The Papacy, and the Crusaders actually are guilty theologically turning Jesus into a Baal (war god, see my post Jesus is not Baal). This happened with Israelites who for a time called Jehovah Baal, and eventually the LORD corrected them, "call me no longer baal, call me Ishe, Husband." (Hosea 2:16). This would allude to that Jesus is the Bridegroom (Matthew 25:5, John 3:29, Matthew 9:15) and that we are Bride of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2). The Crusader ideology of dying in battle to be saved actually had Quranic implications. Islam's Prophet Muhammed taught in second half of the Quran that if a soldier dies in Jihad Akbar, Holy War they are guaranteed salvation and paradise (Surah 9:11, 10;4-15, 47:5, ). This contrasted with Jihad Ashgar, where a Muslim had to do good works to surpass their bad works and hope on the day of judgement Allah would acquit them and find them worthy. Most people are unware that around 7th century, monks went to Arabia and brought back the Quran (along with Aristotle and other books) and translated it into Latin. Interestingly, Monasticism is all about doing good works through asceticism and harshness to body to be saved, which is similar to Jihad Ashgar, while the Crusader fights and dies to get certain salvation which is similar to Jihad Akbar. I thus have theory that because Abbot Cluny, Pope Gregory VIII, and Pope Urban II came from Church of Piety, the cloister of Monasteries, that they were influenced by reading the Quran as much as reading Augustine of Hippo's Just War and Cicero. Because the Bible contradicts these two paths of Monastic and Crusade, for the Scriptures says, "These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh," (Colossians 2:23 ESV), "They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth," (1 Timothy 4:3), "Jesus answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from, Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God," (Mark 7:6-7), "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it," (Ephesians 2:8-9), "I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith," (Philippians 3:9), "For it is my Father's will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day," ((John 6:40), "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life," (John 3:16), "And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household," (Acts 16:31), and, "If you openly declare (confess) that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved." (Romans 10:9-10).
It becomes abundantly clear that Monastic and Asceticism of Monks and Nuns in Medieval Europe and the Crusade of the Knight and Soldiers of Europe parallel and mirror the Quran's Jihad Ashgar and Jihad Akbar. For the Scriptures condemn both practices, and clearly illustrate that salvation is found in Jesus alone and by believing alone (Acts 4:10-12, Romans 10:9), and that there is no need to do sacrifices or the law (Galatians 5:4, Galatians 3:10-13), but to believe in ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10, whole chapter and John 19 who chapter). It seems quite possible that the false gospel and false christ (2 Corinthians 11:3-4, Galatians 1:8-9, Matthew 24:24, Matthew 24:4-9) presented by the Catholic Church during the Crusades was in fact inspired from the Quran, and read by monks who became popes, great influences like Bernard of Clairvaux, and other Medieval clergy. This would explain then why Urban II, the Pope who made Crusader indulgence and called the First Crusade, was actually a monk prior to becoming pope, which means he had access to Quran and the many libraries during his time as monastic. This theory then reshapes our thinking of Crusades, and explains why Crusaders and Muslims were very close to each other, even in one instance during Third Crusade it is recorded that they ate, drank, danced, and talked together in their camps, then in morning fought to kill each other, the only thing to explain such strange behavior, is both Crusader and Muslim believed they would inherit eternal life by dying by the sword.
At this point, this is merely a theory I have devised from having read seven volumes of Crusade history (including Christopher Tyerman's 900 page mammoth of a book), reading the Quran, and reading other Medieval histories. It is evident that even if the Quran did not have hand in shaping Crusader theology, it certainly is a close parallel, the Crusader Indulgence of salvation by dying in battle and Jihad Akbar are one and same in theology. It is grievous no matter what the circumstances were, that Christians fell away from true gospel of faith in Christ to get eternal life (John 6:40) and that they essentially joined a death cult and baal worship. What a sad chapter of Church history, wither the theory be true or not.
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