New Book (2010) on Freemasonry DESTROYS Anti-Masonic Claims

[Uncle Dale]

...Smith

[soren]

I'm not sure whether that is the case or not -- but we do see that Smith was not

averse to submitting to the authority of a Masonic hierarchy, extending up above

him to the level of some 30-odd "degrees."

It is unusual to see Smith submit to earthly authority figures anywhere, at any

time -- be they Isaac Hale, Governor Ford, or Masonic Grand Masters. In the case

of the latter, Smith's subservience was very short-lived. He turned Nauvoo into

a rogue lodge and soon established himself as the ostensible head of that "true"

Freemasonry.

Smith

[LeSellers]

If we accept Smith

[Uncle Dale]

...Yet your explanation here treats worship as a means, capable of being distorted and

then justified in virtue of some other end. It then uses that as an excuse to involve

untruth in worship (entailed by the unchristian restrictions upon Masonic prayer) contrary

to the nature of worship itself (John 4:24). Thus your answer degrades worship on two counts:

its lowers its stature as the summit of Christian life and then undermines its intrinsic

nature. If you are correct, the whole structure of Christian piety collapses. I submit that

this is because Smith

[cinepro]

Not true.

Here's what happened:

He was not commanded to stay away from them, he was commanded not to join any of them. There is a difference, and it is far from simple semantics.

Lehi

So, he was more of a "social Methodist"?

I wonder if that direction was limited only to the churches in Joseph Smith's immediate area. Else, I have to wonder if God has inspired anyone to join a non-LDS church in the last 180 years, especially in areas served by local LDS wards or branches.

[bjw]

Actually, whatever Joseph Smith may have done (or not done) impinges

not one iota upon my worship of Almighty God. And, I doubt that my

commenting here affects him or Heavenly Father in any way whatever.

I am surprised, however, that Smith submitted himself even temporarily

to Masonic overlords. I'd be curious to hear what his first recorded

disobedience to them entailed -- before the charter of the Nauvoo Lodge

was revoked. I'm also curious to know of "authorized" Masonry at Nauvoo

beyond the blue lodge level. Was the nearest Royal Arch Chapter at Carthage

or at Warsaw? To what extent did Mormons participate in Royal Arch activities

in "Gentile" Chapters, during the very early 1840s?

UD

UD,

What I also find interesting is the many similarities in Mormonism of the 29 Scottish Rite degrees when the AASR was not available to Mormons at the time, and the only high level York Rite degree available was the Royal Arch, which is technically the 4th degree of the York Rite and 13th of the Scottish Rite. It would be an interesting study of what sources the writers of the AASR degrees (Morin, Dalcho, Pike, etc.) and Joseph Smith and the Mormons had available to them, and what they may have had in common.