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What is
Freemasonry?
What does
Freemasonry support?
How is
Freemasonry organized?
What are degrees?
Is
Masonry a secret organization?
Is Masonry a
religion?
What is the role of
families in Masonry?
Where can I find out
more about Freemasonry?
What is Freemasonry?
Freemasonry is a fraternity dedicated to positive
growth in our communities and families, and the religious development of
each member in his own beliefs. Masons assist the less fortunate as well as
share fellowship with like-minded men from all walks of life. Freemasonry
encourages its members to strive to become better men, husbands, fathers and
employees and contemplate the ‘sublime mysteries’ in the world around them.
Masonry is the oldest and largest fraternal
organization in the world, founded on values, which teaches trust in fellow
man and helping those less fortunate. Its lessons of brotherly love, relief
and truth are taught as allegories and meant for the improvement and
education of our members.
Over the centuries, Masonic scholars have explored
numerous theories of its origins. However, no one knows with certainty how
Freemasonry began. We do know that Masonry is based on the Stonemason’s
guilds formed in the middle ages to build castles, cathedrals and
monasteries.
Freemasonry can be found in every free country in the
world.
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The Masonic fraternity believes its members have an obligation to give back
to their communities for the benefit of others. Nationwide, Masons give more
than $2 million a day to charities. It is an important point to emphasize
that Masons are taught to go about these tasks in a quiet, unassuming
fashion. This is meant to impress upon our members that it is the work, and
not the individual, that is of importance. It also preserves the dignity of
the recipients. The philanthropic work of our Grand Lodge and its lodges
include:
·
Child Identification
Program (CHIP). Local lodges provide to families at no cost
several means of identifying their children in the event they are missing:
videotaped interview, fingerprint,
a Toothprints®
bite impression, a DNA cheek swab
and a digital still photograph.
·
Scholarships.
A number of academic scholarships are presented by the Grand Lodge as well
as local lodges.
·
Masonic-Eastern
Star Home for Children.
Quality care is available to children separated from their
homes because of death, divorce, separation, neglect, abuse, or inability to
adjust to their present living situation. The Home, located in Fremont,
offers an environment of love, security, and acceptance where children can
grow and develop as individuals.
·
The Nebraska Masonic Home.
The Home in Plattsmouth provides quality long-term health
care and an independent living environment for Nebraska Master Masons and
their qualified relatives.
·
Masonic All-Star Marching
Band Clinic. Annually, about 260
of Nebraska’s best high school band students attend the five-day Masonic
All-Star Marching Band Clinic from all corners of the state. After
practicing music and parade and field marching, the students perform in the
Shrine Bowl Parade and during half-time of the Shrine Bowl Football Game.
Masonic lodges, and other Masonic-related organizations, pay the entire cost
for each student to attend.
Local Masonic lodges not only support these charities,
but also many community charitable efforts.
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How is Freemasonry
organized?
The Grand Lodge of Nebraska is the governing body for
the more than 150 lodges in over 130 communities.
Members join local lodges where instruction is given
and the actual work of the fraternity is conducted. The primary officers of
Masonic lodges are elected by the membership and serve one year, although
some may be re-elected in a succeeding year. The Worshipful Master is the
primary officer of the lodge. The term “worshipful” has no religious
connotation but is a term of respect just as the designation “honorable” is
used in our legislative branches. His role is similar to the presiding
officer of any organization. He appoints other officers and committees to
carry out the work of the lodge.
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What are degrees?
A degree is a level of membership; the Entered
Apprentice, Fellow Craft or Master Mason. A degree also refers to a morality
play or ceremony in which a man participates to achieve each stage of
membership. Degrees teach lessons using a system of symbols and allegories.
There is never any hazing or poor taste in the degrees.
Each degree uses symbols to teach lessons in life based on the architectural
symbolism of the medieval Stonemasons who built castles, cathedrals and
monasteries — the importance of honor and integrity, of being a person on
whom others can rely, of being both trusting and trustworthy, of realizing
that you have a spiritual nature as well as a physical or animal nature, of
the importance of self-control, of knowing how to love and be loved, of
knowing how to keep confidential what others tell you so that they can “open
up” without fear.
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Is Masonry a secret
organization?
This is a widespread misconception. Masonry is not a
secret organization but rather an organization that keeps certain signs and
words private that are used to recognize other members, which is no
different than the practices of other fraternal groups.
With more than 100,000 books written on
the subject, the so-called secrets of Freemasonry have been in print
for well over a century. There simply are no secrets to be found. The
fraternity does not hide its existence or its purpose. There are countless
sources of reputable information available in
bookstores, on the Internet, and in libraries.
Although the moral philosophy of Freemasonry is founded on religious
principles, it is not a religion or a substitute for one. It does not try to
compete with religion, nor does it supplant the teachings of any religion.
We pray in our meetings, but each member offers his prayer in line with his
own beliefs.
Freemasonry welcomes men of all faiths. It requires
that a man profess a sincere belief in a Supreme Being to become a member.
Beyond that belief, a Mason's personal convictions toward his religion are
his own.
Religion and politics are never discussed in Lodge out of respect for the
beliefs of others. When we meet as Masons, we put aside political and
religious differences and meet on the
level. The lesson Masonry teaches is that we ought to be
gentlemen about our differences, and that good men can disagree and still
get along.
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What is the
role of families in Masonry?
While Freemasonry is for men, we
actively support family events in local lodges. And, Freemasonry teaches
that your obligations to the fraternity come after any duties you owe to
your Creator, your country, your family/neighbor or yourself.
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Where can I find out more about Freemasonry?
Three well-written, factual and easy-to-read books contain a wealth of
accurate information about Freemasonry:
·
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry by S. Brent
Morris, PHD,
·
Freemasons for Dummies by
Christopher Hodapp, and
·
The Pilgrim’s Path by John J. Robinson.
You may also contact a Mason from a lodge in your area, or contact the
Grand Lodge
in Lincoln for more information.
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