The obligation is a promise made in the presence of God to your brethren--this is obvious because the wording belies this fact. Too many recently have erroneously declared that their promise was to God and themselves, usually in an attempt to be relativistic in their desire to take and break their obligations. The penalties are symbolic of what should happen to your conscience should you make the choice to reveal that which you have been taught to conceal.
Were these Masonic penalties been real in former times? Hardly. Otherwise we'd have fewer Masons and fewer bad ones to boot. Seriously, though, in Freemasonry, there is no historical incidence of the penalties being enacted. One may think they were with Morgan. Maybe, but his body was never found. More importantly, there was very little evidence, even in his time, that he was ever a Mason.
So, for all intents and purposes, we cannot even consider him. That out of the way, let's go forward with the idea that the penalties are some of the worse things to have happen to one's body. Thinking about them being done on oneself is enough to cause shock and horror. Grab that emotion. Good. Now, this is precisely what you should feel when you lie, cheat, steal or act like a dill.
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