders have been removed from her halls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles the Great Posted December 9, 2012 Report Share Posted December 9, 2012 Happy Birthday GLoF, Ignomun get out now while you still can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gingervites Posted December 9, 2012 Report Share Posted December 9, 2012 Congrats GLOF, five years is a great accomplishment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfonse Posted December 12, 2012 Report Share Posted December 12, 2012 Soon the Freemasons will take over the world. First Colossus, next... er... some other alliance, maybe. I'll have to consult my holiday calendar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.