A Pirates Initiation For Me!

Most modern pop-culture descends from something much older, sometimes going back even to ancient times. In the book “One Eternal Round” Hugh Nibley calls some rituals the world’s “oldest plays” and insinuates that the idea of plays originally came from the ancient mystery plays as part of being initiated into an ancient “mystery school.” These rituals gave birth to plays, which in our day gave birth to movies, and movies gave birth to even more immersive experiences like 3-D movies and theme park rides. With a theme park ride the storytelling entertainer has the ultimate opportunity to put the audience right in the middle of the story. Thus, the audience goes through the story much like the candidate did in ancient times when he would go from compartment to compartment advancing through the story, thus becoming initiated.

The theme park attraction that espouses the concept of initiation the most in my opinion is Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California. If you think this concept is far-fetched, just hear me out: (Note: this essay is written from the standpoint of the original ride, not the current overlay with Johnny Depp to make the ride more like the movie.)

When the ride starts out we board a small boat and are given preliminary instructions to remain seated the whole time. This is reminiscent of the Druid initiation ceremonies where the candidate would board a small boat and had to survive a voyage to be considered initiated. Next, we cruise through a swamp and the first scene we come to is an old man rocking back and forth in a chair. He is engaged in deep thought and is looking fondly at the Blue Bayou restaurant across the river, remembering fondly his life and the times he enjoyed like the people he is watching. This is a reminder to us that we will all end up like this someday, and that we should live our life in a way that we can look back on it with fond memories, nothing we would be ashamed of. This brings to mind the Fifth Degree of the Scottish Rite where we are told to emulate Hiram Abiff in a way that when we die we can look back on a life well-lived full of good deeds.

Our next scene we come to a pitch-black room with nothing visible but a skull and crossbones, an emblem of death. This is a reminder of the Chamber of Reflection in the York Rite Knights Templar degree where the candidate is left for a time in a dark room with the skull and crossbones to reflect on the life he has lived up to that point and his own mortality. The skull and crossbones in the ride talks to us and gives us advice, to keep both hands inside the boat as being the best way to repel boarders. Here the dead is giving us advice that we are about to undergo a trial, and that to become initiated we should remember the advice the dead would give us if they could talk.

Next we come to the trial we were warned about, we fall down a waterfall, and after falling down the first waterfall we hear the famous “Yo-ho” pirate’s song, with pirates rejoicing about the loot they managed to accumulate, and then after our boat falls down another waterfall, we are in a cave with skeletons clutching treasure. Following our death trial we are given a reminder that crime doesn’t pay, that ultimately you can’t take wealth with you when you die. The skeletons remind us that only our deeds matter, not the wealth we accumulate in this life.

Our next scene is a vision of what happened in the life of the skeleton pirates we just saw. We see them take over a city, and loot the businesses in the town. However, something goes wrong and the city catches fire. We see a pirate teetering with one foot on land and the other in a boat, trying to escape with some of the goods. We are shown that ultimately our wealth will perish, whether by fire or if we die before enjoying it. We then are taken up a waterfall (rather than going down one) while given the charge “Dead men tell no tales.” True to the initiation experience, we are given a charge at the end that sums up the lessons we are supposed to learn. This is to remind us that death overtakes all men, and that our lifestyle now determines our fate in the future. We should live our lives not clutching riches that we cannot take with us when we die, but should live our lives in a way that will keep us out of “fires” and develop character.

Consecration and the Book of Acts

In this post I'd like to go over a passage in Acts that is problematic to many free-grace thinkers, and that is Acts 4:34 to 5:11. This is the story of Ananias and Sapphira, a husband and wife pair that sold their possessions but didn't give the proceeds to the church, so they were both struck dead by the Lord.

It is apparent from verse 34 that Christians at the time were living in a communal living arrangement similar to what early Mormons termed "the Law of Consecration" and were required to give all their possessions to the church, and in return the church would take care of them. The idea being that all belongs to God and we are only stewards of the possessions. Also, there are no poor because everyone has an equal amount as well as an equal work-load.

Ananais and Sapphira in this passage keep a portion of the proceeds for themselves and lay the rest at the apostle's feet, thinking that since nobody knows about it they will go unpunished. Anytime we lie to the Lord or disobey his commandments we miss out on a blessing. In this case, they missed out on their chance to live out a full life. We don't hear anything about them being unsaved, just that they lost their lives for their disobedience.

I have heard various explanations for this passage, some of which try to say that they both had a heart condition and died of natural causes. These are mostly the free-grace thinkers that like to teach that no tithing or consecration is expected of the believer once the Law of Moses was fulfilled, since the atonement of Jesus Christ fulfilled the law. Others have believed that God changed the commandment once the church was established and no longer living as a community. Many have found it a challenge to fit this passage into their theology.

However, consecration (a forerunner to today's tithing) has always been required by God of His followers, even before the Law of Moses, and its clear that after the Law of Moses was fulfilled He still had a requirement. Instead of a 10% tithe the requirement here is 100%. Even today we should be expected to give our 100% in following God.

While God's procedures are currently more lax than they were then, in that we don't see anyone being struck dead on the spot for not paying their tithing, God still requires us to at least be willing to give our all, including our time and talents, as well as a 10% tithe, in building up the Kingdom of God on the Earth. I think this passage is a good justification for having tithing in our day and is a good defense for the Mormon doctrine of Consecration.

Mormons and Masons are familiar with these concepts as we make covenants. Mormons make covenants with God at baptism, confirmation, sacrament, and in the Temple. We agree to follow God and take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ. Masons also make promises to God during their obligations that bind them to honor their vows to support their lodge and be loyal to its teachings.

Commandments such as these that are mentioned from the Book of Acts are not meant to be drudgery, but are for our benefit. They result in blessings when followed. We see one benefit in verse 34, "Neither was there any among them that lacked..." There are many other intangible spiritual benefits that are greater than anyone can describe when we keep these commandments. Obeying God always results in happiness and more freedom.

Symbolism of the Sun in Masonry

I thought for tonight's blog I would address the accusation of many antis that masons are sun worshippers. After all, the sun is dominant throughout Freemasonry, including the rituals, on some aprons, and has even made its way to some company logos, movies, and even on some LDS temples. Movement in the masonic lodge is patterned after the sun's movements. Many conspiracy theorists claim this proves masonry worships Baal, a sun god mentioned in the Old Testament.

On the Tree of Life as shown in the picture, the center of the Tree of Life is known as "Tipareth" or "The Nail" and is said by Kabbalists to be symbolic of the sun, whose glyph is a point within a circle. Masonry makes use of the symbolism of the Kabbalah to teach moral lessons, but not necessarily for the purpose of worship. The middle pillar of the Kabbalah is an important concept in masonry. It represents equilibrium, when everything is in perfect balance. The concept of justice and mercy is fundamental here. A thorough study of 2 Nephi 2 in the Book of Mormon will illustrate this concept. There is no good without evil, there must be an opposition in all things. Also, God's justice must always be in perfect equilibrium with His mercy. We can illustrate this perfect balance astrologically by the sun at meridian height, which is in between its rising and setting.

To illustrate how such a fallacy as sun worship can happen, we can look at a quote from Albert Pike's Legenda II: the Enigma of the Sphinx. Pike says, "The symbols of the wise have in all ages become the idols of the vulgar." We see in Freemasonry that prayer is made to the Great Architect of the Universe, not to the sun. Some have tried to layer the Baal legend on masonry by saying it is believed that the spirit of Baal went to the sun when he died, and that the sunrise is Baal's birth and the sunset is his death. If some believe that, I think this perfectly illustrates what Albert Pike was trying to say here. Masonry is learning through symbols, not worship of symbols. Also, the concept of death and resurrection is found in many religions, including Christianity. Many masonic concepts are Judeo-Christian in origin, and only expressing a belief in a Supreme Being is required for membership. This hardly proves allegiance to a sun god. We need to be careful to recognize the difference between the "signifier" and the "signified."