Typical sloppy, incomplete, and conjectural report by history lovers on Dr. Bob and Masonry

A few anti-A.A. Christian writers have a whoop-de-do time casting A.A. in the Masonic mold because Dr. Bob joined a Masonic Lodge as an adult during his drinking years, was later suspended for non-payment of dues, and then was reinstated about 1940. Is all this true? Only if you believe that one cannot be a Christian and a Freemason in the same breath. Only if you don't know the differences between blue lodges, Scottish Rite, and York Rite. Only if you believe that all the U.S. presidents who were Masons could not have been Christians, were mono-theists, and poisoned our country because of their Masonic affiliation. Only if today you think Christians cannot become Masons and that Masons cannot be Christians. And what does any of this have to do with what Dr. Bob believed if you don't know what he believed? And you can be sure from their writings that neither the anti-A.A. Christian writers nor the dean of history lovers has a clue. Only if you buy into the speculation, opinion, sloppy reporting, and weaving a fabric that suits the views of the anti-A.A. Christian writers and the dean of history lovers.

If you can't see the sloppy conjecture about the divinity of Christ, the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (which every early A.A. did), and a supposed belief in the "great architect," try finding anything in the following that is backed up with a shred of relevant evidence! And here comes the manufacturing train from Glenn C., dean of history lovers who bars from his site most who disagree with his pontification.

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Re: Dr. Bob and Masonry


Mitchell Klein, "How It Worked," Chapter 9

http://www.aabbsg.org/chs/chs09.htm

"Clarence became involved with the Masons
in Florida. Like Dr. Bob, Clarence was a 32°
Mason." [Mitch is on target with this statement;
the facts are documented; and both Bob and
Clarence were 32 degree Masons. And both were
Christians from their earliest years]

- - - -

"Bruce C."
(brucecl2002 at yahoo.com)

Also refers us to Mitchell K.'s "How It Worked"

- - - -

From: jdf10487@... (jdf10487 at yahoo.com)

The following article claims that Dr. Bob was
a Mason.

Sincerely, Jim F. [and check out the slander
in this source:]

http://www.worldviewtimes.com/article.php/articleid-3537

"Dr. Bob was a Mason. Suspended in 1934, he
gained reinstatement after being sober for
some years." [Blue Lodge? Scottish Rite?
the Treasurer? Which drummed him out, and
which "restored" him?]

The endnote gives Cedric L. Smith, PGM, Grand
Secretary of Masons in Vermont, as the source
of this information. [The Grand Master has
all the records of all the members, but can't
say when Dr. Bob became a member of the blue
lodge, when he entered Scottish Rite, when he
was "suspended," for what reason, when he was
reinstated, and what records show this and where are they?
I'd love to see an attorney present this mish mash of
hearsay to a jury without being prevented from doing so]
- - - -
As I have said in so many of my talks: "AAs may be sick,
but they are not stupid. In fact, there is a statement
in the "wisdom of the rooms" that you can't bs a bser.

Note from the moderator [professor Glenn Chesnut
who, before presenting his lofty opinions, suddenly
says he would like to see "some member" "check the
Vermont Masonic records" of a secret society! He's
safe on that one]
I would suggest that some member of our group
who is a Mason check the Vermont Masonic records
to see if everything in that last statement
(especially the part about Dr. Bob being
"suspended" and all that) is in fact correct,
before anybody repeats all that information.
[which the professor then puts out on the internet
for all to see]
- - - -[Now comes the learned speculation and
opinion]

More importantly though, if Dr. Bob was a good
Mason, then he believed that all you had to do
to be approved in God's eyes was to be an
ethical monotheist. Although most American
Masons were Protestants, Jews were also allowed
to join.

So Masons beleived in one God, the Great
Architect who had designed and created this
universe, and in living a life of honesty and
the highest moral principles, based on God's
Moral Law.

But you did NOT have to believe in the divinity
of Jesus Christ to be a Mason, nor was anyone
required to accept Jesus Christ as their
personal savior [source? what about York Rite?]

[And what records does the professor cite? Pike's
Commentaries, Clausen's Commentaries, Blue Lodge
manuscripts?]

[Now the learned professor speaks for a host of U.S.
presidents and with authority] A number of American presidents were Masons:
George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew
Jackson, James Knox Polk, James Buchanan,
Andrew Johnson, James Abram Garfield, William
McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard
Taft, Warren Gamaliel Harding, Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, Gerald R. Ford, Jr.,
and Lyndon Baines Johnson [what is the source for
asserting their membership andassuming these fellows had views on the divinity of Christ and Romans 10:9].

[Here is a dilly where "professor" Glenn becomes an
interpreter of our Declaration of Independence. Source?]
The U.S. Declaration of Independence reflected
this same Deist and Masonic conception of God
and the universal moral law [what "same conception" and
what 'universal moral law?' The teaching of Moslems,
Buddhists, Confucius, Shinto, voodo, sharia, and all the
rest [The professor should read David Barton on sources, and now the professor tells us his opinion about the "laws of nature and nature's God" Which "laws" are these? Newton, Einstein, Curry, and Galileo may be qualified to discuss their views, but not the dean of A.A. history lovers:]

If we observe "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God,"
it is a self-evident truth, [self-evident? to whom?] the declaration
proclaimed, "that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights, that among these
are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." [Not
in the same breath as "laws of Nature and of Nature's God']

http://www.givemeliberty.org/DOCS/DECLARATION.HTM
[If this URL supports all that the professor claims,
someone is a monkey's uncle]

This is the core of AA's moral code [And now without
citing Dr. Bob or Bill or the Twelve Steps or the Big
Book, the great pontificator tells us:] Treat
all other men and women with respect as human
beings equal in importance (in God's eyes)
to ourselves. Respect other people's rights
at all times. Show tolerance to all, and
give everyone else the Liberty to live their
own lives on their own principles -- I have
NO RIGHT to act like a tyrant and try to
impose my will and my beliefs on anyone else.
When I am in bitter conflict with other people,
I must ask myself, which do I want? to be right
or to be happy? Sane people (most of the time)
choose "the pursuit of Happiness" in those
situations as their goal. [not a word here about
the Bible which Dr. Bob said gave A.A. its basic
ideas]

Dr. Bob was 55 years old when he met Bill W.
and got sober. It doesn't matter what was
preached by some religious youth group that Dr.
Bob had belonged 40 or 50 years earlier [here the
great pontificator rejects North Congregational
Church of St. Johnsbury, the YMCA, the Salvation
Army, the rescue missions, Young People's Christian Endeavor Society, and
Dwight L. Moody]. How many of us still believe when we are 55 what
we believed when we were 5 or 10 years old? [And just what did
Dr. believe when he was 5 years old? I never saw any record of that. Has professor Glenn access to the Smith family scrapbook? How many times
does the professor look in the Bible for truth. My Bible says
God does not change. Does He?] If you learned about Him
from your parents, your church, your Sunday school, your
Bible studies, the YMCA, and St. Johnsbury Academy, does
the great pontificator reject all this too. Quite a claim for
an Indiana professor to make]

[Who could be a history lover if someone tried to ram this
onw down his or her throat. Chesnut wrote further:] If Dr. Bob had joined the Masons, then this means that AS AN ADULT [here's the Chesnut
crystal ball again] he had come to accept
the principle that all God required of us
human beings was that we recognize Him
as the creator (the Great Architect of the
universe) and as the Author of a universal
moral law which intelligent people could work
out for themselves, using their own conscience
and their own common sense, without having to
appeal to any church doctrines or dogmas or
holy books [here learned Glenn rejects the Bible,
the Pope, Martin Luther, John Knox, Wesley, and on
and on. A little much for a newcomer to A.A. who
can't remember his home address or mother's maiden
name].

Glenn C. (South Bend, Indiana)"

Throw out your Bibles. Throw out your preachers. Throw out the writings of all the people Glenn condemns. And what do you have that sustains a single one of his statements--only the possibility that he taught this stuff to his congregation or his classes. God help them@

So much for opinion, conjecture, and erroneous
reporting! Let's hear the real historical facts
rendered by someone who has done other than guess
about them.




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