A Radical Idea - Page 3

D. W. Brown · 12-13-2007, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by antoninus9

Bro. Eric,

What if you were that one brother? How would you feel about Freemasonry?

In my opinion what affects one brother should affect us all equally. We are sworn to be his brother.

Well done..

witnessofjesus · 12-14-2007, 12:32 AM

You do have a point, but what I mean is that it's not gotten the noteriety that the incidents in Ohio and WV have gotten, and therefore it remains an isolated event.

Regarding the brother, and his lawsuit, I do not know any of the particulars of his case against the Grand Lodge, save to say that this lawsuit has been reported as pending for the past two years, so I'm not so sure it's going anywhere.

I hope for the best of all involved, but to my knowledge the brother was not expelled by GM edict as in the WV case. Again, I do not have the details, but the case is pending and will be settled when the courts decide to take action on the pending case.

I apologize if I sounded like I don't care, as I do, but I am uninformed and ignorant about that case, and even if I did know all the details, I wouldn't air them here in a public forum because that's private between this gentlemen, his attorney, and the GL of Virginia to settle. Again, an isolated case indeed.

Godspeed in your travels,

Brother Eric Martin

antoninus9 · 12-16-2007, 11:54 AM

Bro. Eric,

I really hate to do this but I feel it is necessary.

You really don't care about this brother or else you would be interested in learning all of the facts. You've made him just another statistic by calling it "an isolated incident."

No one wants to talk about or acknowledge these issues. It's so much easier to just brush them under the rug. Then, if it happens to you, and you give the Grand Hailing Sign and no one responds you have a much clearer understanding of Masonic brotherhood.

Masonic brotherhood is worthless! It's just a bunch a fair weather friends who abandon you when some sorry son of a bitch wearing a fancy gold chain expels you.

Are you going to be a fair weather brother or a real Mason? Being a real Mason mean caring about others and seeing that justice is done. It's not easy to be a real Mason. It requires more than an oath and obligation; it requires the internal fortitude to do what's right regardless of the cost. Hiram Abiff is the Mason's example of this. He did what was right even though it cost him his life. Are you ready to be such a man and Mason?

D. W. Brown · 12-16-2007, 04:43 PM

Now we are on the path to a real debate on the topic. Let's stay on this path and let's keep the insults down, to a min at least, and see where this takes us.

witnessofjesus · 12-16-2007, 05:49 PM

Jeff,

You know not what you say concerning me and my concerns for brethren who are done wrong. In fact, I've just taken stands for two brethren, and I've received some verbal lashes for so doing just recently here, both in my own home lodge, and on another online forum here on the Web.

1. My own local lodge, well, what used to be my local lodge until I demitted last Thursday out of disgust. Yes, our lodge officer election was this past Thursday and I demitted from my lodge on that date as well, and I watched as our SW was ousted from the line completely by a coup composed of our then WM, Sec. and several PMs of our lodge, that is the main reason why I decided to leave it.

Please pray for our SW, his name is Bill, and he's taking this a bit hard, as he had every hope of doing good for our lodge as the new WM, but he was ousted by an inside job, and I could not stand idly by and let them do that to him, without making a statement, and think I have done just that, I handed my demit request to the Secretary at 6:55 p.m., our meeting started at 7 p.m., and I was demitted during the business session of our Annual Stated Communication at the outset, and then afterwards presented with my Masonic diploma from the Grand Lodge of Virginia for mastery of all three catechisms, and then our WM nominated the JW, as had been expected by those of us siding with the SW, and a PM got up and nominated our SW, who got up and declined his nomination, as he and I and others knew that he wouldn't win after all the politicking and such had gone on behind his back while he was away burying his mother, how sad, to loose both your mother and your chance at leading your lodge in less than three months.

I remain a member of my DC Lodge, Freedom Military Fellowship No. 1775, because DC Freemasonry is "Masonry as it should be", unlike what just occurred in my lodge, which I deem as unMasonic in nature, and as pure treason in some respects. I just got raised in September of 2007, but I know a treasonous plot when I see it, and I watched it develop and did what I could to stop it but our JW had his own ambitions and the support of our WM and several PMs who even sent out an email inviting all the brethren to attend the Communication to 'save our lodge', supposedly from our SW's leadership, which I thought was the best I've experienced here in Virginia.

Either way, it's over now, I'm no longer a Virginia Mason, and I'm proud to be a DC Mason now.

Anyway, enough of my rambling, please keep our former SW, who has spent six years working towards the East to get kicked completely out of line by a coup of his own supposed 'brethren', if they'll do that to him, I reason, they would do it to me as well some day, so it's best I not fellowship with them.
He'll be demitting soon himself and going elsewhere, as he and I both agree that it wouldn't be worth our time to remain amongst such 'brethren' who would stab one in the back while they were down burying their mother who had died. It was treason, plain and simple.

2. In defense of the PGM Haas of WV. I posted the Edict of the GM of WV on another forum, and the following were some of the replies I got in opposition to my posting the Edict. Here is one 'brother's' reply:

Eric, what possible value did you think it would be to you to air West
Virginia's dirty laundry in public? Why do you do this, knowing that as you
do so you injure and embarrass all the WV Masons that subscribe to this
newsgroup? You're not even a WV Mason; it's none of your business.

Be it known that, had the choice come to me, I would not have approved your
posting of a Grand Master's Edict which is not of your jurisdiction, and
therefore I say again it's none of your business.

That is why I choose to castigate your actions publicly, rather than
privately; I do not consider your posting of the GM's edict to be the action
of a True Brother, and therefore you are not worthy of the courtesy I extend
to my Masonic Brethren.

--
Dave Vick, PM

I replied to this PM and stated thus:

WB Vick,

I thought it would be of value to those WV Masons who might not know of its
existence, and as an update for all on the situation there in WV. WV
Masonry is my business, regardless if I am a member of it or not, because
what happens there can affect the whole of the Fraternity. We should all be
concerned with what goes on there, and as the Moderators have stated, they
will only allow 'factual' pieces of information to be posted on this site,
and that edict is such a document.

I meant no harm to any of my WV brethren in submitting it, as I trust that
the moderators would have rejected it had they found it unworthy of being
posted on the forum.

If you find it offensive, then I am sorry for having offended you, but it is
already posted on three other forums, possibly more, on the Net, and that is
how I came upon it myself. Posting it here was, in my opinion, providing a
valuable service for the WV brethren who only frequent this forum and not
the others, I feel they have a right to know of this edict, and what better
way than posting it on the figurative 'door' of the chapel so to speak, as
did Martin Luther literally did in the 1500s.

I am sorry you feel that I am not worthy of your recognition as a brother,
and that by my wishing to provide important information to our WV brethren
that I have somehow violate your code of ethics, but I assure you I meant no
harm, nor have I nor will I offer comment on the edict, it is there for all
to read and interpret as they see fit to do so. For me to make comments on
it, or to question it would be unMasonic of me I do agree, but to post it
for the information of all hands is in no way unMasonic as far as I am
aware. But then again, I was only recently raised a Master Mason in
September of this year, and I do not know all the ins and outs of Masonic
law. Have I broken any unawares? If so, please have mercy and pardon, and
then inform me of my violations so I can make amends to those whom I have
violated.

Fraternally yours,
Bro. Eric J. Martin

So, that being said, I have taken some heat for getting involved with helping other brethren, and I'm even left my 'mother' lodge because they done a brother wrong, and so I'm in the fight for the right, but the issue with the brother in Virginia, I really know nothing about the incident other than what was stated at Grand Lodge about the lawsuit being ongoing for a few years now, so I do agree that that is none of my business because I don't have a clue to what is going on, so I cannot make a decision about what side to take on that issue, as my Grand Lodge in Virginia was truly, well, Grand as far as I know. The Grand Master restored a suspended lodge during our Grand Lodge session in November, and I thought that was kind of him.

What have you done to assist brethren who needed your assistance, and what kind of 'heat' have you taken from those opposed to you? Let me know.

witnessofjesus · 12-16-2007, 06:32 PM

I then got another blasting by another one on the forum stating:

For some reason, Dave, some Masons love to gossip. They gossip about other
Lodges. They go on the internet and gossip about other jurisdictions. Some
have holier-than-thou blogs about it.

Is their no rough ashlar of their own which needs attention?

I'd rather spend my time answering questions from our E.As about procedure
and symbolism, getting out to other Lodges and seeing our ceremonies done
well, calling a Bro. who just got out of hospital after an extremely painful
series of operations, than being a Masonic busybody. There's a reason
Prudence is a cardinal virtue.

I haven't followed whatever happened in W.V. In fact, I don't know what
happened. I haven't read any of the posts about it. While I'm interested in
customs of other jurisdictions and enjoy talking about them, their internal
politics are their own business. I wouldn't appreciate some Mason in West
Virginia gossiping about my lodges in public. The Golden Rule should apply.

So, if you speak up, as I have done, and post factual information, you're now considered a gossiper? How absurd!

I am so glad that I am a DC Mason, as the Grand Lodge of DC knows that its purpose is to SERVE the BLUE LODGES beholden to it, and not the other way around, hence the Grand Lodge of DC is IMHO, the premier Grand Lodge of the World. It's leaders are humble, I've met both our PGM for 2007 and our new Grand Master for 2008, and they were some of the MOST humble men I've ever met! Truly inspirational! They make you WANT to become involved in your Blue Lodge and to do your best to represent the Craft!

Keep your eyes on DC, we're leading the progressive movement and exemplifying to all other Grand Lodges in the USA how Masonic Grand Lodges SHOULD operate, for the good of their blue lodges, and NOT the other way around! I recommend it to you all, visit DC, and you will see.

I've met both the GM for 2007, and our newly installed GM for 2008, and these men are some of the MOST HUMBLE men I've ever met before in my life, bar none, and they really have a PASSION for the Craft of Freemasonry, and for their constituent Blue Lodges, and they make the GL work for us, not the other way around, and that is, IMHO, the way Freemasonry should be! Wouldn't you agree? I do!

D. W. Brown · 12-16-2007, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by witnessofjesus

What have you done to assist brethren who needed your assistance, and what kind of 'heat' have you taken from those opposed to you? Let me know.

I doubt there has been anyone more vilified, wrongfully in my opinion, on the internet than Brother Peace.

Also Brother Eric, I am truely sorry to hear of your own troubles within your lodge. It is truely a sad state of affairs that this type of behavior goes on in any lodge, but I've seen it in mine too.

antoninus9 · 01-10-2008, 11:11 AM

Bro. Eric,

Doing the right thing is never easy and you will never get patted on the back for it. Your only reward is knowing that you did the right thing.

Cudos, my brother. :-)

Jeff