THE GREAT ARCHITECT
by Bro. Wallace McLeod. December, 2000
Published in The Tracing Board, GRS, March, 2001
This discussion piece was taken from a 'Short Talk Bulletin',
Vol. 78, No. 12 of the Masonic Service Assn. Of North America, December, 2000,
written by Bro. Wallace McLeod, Grand Historian of the Grand Lodge of Canada in
Ontario. In the Masonic Ritual, God is called "The Great Architect
of the Universe." For me, this is a simple metaphor; the universe is like an
immense mansion or temple, and the Creator of the universe is compared to
the builder. Nothing secret or disrespectful about that! But in 1986, a
Canadian religious magazine called The Presbyterian Record published an
attack on Freemasonry, saying that the Great Architect of the Universe was
the name of the false god "that the Masons worship at their altar." And
eight years ago, Dr. James Larry Holly, the man who orchestrated the
Southern Baptist Convention campaign against the Masons, said that to call
God a "Great Architect" is derogatory to the True God's creative
omnipotence. An architect only puts together from the materials already at
hand. God creates from nothing." Actually a bit of research discloses that
the term "Great Architect" was introduced into Freemasonry in 1723 by a
Presbyterian Minister, Rev. James Anderson, and that he got it from the
works of John Calvin, one of the founders of Presbyterianism. The modern
dogmatists are attacking an expression that was used by one of the great
theologians of all time!
Another anti-Mason, Ed Decker, tells us that when the new Masons say he
wants "Light" and it is given to him at the command of the Worshipful
Master, this is wrong, because Light is salvation, and comes only through
Jesus. See John 8:12 "I am the light of the world; he that followeth me
shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." The
evangelist Pat Robertson says that the Masonic All-Seeing Eye is found in
the Great Seal of the United States on the back of the dollar bill. This, he
tells us, is "the eye of an ancient Egyptian Deity, Osiris, who is revered
in ... the sacred rites of the Masonic Order. It follows that Masonry still
preserves the pagan mysteries, and is incompatible with Christianity or
Judaism, because the All-Seeing Eye belongs to an Egyptian god." These
interpretations are every bit as plausible as the others, but they are all
contrary to the spirit of Masonry as it is reflected in the symbols that are
explained in the ritual, and they are all anti-Masonic.
There is a real problem here. If a symbol in one part of the world resembles
another in a different part of the world, does that mean they are related,
or that they mean the same thing? If we look at an ancient Greek statue and
see that its pose resembles a modern masonic gesture, does that mean that it
portrays a Mason? If we find that the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen was
buried wearing an apron, does that mean he was a Mason? I could refer you to
written texts that say he was. To me, this is obvious preposterous.
But in the very same way, the anti-Masons confuse similarity with identity,
and accept only one interpretation for any symbol.
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