The first time I heard about Freemasonry was in childhood, when our family drove past a Masonic lodge and my father, who was a member of a non-masonic order, remarked that Freemasons were the "highest" and most prominent of all orders. I remember thinking that he was somehow in awe of them, and that he regarded his own order as inferior in social standing. Indeed, Swedish Freemasonry has long been an "upper class" thing. That has changed, though. Today it is more an "upper middle class" thing.
As a student, I met a guy once who asked me if I was a Mason. I said no, and he replied that he had thought I might be one because I had the kind of respect for old traditions which he would have expected of a Mason. This made me curious and I tried to find out more about Freemasonry. I read some books and attended a couple of lectures at the local Pentecostal church.
This made me very suspicious. I learned that they were a cult that worshipped a demon called "Baphomet" and entertained gnostic ideas which are contrary to Christianity. According to my sources, they drank blood and had dark rites with skulls and bones, which were clearly satanic. I was also told that Freemasonry is a world-wide conspiracy: those who join will never be free of it. Dire and bloody oaths make them slaves to their Masters forever, unless Jesus sets them free. A book by an Orthodox priest convinced me that Freemasons were anti-church, in Greece at least, and they had been a major cause of the French revolution.
My final conclusion was that secret societies are incompatible with the openness of the Christian faith. Jesus himself said that he had not taught anything in secret, but openly before all people. There are no secret Christian teachings outside what we can learn from the Bible. I was under the impression that Freemasonry claimed to have such "secret knowledge", which I rejected.
However, over the years I came into contact with several men whom I eventuelly found out to be Masons. I noticed that all of them were honest, forthright and respectable -- and that they did not hesitate to declare themselves Christians. I could not help but respect these people, who regularely attended services in church and most of them consistently stood on the right side in any theological discussion.
Thus, I re-examined Freemasonry. I asked questions. I read more books. The whole thing was very confusing: on the one hand there was some Christian testimony against Freemasonry. But much of it gave a slightly hysterical impression. Also, I could see with my own eyes that the Masons I knew were active churchgoers, professing Christians in the best tradition, and hardly fools who would have been deceived by any masonic conspiracy to secretly worship demons. One of the masons, also a deacon in the church, said squarely: "I was a Christian long before I became a Mason. I have now been a Mason for 20 years and have attained the highest degree of the Swedish system. If I had ever encountered anything in Masonry which went against my Christian faith, I would have left the order instantly."
In the end, it was the fine Christian masons who convinced me -- not by active recruitment but simply by being themselves. In contrast, those who condemned Freemasonry gave me an impression of having been brainwashed. Their objections were taken from textbooks rather than experience. My studies made me curious; here is a 275-year old society which still uses old ceremonies from that time. Then there were all the famous Masons, the large sums given to charity, the brotherhood transcending class, race and nation. Thus after 7 years of doubt, I filed an application for membership and was received into the fraternity some 6 months later. I have not regretted this step.
Since I joined, I have learned that Freemasonry is in no way perfect. Like any other human organisation, it has human weaknesses, and it carries a legacy of some 300 years of history and development where some things are very good, others outdated and without value. I have found it to be simultaneously conservative and dynamic. It hesitates to change, but will cast off ancient superstitions whenever such are discovered. Freemasonry has given me many new friends and many (ritual) experiences which have contributed to my life as a Christian. I find it endlessly fascinating and enjoyable. And I have found no trace of anything anti-Christian.
I concede that Christians may rightly feel some doubts in relation to the masonic oaths, which may seem to bind a person extremely tightly to the organization -- until they are scrutinized in detail, when one discovers that they in fact respect the individual's conscience above all else. I concede that the concept of a secret, closed society of men may rightly be considered as a possible source of division in a Christian congregation. But in real life I have found no evidence of such divisions; rather, divisions between Christians and splits in congregations are usually caused by personal and doctrinal conflicts with no relation to Freemasonry.
Today I hold the 10th degree (out of 10) in the Swedish order of Freemasons, and I have never encountered any rituals or ideas in the order which go against my faith. I have come across a few remnants of 19th century esoteric thought which are questionable from a Christian point of view, but they are old data which no one takes seriously today and which the order is getting rid of, bit by bit. They are certainly no worse than some parts of 19th century official church (liberal theology) doctrine.
Most of all, I have found out that Freemasonry does not consider itself to own any secret knowledge outside the Bible. It teaches nothing outside (or in addition to) classical Christian dogma. It is merely a different, educational way to approach the great truths of God's revelation, conductive to understanding by symbolic experience. The insights one gathers in Freemasonry are not secret, but available in other ways as well. Most of the insights contained in the first three degrees, I had already attained before I got these degrees, simply by being an active Christian. Yet the rituals served to bring them to the front of my mind and make me consider them actively.
Becoming a Mason is not necessary for salvation. Freemasonry is not a church or a religion. The fullness of the gospel is preached openly in many churches, and certainly in the Bible. Nothing more than baptism to that faith is needed to become a Christian. Christian Freemasonry is a society within the church, and the reason why it is closed and secret is that prior knowledge would seriously disrupt the experience of the educational rituals it has to offer. These ceremonies contain only such truths that are available through Bible study, and serve only to make them more alive and real. For myself, I find Swedish Freemasonry and Christianity totally compatible and indeed the Masonic experience contributes to my life as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Åke Eldberg, duly ordained priest in the Church of Sweden