Question
Gramps,
My girlfriend, who is a recent convert, watched a video of the temple handshake near the veil. She is now confused and scared about being a member because she says it looks like Freemasonry. I don’t know how to explain the handshake without explaining the things taught in the temple which I know is sacred. I know Joseph Smith had some dealing with the Free Masons and that the ritual was created before them, but how can I put her mind at ease to understand that the handshake isn’t cultish or bad?
Andy
Answer
Andy,
The Latter-day Saint Temples and Masonic Temples have been compared since ancient times because they were from the same source. And that was a proper and good source – the Lord.
Consider this: Is Judaism a cult? Christianity (especially the LDS faith) shares a lot beliefs with Judaism as far as identifying the God we worship. Are traditional Christians a cult? We also share a lot of beliefs with Protestants. Did we copy them? No, we all found a similar source: The Bible. And even from that original source, we have very different histories and differ quite a bit in our beliefs.
The temple ordinances were initiated shortly after the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were given coats of skins (which we commemorate with the wearing of the garment of the Holy Priesthood) indicating that they received their temple ordinances. These ordinances were handed down generation after generation.
What about the Masons? They are NOT a cult. That rumor really began when Jews began to join the organization. This stirred up a lot of anti-Semitism. And it culminated with Hitler claiming that Masons were all Jews and wanted to dismantle the Masonic Temples in Germany.
They are a fraternal organization that is essentially a group of businessmen who wanted to create some charities. The Shriners’ Hospitals are run/funded by the Masonic Order.
The idea of having “secret handshakes” were used by all sorts of organizations (both good and bad) throughout history. This is just another organization that chose to do so.
Originally, the masonic order was a group of stone masons who were very proud of their craft. So, they established an order (a guild) to ensure quality work. When a mason from one city went to another city, they would have to prove their worth. A quick way to do that was that if you were “raised” to various levels (apprentice, journeyman, master) you would learn a “secret handshake” for that level. That handshake could be given to the master mason at the new city. That let the master at that city know how good you were at the craft. Eventually these guilds became so renowned that they had a level of political power.
In modern day, the Order is not just composed of stone masons, but a variety of successful businessmen who want to do some good with the blessing they’ve received from God. They are like the Rotary or the Kiwanis. The one religious requirement of all Masons is that they believe in some form of a Supreme Being and they are active in their religion whatever it may be. The goal of Masonry is to make bad men good, good men better, and better men best. A vast majority of them are Christian throughout the United States.
Where did they get their handshakes and “costumes” from? If you go to their national website, they’ll tell you that they don’t know. They “believe” their traditions are at least 1000 years old. But they don’t have any written records really stating where they began.
A common theory among Masons is that they got it from Egyptian Pharaohs. And either Abraham or Joseph (of Egypt) stole it from them. We believe the reverse was true. From the Book of Abraham, we read:
Now, Pharaoh being of that lineage by which he could not have the right of Priesthood, notwithstanding the Pharaohs would fain claim it from Noah, through Ham, therefore my father was led away by their idolatry; (Abraham 1:27)
In other words, the early Pharaohs were righteous men of the earth who wanted to imitate the true faith. This included copying temple ordinances. But because it could not be run with revelation through a true prophet, it was a corrupt religion.
Here, we learn that even in ancient times it was impossible to truly keep sacred things secret. Just as they did in ancient times, there were certain individuals who put together a presentation (like the video that your GF saw) to spill secrets. And no doubt, the video she saw was done to make it seem as “spooky” as possible.
We believe Pharaoh stole the ceremony from the True Faith of the Lord. But Masons say that Abraham stole it from the Pharaohs and it ultimately became a basis for the Jewish religion. Which story is true? We have scriptures that say we’re correct. They have an origin story lost to history.
So, it wasn’t that we stole the ordinances from the Masons in modern times (nor they, us). It was that the source material was copied in ancient times and continued through parallel paths.
Here is some evidence from Church History that Joseph didn’t copy the Masons.
- At the time that the 8 witnesses saw the golden plates, Joseph Sr. was a mason. He went home and described the plates to his wife, Lucy Mack. He remarked that the front plate (a cover sheet) had the masonic symbols of the compass and the square. This was about 10+ years before Joseph Jr. even thought about becoming a mason.
- Joseph described the Urim and Thummim as having the compass and square symbols on the stones. Oliver (the only other person allowed to view them) confirmed this.
- There was much more to the Temple Ceremony. Joseph said that they didn’t have the proper facilities to do it correctly. And it is those aspects that are very important to our understanding of our covenants. Yet the Masons didn’t have any problems with their ceremonies. That’s because (even with some similarities) the Masons do a completely different ceremony.
The symbols of the compass and the square are very ancient. Ancient Jews had them. Egyptians had them. Now we (and the Masons) have them. And both the Masons and Latter-day Saints have been maligned because of it. But neither of us stole the symbols from the other. We inherited them through independent lines.
Also see a previous article: Freemason’s handshake
Gramps
