Medieval Crusades Essay

The Medieval Crusades occurred in a period of time when Christianity was trying to spread the word by sword (Corduan, 2012, p. 144). The Medieval Crusades occurred by the orders of Pope Urban II in hopes to gain control over the Holy Land of Jerusalem (History.com, n.d.). During the Medieval Crusades, numerous people band together to first fight the Muslims for land. Countless people had died for what was thought was God. In 1069, the first Medieval Crusade began against the Muslim. Recently, the Muslims secured Jerusalem, which is Christianity’s most sacred place (History Today, 2015). The goal of the Medieval Crusades were to gain back the city of Jerusalem by force and power. The claim made by Pope Urban II was that whoever fought the Medieval Crusade would be forgiven for their sins as they have fought for God.
In comparison, every religion have extremist that are willing to go through any length to fight for their cause.
Christianity created the Medieval Crusades as an answer to the Muslims taken over the Holy Land and suppressing the Jews. As I learn more about the Medieval Crusades, I see a similarity in al-Qaeda, who claims to be fighting for Allah and spreading the word of Islam. Neither religion is correct and I do not believe that the two are true believers of Christianity or Islam. Moreover, the Medieval Crusades did not achieve their goal to gain the Holy Land while converting the Turkish Muslims to Christianity (Shoeing in Middle Ages, 2012). Another goal was to wipe out the Muslim faith altogether, which also did not occur. Although, Muslims were converted along the way but not enough to for the Medieval Crusades to be a success. It seems to me that what al-Qaeda is doing to the West is the same thing. Although countless people are being killed, the main goal is not a success, which is to convert everyone to one center
religion. Christian guidelines for missions needed to be based solely on Christianity and following Christ’s footsteps. I do agree that it is important to share the Gospel and inform people about Jesus Christ but not by force or sword as one may say. “He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (Mark 16:15, NIV). This passage talks about how one should spread the word of the Lord to everyone but it does not speak about force. We should educate people about Jesus and God. People are non-believers because they lack the knowledge of the Bible and they should be taught as Jesus taught numerous people about God. All people will never have the same views as one because everyone comes from different walks of life but we should work together and respect one another to share the love of God. In conclusion, the Medieval Crusades were a fight to spread the word of Christianity and capture the Holy Land that had been captured recently by the Muslims. The goal was to convert all Muslims to Christianity by force. Although the Medieval Crusades were a failure and many Muslims and Christians died, it is important to realize that the Jewish also suffered greatly. We definitely need to spread the Gospel to many but there are proper ways to do so. Pray to God to help spread the word without creating violence.