Crusades: Salvation or Exploitation

Crusades: Salvation or Exploitation

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Crusades: Salvation or Exploitation

The word crusade comes from the French term to lift the cross. The word is used to describe the military battle or the campaigns waged by early Christians against the Muslims. These Muslims controlled the holy land (currently Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel) (Slack, 2003). The first crusade was organized by Pope Urban II in 1095 (Runciman, 1992). The main objective was to recover the holy land, especially Jerusalem. The military expeditions carried out by Christians in Europe to capture the holy land from non-Christians are referred to as crusades. Most of the crusade participants strongly believed that by restoring access to the city of Jerusalem to Christians, they would go to heaven when they died.

From the above brief history of the early crusades, it is evident that the past Christian crusades were voluntary undertakings. The followers of Christ from all parts of the world gathered with an aim to spread the gospel and convert pagans as well as non-believers. Crusades were presented as acts of devotion and an ideal way to ask Jesus to wash away the sins of the world (Slack, 2003). In fact, the idea of holding crusades was to bring together a series of connected principals; those natural within some people and those triggered by the word of preaching. During the Christian holy war, crusades were carried out with the sole intention of preaching the gospel to non-believers and pagans, and to convert them to Christianity (Smith, 1986). Unfortunately, in the current Christian setup, some rogue preachers are using crusades for their selfish goals. Most of the preachers and pastors use crusades to solicit funds from the public. However, they should conduct crusades voluntarily and use them as a way to convert non-believers to Christianity. In addition, crusades should mainly help Christians devote more time to God and to repent their sins.

In the...