Samuel Langhorne Clemens
Birth 1835-11-30Death 1910-04-21
| Father | Unknown |
| Mother | Unknown |
Mark Twain Sends Custom Made Lodge Gavel To Masons After Quitting
Started 1868-04-08Ended 1868-04-08
Clemens sends a custom made lodge gavel to the Polar Star Lodge in Missouri.
Mark Twain’s The Mysterious Stranger
This book is Twain’s attack on man and God. The story is about an Angel who is aptly named Satan. According to Satan he is not “the” Satan (who he claims to be his uncle) that was cast out of heaven for eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This is not biblical - Satan is punished by God for talking man into eating the fruit, not eating it himself.
The Satan of this story is constantly talking about how pathetic man is, and stating how grand he is compared to them. This also is not biblical seeing that Luke 15:7 states that there is much rejoicing in heaven over just one sinner who repents. Therefore man is not as minuscule to angels and God as Twain states repeatedly in this book.
Satan also goes on about how he cannot sin because he does not know what it is. This is presumably because unlike his “uncle” Satan, he did not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Once again this is not biblical because Satan never ate of the tree, he only tricked man into it. He was punished by God for this act of deception and bending the words of God, not eating the fruit. Therefore angels have the capability to sin (Not to listen to God). The Satan of the Mysterious Stranger also constantly reveling and getting sadistic pleasure by watching or causing the sufferings of men.
Twain ends this book with the main character talking with Satan. Satan says he has to go away, and will never see the boy again. At this point Satan begins to tell the boy he is merely a figment of the boy’s imagination, and that the world is a dream, and that the only thing that is real is “you”, but you are merely a thought. This begs the question seeing that a dream or a though does not exist with out an intelligent being dreaming or thinking it, So the question remains who is the intelligent being?
This book sums up Twain’s thoughts on God, claiming that he nor Satan exists, and that man is the center of reality. Not man as a whole, but man as a single being. The problem with this is that if a single man is the only real thing in the world it does not matter his actions because no one else is real. This train of thought leads into the motto: “do as you wilt” which also just happens to be one of the favorite sayings of true life Satan worshippers. The book also shows Twain’s depth of knowledge of God and the Bible - has none.
The Satan of this story is constantly talking about how pathetic man is, and stating how grand he is compared to them. This also is not biblical seeing that Luke 15:7 states that there is much rejoicing in heaven over just one sinner who repents. Therefore man is not as minuscule to angels and God as Twain states repeatedly in this book.
Satan also goes on about how he cannot sin because he does not know what it is. This is presumably because unlike his “uncle” Satan, he did not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Once again this is not biblical because Satan never ate of the tree, he only tricked man into it. He was punished by God for this act of deception and bending the words of God, not eating the fruit. Therefore angels have the capability to sin (Not to listen to God). The Satan of the Mysterious Stranger also constantly reveling and getting sadistic pleasure by watching or causing the sufferings of men.
Twain ends this book with the main character talking with Satan. Satan says he has to go away, and will never see the boy again. At this point Satan begins to tell the boy he is merely a figment of the boy’s imagination, and that the world is a dream, and that the only thing that is real is “you”, but you are merely a thought. This begs the question seeing that a dream or a though does not exist with out an intelligent being dreaming or thinking it, So the question remains who is the intelligent being?
This book sums up Twain’s thoughts on God, claiming that he nor Satan exists, and that man is the center of reality. Not man as a whole, but man as a single being. The problem with this is that if a single man is the only real thing in the world it does not matter his actions because no one else is real. This train of thought leads into the motto: “do as you wilt” which also just happens to be one of the favorite sayings of true life Satan worshippers. The book also shows Twain’s depth of knowledge of God and the Bible - has none.
Positions
Freemasonry - Entered Apprentice
Initiated 1861-05-22Retired 1861-06-12
Polar Star Lodge No. 79, A.F.&A.M. in St. Louis
Freemasonry - Fellow Craft
Initiated 1861-06-12Retired 1861-07-10
Polar Star Lodge No. 79, A.F.&A.M. in St. Louis
Freemasonry - Master Mason
Initiated 1861-07-10
Polar Star Lodge No. 79, A.F.&A.M. in St. Louis, until he quit the organization, but he still visited the Carson City Lodge two times the following year (1868) in February and March.