What is Freemasonry?

What is Freemasonry?

Probably the finest definition ever devised for Freemasonry is: "It is a beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory, and illustrated by symbols".

It's not a religion or a political party, it's a fraternity of men meeting together on a common level, to share ideas and views that they have in common.   The saying is "we take good men and make them better".   Now myself, being a Freemason and also a proud member of Michael Dempsey Masonic Lodge # 327, F&AM, I believe this to be true.  This is something that I really enjoy being a part of.   I think it is a great organization.  There a lot of good charity work through it's various branches of Freemasonry.  There are the Shriner's, Scottish Rite, York Rite, OES, and a few others.  All of which help raise and donate money to those less fortunate.  In the state of Louisiana, our main charitable organization is the dyslexia foundation.  Other Masonic charities are Shriner's Hospitals, Dentistry for the Handicapped, Scottish Rite Learning Centers, Scottish Rite Children's Medical Center, Hospital Visitation, The Museum of Our National Heritage, George Washington Masonic National Memorial Scholarships.  The fraternity is very patriotic, the Pledge of Allegiance is said at every meeting.  Prayer is all ways done at the opening and closing of every meeting. 

The Bible used is a very large, very old King James Version of the Bible and it is right in the middle of the lodge.  Is it a church then you wonder, no, I go to a church and a great church it is.  Krishae calls it a boys club, something to do that gets me out of the house.  I have read a lot of the Internet stuff out there, it will blow you away, how bad it is.  I have yet to see anything bad.  The only God I prayed to is the God of the Bible, as I do everyday of my life.    I have not seen not one thing that was bad.  I have not seen the blood oaths.  I have not rode the goat or sacrificed a goat.  I haven't seen any dark figures with hoods hiding in the shadows.  I told Krishae and my family this, if at any point I thought that there was something bad or evil in this organization, I wouldn't be apart of it, then I would quit it, simple enough huh.  But it's so secretive, so what, when you go to college, you do the same thing.  When I was a boy, we had a secret club.  There is not really anything secretive about it, except the password, handshake, and the way you stand.  If you wanted it bad enough you more than likely could find out what it is.  Most of the people that I know who are apart of this are good people, of good moral character, and who have firm religious beliefs.  Some are Sunday School Teachers, Deacons, Dentist, Mechanics, Doctors, Lawyers, Police Officers, Oilfield Workers, Politicians, but most are just regular ordinary people, who live normal lives.  Now you may think, hey, I know a guy who was a Mason and he did this bad thing......really, you have bad apples in every batch.  Just as you have bad people in politics, government, schools (no get me started on that, maybe another blog), and yes, believe it or not, churches.  You can't be perfect, there was only one perfect person, you are human and all we can do is try to be better than the sum of our parts.  People make mistakes.

What do I like about it?  Well, besides the charity work.  I enjoy lodge  because in my personal view, it is just good clean fun.  It's fun for me to go and visit with the guys, find out what is going on with them, and local events.  In Jena, there is a lot going on.  Some of you may have seen it on the news.  I just enjoy going to the lodge on Monday evenings.  There are only 2 meetings a month, a meeting every other week, so I miss most of them, but I try to go to the one that occurs while I am home.  This is good for me, mainly, because it is close to home.  I would not want to do something that is going to take me far from home, I am gone enough as it is, if Krishae needed me, I could be home pretty quick.  I love my wife and my kids, I do not want to do anything that is going to take me too far away from them, if at all possible.  Since, I am not one to go out and party at the bars, nor do I hunt or fish, I would much rather stay at home and do things around our house, my shop, ride the four wheeler, or just watch a movie.     The extra activity does not consume all of my days.

I took Kassie and Cole's with me to the lodge one day when they were small and to see the look in their eyes when they went inside the lodge with me for the first time.  Kassie thought it was really cool to see the portrait of George Washington hanging on the wall and the American Flag, you will see that in every lodge in the United States.  Of course and the first place Cole went was to sit in Master's chair, that chair is so big that a 7 foot tall person could sit in it, he looked small in that huge chair, but he picked up the gavel and said "one day I'm gonna sit here" in his little country voice, then I said "But not before me".