Now in the interest of trying to keep this blog clean I am not going to explain the details of female circumcision. If you found this blog you can look up this practice on Wikipedia. My point here is two fold. First, docors are not supposed to do harm to their patients. This is a pretty simple concept.

the second thing to me is even more important. In the United States it is ILLEGAL TO MAIM A CHILD! A doctor should not be allowed to cut into a child just to prevent their parents from getting it done someplace else. It is a crime: assault with intent to maim, child endangerment, and probably a number of other crimes.

Men, I looked at the AAP website for the best contact, but I am not sure which is best. So I encourage you to talk to your child’s pediatrician, ask him or her to oppose this idea, and ask them to contact those in the organization with their opposition, and ask them if they know who best for you to contact to express what I hope is your disgust that this idea would even be considered. Amen.

Last Sunday at the Superbowl one of the biggest controversies was not a call by an official (I thought the refereeing was fine), but an ad by Focus on the Family. The ad, which featured University of Florida Quarterback and Heissman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and his Mom, was billed as a pro-life ad. This drew a lot of fiery protests from pro-death groups such as NOW and Planned Parenthood. CBS has never featured controversial ads dealing with politics or social issues, so this ad gained a lot of press during the week leading up to the big game.
But was the hype, and the $2.5 Million worth it? The ad was extremely vague, not using words like “life” or “abortion.” Tim’s Mom merely said that there were complications and Tim was a “miracle baby.” At the end of the ad was a link to the FotF site to get their full story. After watching this ad I was personally left asking whether or not this was really a pro-life ad, as nothing was explicitly said.
So I am writing this article to ask several questions. Do you think this was a pro-life ad? Was it worth it to spend the money? Should their have been a stronger, more definitive pro-life message or did Focus on the Family do a good job by putting out a commercial and letting the media sell the ad for them (the amount of discussion leading up to the Superbowl was huge). Do you have any other thoughts about this ad? Write your thoughts in the comments and I will discuss them with you.

The article, written by Roxana Hegeman of the Associate Press, does correctly summarize the facts of the days court proceedings, wherein Roeder was found guilty and could serve 25 years to life. This is fine. Hegemanalso says that fringe groups support Roeder and might want to commit more violence. While there was only one source to back up her statement this may also be true.

The problem is that the article seems to paint all pro-lifers as being extreme and wanting to see abortionists dead, and that pro-life activists want more protection to commit these crimes. This is patently untrue. Every major activist group and ministry affiliated with the right to life such as Operation Rescue, Focus on the Family, and Personhood USA condemned this act of violence, as it is the opposite of the right to life movement. The general consensus of the right to life movement is that while Dr. Tiller committed thousands of atrocities against humanity by daily killing the unborn, and that he deserved to be tried in a court of law, he himself had a right to life that Scott Roeder violated.

Perhaps the worst part of this article is when the author quotes Randall Terr,y as the founder of Operation Rescue, promising there will be more bloodshed. What she fails to tell you is that Randall Terry has not been affiliated with the organization for 17 years. In addition, as stated previously, Operation Rescue denounced this and all other violence against abortionists and staffers.

Hegeman and the Associated Press dropped the ball on this article. Either that, or they are purposefully trying to skew this issue, knowing that a majority of Americans say that abortion is morally wrong.

First, lets look at the officer titles. There are many positions in a lodge, and many of the titles seem quite obscure.

Tyler-Stands outside the lodge room during meetings to make sure non-members do not come in, and that members coming late enter when it is appropriate.

The two Stewards (Senior and Junior) are primarily responsible for providing for refreshments at meetings or dinners at special events. In Ohio these positions are appointed by the Master of the lodge.

The Deacons are responsible for many things mostly related to communication (that sounds vague!). While the Junior Deacon stays at the inner door and communicates with the Tyler, the Senior Deacon conducts the candidates during the degrees and traditionally delivers the lecture for each degree.

Secretary and Treasurer are responsible for taking care of the administrative necessities of the lodge. The Secretary keeps the minutes of the meeting, handles correspondence , and the like. The Treasurer keeps the books and handles banking such as writing checks, making deposits, and investment decisions.

Now we come to the top three officers of the lodge: the two wardens and the Worshipful Master. The Wardens, who could also be called first and second vice presidents, assist the Master with conducting the meetings and with the overall leadership of the lodge. The Senior Warden specifically charged with conducting meetings in the absence of the Master. There are some other duties but these are the most important.

Finally, we come to the Worshipful Master. The master is the elected leader of his lodge, essentially the president. He is in charge of presiding over meetings (basically keeping order), setting the agenda for them, and generally planning the agenda for his term (which is usually one year).

But why Worshipful? Many people think this is a sacrilegious title, as if the Master is the object of worship. This is not the case. The earliest lodges were founded in the United Kingdom (probably Scotland) where the term worshipful is used the same way we use honorable. So the master is not being worshiped, he is simply being honored in the same way a judge, legislator, or head of state would be.

I hope this helps answer some questions about Masonry and the titles we use to identify our officers. If you have any questions please feel free to leave them in the comments or send me an email using my contact form.

First, it is very important to not e that Masonry is NOT a by invitation organization.  Masonry requires that those who wish to join must do so of there own free will. Therefore, inviting a man to join is actually not allowed.  It is permissible to invite a friend to a social event, or to tell him he would make a good Mason. But we never invite someone to join.

That being said, the first thing a man would do to begin his journey into Freemasonry would be to ask a member for a petition, which is similar to an application for a job, and typically includes name, address, occupation, birthplace and date. The petitioner then returns it to the lodge member along with the initiation fee (in my lodge this amount is $150.00 which is about average). Before the petition and fee can be turned in to the lodge Secretary it must also have the signed recommendation of two members, usually the person the petitioner got the petition from and another member who knows the petitioner.

Once the petition is turned in, it is read in open lodge during a stated meeting. The Worshipful Master then assigns a committee to investigate the candidate. Typically the committee is 3 Past Masters of the lodge but there could be variation on this. The committee should then contact the candidate to arrange a meeting, preferably at his home. The committee will ask a series of questions to try to get to know the man better, to test what kind of character the man has. The committee should also talk to the wife to make sure she understands what Masonry is and why her husband wants to join. The last thing a lodge would want is for membership to cause strain on a marriage.

After the investigation the committee goes back to the lodge and makes a recommendation at the next stated meeting. The petition is then voted on by secret ballot, using a special box.

Box used for balloting in a Masonic Lodge

To vote, you simply reach in the front and either pick up a white ball or a black cube (you cannot see them but it does not matter since they are different shapes). The voter than places the ball or cube in a hole at the other end of the box. The ball or cube lands in a little tray that can be pulled out to count the votes. The ballot must be unanimous in order for a petitioner to be elected to receive the degrees of Masonry.

Finally, once the petition has been successfully voted on, the candidate is notified that he has been elected and what meeting he needs to come to receive his Entered Apprentice degree.

That’s it! If you have any other questions about the election process, leave a comment here on this post. Also, if you are a Mason with a funny or interesting story about your election, please leave it here for others to enjoy!

I have two requests of all who read this. First, I would encourage you to contact your own Attorney General and encourage them to launch a similar investigation and consider suing to block this legislation. Second, I would ask that all interested leave a comment here about what you think about this legislation, good or bad, and what you think we as citizens should do about it.

In recent years these principles have been attacked by various groups and individuals that want to change society to fit their wants and desires. The document serves as a line in the sand for what we will tolerate and what we will affirm as what is right and just for all society.

Now some Christians have rejected the idea of signing this document for various reasons.  Those who call themselves Christians and yet reject Biblical doctrines think we should allow people to make choices about who lives or dies or allow anyone to marry just because they want to declare their love for each other or share work benefits. This is a matter of allowing the culture to dictate truth, which it cannot. Truth is objective and therefore timeless, and cannot be perceived by a culture that changes with the season’s fashions.

I urge everyone who reads this, and who understands the Biblical application of these principles to sign this document. For those that do not, I suggest you investigate who Jesus is, what He has done for you, and how you can receive Him into your life. Amen.

Now there is an alternative form of care for these situations that can benefit Christians and non-Christians alike. Called Perinatal Hospice, it allows parents to deliver and care for their child for whatever short amount of time they will be on this earth. It not only allows parents to participate in God’s natural plans for birth, life and death, it allows mothers, fathers, and other family members the opportunity to properly participate in this child’s life and mourn their passing. It allows for the grieving process without the guilt of knowing that a life was terminated in violation of God’s law.

For more information I suggest you check out this article on Lifeissues.net. Fatal birth defects are a tragic situation, they do not also have to be a murderous one filled with guilt and shame.

Russ Bonchu

Public comments and opinions can be made at the link below, or you may reach me privately at: http://russbonchu.reachby.com

What he has done, as this article points out,  is make some changes to our foreign policy and apologize for prior US actions (neither of which he needs to do). He has embarrassed the office of President by showing weakness before countries that want to destroy us and our way of life.

Of course I do not think we should really be surprised. Why should we take serious an award given to Al Gore for making a movie about the environment that he later admitted used junk science?