I’ve recently watched the movie entitled "The Kingdom of
God" which is a factually based movie about the Christian Crusades in
the 11th and 12th centuries. These weren’t Billy
Graham style crusades as we know it. They were military attacks on Muslims
and Jews in the middle east.
I ask myself two questions. One, "why were so many people
enthusiastic about killing people in the name of Christianity"? Two,
"can we learn anything from these events"?
Feel free to give me some input on this subject. I’m not a historian,
but I do understand certain historical facts. I understand that the Popes
authorized these crusades, and the common person submitted to the Pope’s
edicts or else they were in serious trouble. Also, the culture of the day
influenced these people, as it does today. The notion of a military
conquest in the name of religion was not a foreign idea, but fundamental
to religious teaching, both in Islam and Christianity.
Many men and women went to war to kill Muslims and Jews in the name of
Jesus and thought it was their duty to do so. They anticipated a Heavenly
reward as they attempted to reclaim the Holy Land for God.
So why did these people engage in this activity? One reason could be
that the common person in those days did not have access to the Bible, and
maybe couldn’t read it if they did. Their knowledge of Scripture was
based on what was taught them by the Pope and his subordinates, much of
which was not Biblically accurate.
For this reason they may never have known that Jesus told Pilate His
kingdom was not of this world, and therefore He would not fight with the
sword. (John 18:36) As a matter of fact, just a few brief hours earlier
Jesus replaced the ear of a soldier that Peter cut off with a sword. Peter
wanted to defend Jesus with a sword as the Crusaders did a thousand years
later. Jesus fixed the damage done by Peter’s sword, and told Pilate
that He would not fight. You can certainly see Jesus’ thinking about
spreading the Kingdom of God by military conquest
It is therefore clear to me that the Crusaders did not have a Biblical
understanding of the true nature of the Kingdom of God. Like Peter prior
to Pentecost, they understood the Kingdom of God to be geographical, with
a distinct land mass. They thought the Kingdom of God was like the
kingdoms of men, as many others have done over the centuries.
Another thing to note is this. The Popes had politicized the church
over the centuries. The church was never meant to be what it was in 1000
AD, that is, a political identity, a nation in itself.
I see at least two points for us to learn from this time in history.
The first point is how we treat the Bible. The Crusaders were not allowed
to have the Bible to see first hand what Jesus said. We have the Bible
today but in many respects act as if we don’t. There is a measure of
Biblical illiteracy in the church today. This Biblical illiteracy was not
forced on us as it was in the church of the past. It is based on our
choice to leave the Bible on a shelf. If we are to be judged on our
Biblical understanding, we’d be judged more severely than the Crusaders
because our lack of Biblical understanding is by choice.
The second thing I feel we can learn is that the Kingdom of God was
never meant to be political. It is not a geographical nation, but a
spiritual community of people. Our church structures today come close to
politicizing God’s Kingdom because in many cases the church is not much
different than any secular institutions. Another example of this is our
attempt to Christianize our nation through political action. I don’t
believe that there is anything inherently wrong with trying to put
Christian principles into government and thus the nation. Our civil rights
allow us to make this attempt. But we should realize that the first and
foremost way to change a nation is to introduce people to Jesus. I believe
we can safely say that the Apostle Paul’s desire was to influence people
and nations towards Jesus. The way he did this was to preach the gospel,
introducing individuals to Jesus. He did not become a Roman politician to
accomplish his desire. Changing one life at a time will eventually change
our nation.
In conclusion, we need to cultivate a love for God’s Word. It needs
to "dwell in us richly" as Paul said. Also, we need to
understand that the Kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom, and is
demonstrated on earth as a subculture that can penetrate all aspects of
society. We should not limit God’s Kingdom to denominational structures
confined to religious buildings. It is a movement of Godly people,
representing Jesus to others as we live and walk the streets of this
world.
One final note. I have used the terms "Kingdom of God", and
"church" in this article. To make these terms clear in our
understanding, they have two distinct meanings. The church is not the
Kingdom of God. The church is the visible expression of the Kingdom of God
on earth. The Kingdom of God is spiritual in nature and includes all
things that are under the rule of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Here is a link to another article on the Crusades.
http://www.crisismagazine.com/april2002/cover.htm
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