Freemasonry: Nothing to be Afraid of Essentially, this was written as a research term paper, with a small critical analysis / personal critique of the topic at the end.

Essay by defy.gravityUniversity, Bachelor'sA-, February 2009

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Freemasonry: Nothing to be Afraid of

Jennifer Squires

Monday, November-17-08

RLST 268

Leona Anderson

Freemasonry is the world's oldest existing secret society. Its origins and history are not only confusing, but blurry and lost to the times. Freemasonry never claims to be a secret society, more of a society with secrets. The society never claims to be a religion, but strives to encompass all religious beliefs. In this paper, we will strive to uncover who the Freemasons actually are, what they do, and why they do it. By doing this, we will discover that Freemasons are nothing to be feared, and are in fact just men trying to make this world a little better.

Freemasons insist that their history goes back to the building of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem in roughly 950 BCE. There is a sort of legend that says the master builder (or master mason) was a man by the name of Hiram Abiff. There is no one version of the story, but essentially he knew the master plans of the temple (as revealed to Solomon in a dream by God). Abiff was accosted by 3 apprentice workers who demanded to know the secrets of the master mason. They believed that one codeword would give them all the secrets and magical powers. He tells them he won't tell them and that the word will be revealed after the completion of the temple and will be rewarded for accomplishment.

At noon everyday, Abiff leaves the worksite to go and pray. At the first door, he as confronted by one of the three aforementioned workers and when Abiff denies him the knowledge, the worker strikes him with a sharpened stone. He meets the second worker and denies him the knowledge as well and is stricken with a mason's square.