And there you have both sides of this question
Unfortunately, what's acceptable to one Mason would be offensive to another. So, in reality answer number two is the best one. I checked at LOI and was told "just keep it general and mind you Obligation." When I pressed, they agreed that only the means of recognition and the details of ritual must be kept secret.
Well, we all have our opinions, and I go out of my way to respect them all. With that being said, I stand by my statement. We all joined this fraternity for a reason, and many of our reasons may be different. But, I would hope, all master masons would have, within their hearts, something special that the fraternity means to them, something they can articulate and help to enlighten a non-mason, (I really dislike the word profane) and why they hold that something close. While we must all take our obligations, our masonic constitutions and codes, and the opinions of our brothers seriously, we must also remember that we were all taught that the most useful tenets of our institution are friendship, morality, and brotherly love, not secrecy, masonic education, and ritual. I know that many of the members of this forum take the latter three very seriously, as do I, but they are not the reasons most masons became masons.
Respectfully submitted,
Mike