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===Ritual forms are a useful teaching tool in a semi-literate society=== | ===Ritual forms are a useful teaching tool in a semi-literate society=== | ||
− | Nothing is divine about Freemasonry and indeed Freemasonry has rejected any and all attempts to portray it as a religion. However, masonic ritual forms are very useful as a teaching tool, particularly in situations such as were found in Nauvoo in the 1840's where many members could not read. Literacy was higher in the | + | Nothing is divine about Freemasonry and indeed Freemasonry has rejected any and all attempts to portray it as a religion. However, masonic ritual forms are very useful as a teaching tool, particularly in situations such as were found in Nauvoo in the 1840's where many members could not read. Literacy was higher in the East: as high as 90% among males. <ref>David W. Kirkpatrick, [http://www.educationnews.org/articles/literacy-then-and-now-.html "Literacy Then and Now,"] ''Education News'' (8 July 2003). "[F]rom 1650 to 1795 literacy among American males was as high as 90%; from 1800-1840, it rose as high as 97 percent in the North and 81% in the South.</ref> However, the literacy of the north is a poor marker for what it would have been on the frontier. Women in particular often had markedly lower literacy rates than men, with some affidavits from women in Nauvoo signed with an X: they couldn't even write their own names. Even in 1870, 24 years after the exodus from Nauvoo, 11.5% of the total white population of the United States over age 14 was functionally illiterate. <ref>[http://nces.ed.gov/naal/lit_history.asp "Literacy from 1870 to 1979,"] ''National Center for Education Statistics''.</ref> Consider also the introduction of immigrant groups from Scandanavia and other countries. Thus, a participatory form of teaching the temple concepts makes perfect sense. Using ritual forms found in masonry as instructive tools to teach a divine message is what we are dealing with here. |
===Purpose of tokens=== | ===Purpose of tokens=== |
Freemasonry has no actual relationship to Solomon's temple, and has no actual religious elements.
First off the endowment is not a Masonic ritual. No one ever became a Mason in an LDS Temple and no one has ever been endowed in a Masonic Lodge. However, rituals have proven pedagogical value. Some critics of the temple ceremony would seem to want to paint the LDS Church and the faith as some sort of restorationist version of Calvinism where an unflinching and unforgiving God metes out eternal separation of families. This ignores the reality of the universalist nature of LDS theology and its view of a supremely loving Father providing a plan where ALL of His children can continue to advance and make themselves better both as individuals and as wider families through the atoning sacrifice of Christ..
Nothing is divine about Freemasonry and indeed Freemasonry has rejected any and all attempts to portray it as a religion. However, masonic ritual forms are very useful as a teaching tool, particularly in situations such as were found in Nauvoo in the 1840's where many members could not read. Literacy was higher in the East: as high as 90% among males. [1] However, the literacy of the north is a poor marker for what it would have been on the frontier. Women in particular often had markedly lower literacy rates than men, with some affidavits from women in Nauvoo signed with an X: they couldn't even write their own names. Even in 1870, 24 years after the exodus from Nauvoo, 11.5% of the total white population of the United States over age 14 was functionally illiterate. [2] Consider also the introduction of immigrant groups from Scandanavia and other countries. Thus, a participatory form of teaching the temple concepts makes perfect sense. Using ritual forms found in masonry as instructive tools to teach a divine message is what we are dealing with here.
The tokens are to show our fidelity to covenants, a central point of both the endowment and the masonic rituals. God does not need them, we need them, or more precisely, we need the covenants that they represent. They help us learn to be faithful to what we want to be.
Notes
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