Written by Bill Gordon

It has been known for some time that Freemasonry would play a prominent role in the plot of Dan Brown's new book The Lost Symbol. What was not known, until the book came out, was that Brown would reveal some of the secrets of Freemasonry to his readers.

One of the book’s characters recounts the warnings he had received if he ever revealed the secrets of Freemasonry.

Throat cut from ear to ear . . . tongue torn out by its roots . . . bowels taken out and burned . . . scattered to the four winds of heaven . . . heart plucked out and given to the beasts of the field.¹

These threats come from the oaths which Masonic initiates give. Brown’s description of these warnings is accurate. For example, the reference to having one’s throat cut from ear to ear and one’s tongue torn out by its roots is from the Entered Apprentice oath. The phrase referring to one’s “bowels taken out and burned . . . scattered to the four winds of heaven” is from the oath given to the candidate for the Master Mason degree. The admonition that one’s heart will be plucked out and given to the beasts of the field is from the oath of the Fellow Craft degree. While Brown mixes up the order of the oaths, he gives an accurate summary of the warnings found in the first three degrees of Freemasonry.

These “bloody oaths” are one of the aspects of Freemasonry that the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) found “not compatible with Christianity” in 1993.² The SBC statement regarded these oaths as contrary to Christianity because they violate the biblical teachings regarding oaths. The Bible condemns extravagant oaths. Jesus taught that believers should simply let their “yes” be “yes” and their “no” be “no.”³ He instructs his disciples that they should not make exaggerated oaths. One of the examples Jesus gives of an extravagant oath is swearing by your head. He warns “do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.”⁴ While Freemasonry does not require a promise that swears by the initiate’s head, it does require oaths that make reference to other body parts. As Dan Brown’s novel The Lost Symbol indicates, Masons swear by several other body parts. Their oaths refer to the throat, ear, tongue, bowels, and heart. The SBC was correct when it declared these types of Masonic oaths as incompatible with Christianity.