To claim that this passage teaches that Jesus told his disciples to be part of a secret society is absolutely absurd!
No more absurd than calling Masonry a "secret society" when you know good and well you can find any information about it you wish to find, on the "information highway." In reality, there are no secrets in Masonry.
As for the passage in question, I had nothing more or less in mind about it than, they were a society with certain secrets. Jesus instructed them "do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing," which is undeniably telling them to conduct those actions in secret. He most certainly told people who were healed not to tell anyone, but to show themselves to the priest, which is to say, keep it secret from everyone else but the priest. He also told them not to mention the transfiguration until after the resurrection, which means, that until then, keep it secret. So as long as they operated in obedience to this command from Him, they operated in secrecy on certain points--Masonry is no different, there are only certain points which Masons are urged to make confidential. I'd say the majority of ritual, in our times, has been made monitorial--i.e., no effort is made to conceal it, and it is considered "lawful information."
We must conclude that you are deliberately lying to make your point.
"We?" Can't you speak for yourself? (Especially since you are the only one you can speak for here.) And how does "deliberately lying" come out of anything I said, as an automatic "conclusion?" Your claim that it does, simply does not follow from your premises.
I think we can safely conclude, that all you are doing is talking and squawking, just to make noise because you don't like what was said, and are well aware you have nothing to refute it. (What I presented, after all, was Scripture. Now, maybe where YOU come from, it's okay to refute that, but I have more respect for the Word than that.)
Besides, Freemasonry often "sounds its trumpet" claiming to supposedly give $1 million dollars a day to charity
(1) Freemasonry, like any organization involved in charitable giving, is required by law to make public report of its giving.
(2) The kind of statement to which you just referred has unfortunately been made necessary by the unwarranted accusations of disgruntled former members who have axes to grind. Words spoken in defense against railing accusations by Masonry's accusers, is quite a different context from the "sounding a trumpet" of which Jesus spoke.
(3) There is nothing wrong with defending when attacked. Paul had to do so many times during his ministry.
First of all, you quoted the wrong passage; as this is Mark 9:9, not Mt. 9:9. You would think a seminary-trained pastor would quote verses accurately.
You are correct that it is Mark 9:9. But you really went off the deep end trying to turn this into an accusation. The source where I pulled it up had it abbreviated "Mk.," and I inadvertently mistook the "k" for a "t." The ol' eyes ain't what they used to be, I've even had to go to a larger print Bible when reading in worship. You would think someone who also has a few more years on him than in earlier days, would have a little bit more understanding over a simple mistake, rather than risk looking ridiculous by trying to turn it into something worth criticizing.
Secondly, if what you claim is true, then you are saying that the disciples of Christ are a secret society.
No, just making a point. The person to whom I responded (which by the way, was NOT you), had stated that "Christ never taught His disciples to be part of a secret society. . ." My response was therefore intended to show that there were things that even Jesus did secretly, and taught His disciples to do secretly. The disciples qualify as a "society," just as any group of Christians would (cf. "Society of Friends," e.g.). Therefore, it is no stretch of the imagination to say, that when the disciples obeyed Jesus' instructions to maintain secrecy concerning the transfiguration until after the resurrection, they were operating as a "secret society."
Oh, and since He said don't tell anyone until after He had risen from the dead, I guess they were a temporary secret society
.
You guessed correctly. They were a society which had secrets for the entire duration of time from the point they were told to keep that secret, until the time of the resurrection. They met in secret, too, in an upper chamber. Heck, they were even given a secret mode of recognition by which to find the room where they were supposed to meet:
"As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters." (Luke 22:10--look it up)
In fact, the church has had to operate pretty much as a secret society in many times and many places throughout the centuries. This was especially true during the reign of Domitian, a time during which the early Christians took their abode in the catacombs to escape persecution from Roman soldiers, who were superstitious about graveyards. A tradition from that time says they used the symbol of the fish, and upon meeting someone unknown to them, who claimed to be a Christian, one person would draw half the symbol in the sand, and the other would complete it, as a mode of recognition.
This story is very commonly repeated in Masonry, Masonry's use of modes of recognition is often framed in that very context.
Masonry's false teachers are the false prophets of the Masonic Order.
This matter was not addressed to you. Alex's comment had to do with certain things he claimed Masonry "teaches." Since he was the one making the claim, I'm sure he can speak for himself, and supply the information, along with an identification of his sources, upon which he made the claim. Until he does, you may fret and stew all you wish about it, for all I care. Since I prefer light to heat, I will await Alex's response, so we can find out what was the basis and the information source upon which he made that particular remark.
YOU KNOW PERFECT WELL that this is NOT WHAT is taught about the letter "G" in Masonry generally speaking
Actually, no, I know no such thing. The "G" is said in many places to stand for "God," and the entire foundation of Masonry is based upon biblical stories, most particularly, the construction of Solomon's Temple. What antimasons do in regard to that is, they turn it around backwards in order to make cannon fodder out of it. The whole foundation of Masonry rests upon biblical stories and accounts. It is everywhere presumed that the God of which Masonry speaks is the God of the Bible, for that is the foundation on which it is built.
What has happened since the time of its inception is, people other than Christians have taken an interest in Masonry, and have had no problem accepting that God as expressed in Masonry--being, as it is, founded upon accounts of God's dealings with Israel, and having particular focus in many places upon the tetragrammaton, or four-letter name for God as imparted to Moses--is the God of the Bible. Now, for those of Jewish faith, that is no stretch. For those of other religions, it carries the further aspect, that in order to join, they must decide
for themselves whether the God of the Bible is the God of their religion as well.
But it is THEY who face that dilemma, not Masons who happen to be of Christian faith. For the Christian, there is no such potential conflict with his own religion, for the accounts that make up the warp and woof of Masonry are BIBLICAL stories. What antimasons do with this is, they try to turn it around and make it look as if the CHRISTIAN Masons are somehow accepting something that comes from some other religion, when actually it is quite the reverse: the NON-Christians are the ones who must deal with the issue of whether there is a conflict with their own religion or religious beliefs. The antimasons try to make it look like Masonry's content derives from OTHER religions, rather than from the Bible as it does, and then try to use that FALSE misrepresentation to make it appear that Christian Masons are guilty of some kind of misappropriation of their beliefs.
And, since you repeatedly tell falsehoods about Freemasonry, giving it a "Christian" veneer based on your personal interpretation
Well, there you go again, making the same mistake Alex just made, of confusing "most Masons are Christians" with some straw man creation of your own about "Christian veneer." There is no "veneer" to anything I stated at all. What I stated had to do with whether most Masons are Christians. All this bluster about "Christian veneer" is just part of the facade the antimasons have tried to build, one made of straw man fallacies, which falls under its own weight every time they try to prop it up, mainly because they are trying to refute something that was not even claimed in the first place.