Make For The Crusade!

I am not ashamed of the crusades. I appreciate the efforts of those who fought to liberate Europe from the Turks. I am dismayed by the reputation the Crusades has recieved. Christians are taught to be appalled, to look with disdain upon the Crusades. Biased historians want us to beleive the Christians rode to the Holy Land seeking land, titles, and treasuries. Yet they fail to read the accounts of knights and families that went bankrupt in process of aqauiring revenues to go on Crusade. The gain would never repay the sacrifice of these men, these soldiers of Christ. They did not go with sinister hearts, they went to deliver their opressed brethern and then repay the saracen for their invasion. You have to understand Medieval tactics, if you invade my land, if you take my abode, I am obligated to do the same to you. Some call it an eye for eye, but really it was a way to convey power, to express that you are not weak and will not tolerate injustice.

We criticise those back then for not being passive, and politically correct. The numerious atrocities are always referenced "The Christians when they took Jerusalem, butchered the saracen men, women, and children." They fail to mention the Turks did the same when they took strongholds, and was common practice. For some reason Christians aren't ashamed or angry when King David did the same thing to nefarious tribes. Its interesting how easily we conformed to what alleged experts say. We don't investigate the facts and trust these men to be accurate. Folly! This tendenacy is exactly what Martin Luther addressed during the Reformation. Believers just accepted what friars, bishops, cardinals, and popes disclosed and before long they were buying their salvation. Only after the enlightment, only once the Bible was translated into the common langauge did people break free and decide for themselves what they thought. The same is for the Crusades, I have picked up ten books on this historical period and nine out of ten are biased and pro muslim. They claim the Arabs were enlightened and never sought to a qaurrel and the Christians to be blood thirsty barbarians.

It infuriates me how history is distorted for the agendas of certain politcal and religious purposes. I want the facts, the history without major bias. At last I stumbled upon a book: God's Battlelions -The Case for The Crusades by Rodney Stark. At last a take on it all that shows some favor toward Christianity. He makes evident the heart behind the Crusade, that while some bad fellows got involved, overall it was important event we should as believers be proud of. He cites ancient documents and texts to support his claims, that the Knights of Christiandom were brillant and devout men of God. That they sought to do what they believed was God's Will. These young and old valiant cavaliermen gave their lives to ensure the survival of the Christian Faith. If they had not fought, we today would be muslim. Example: Malta.

While these are my own words and it is my prespective, some of the information I reference and discuss is from, God's Battlelions: The Case For The Crusades by Rodney Stark.