Christian Jihad- A Book Report
I feel less inclined to write about the history of violence in the community of Christians that chose to even address the issue, and more inclined to write about the impact that the current stance on the issue has on our modern body of believers.
Warning, if the one reading this is easily offended, its best to leave the room now.
First we must take a rule from our friend Socrates’ rulebook and define the terms we will be using, lest we loose the effectiveness of the arguments to come. When we talk about “Christians,” we will either be talking about one of three groups of people: 1) The global, time-spanning body of men, women and children who profess with their mouths and actions to believe that Jesus Christ is the one and only Son of God, fully God, came to Earth, was born of a virgin, lived a sin-less life, preformed miracles, died on the cross as substitutionary atonement for the sins of the world so that man and God might be reconciled through belief in that sacrifice. 2) A local group of the same believers, confined to a certain culture and time. 3) A local group of people who profess with their mouth the same as the two mentioned above, but live a life contrary to that profession. Now we will define other terms as they come but for now we will leave that for that time.
The view of killing in the name of Christ has been around longer than most dirt, but in all seriousness, it has seldom been dealt with. Even today when the means of projecting ones ideas is at its greatest, it still lies untouched, for the most part. Dr. Emir Caner and his brother Dr. Ergun Caner addresses this issue, in their book Christian Jihad the Caner’s go through history recounting the various transformations of the Churches outlook on killing, the move from early pacifism to modern justification of killing. But the meat does not really come out until the very end of the book where they bring it all in to central core, page 212 bring the whole historical account to a close and opens the central nut of truth, “ The shedding of more blood isn’t required. Jesus Christ’s spilled blood is enough. His sacrifice was both justified and justifies.”
Now if this is true, we have a split in our churches, taking into account that the Christian worldview, as a general whole, advocates gun control, supporting the president in war (without questioning) and even goes to say that serving in the military is right and good. That’s all and fine, but I feel that if you can stand to put tradition and what is expected behind you then search the Bible for guidance on the issue, I feel you get a completely different view. Stephen was stoned for believing and preaching, but did anyone defend him? Did Peter, or John or James, his closest friends, come and with the same sword that sliced an ear off, kill those men then grab Stephens bloody body and drag his to safety? No, in fact Stephen felt sympathy for the people who were plunging rocks into his body. That is certainty not what grandpa Joe would do if his friend was being mistreated, he would say that it is his religious duty to protect him and if necessary kill to do so.
This false view of Christianity is void of Christ entirely, but is full of conservativism because that is what good Christian boys and girls believe. Christ preached blessed are the poor in spirit, but what does one feel when shooting a sawed off shotgun at a couple of targets? Pride. Pride in ones accomplishment of being a being of intelligence and power.
So now that I have thoroughly made mad everyone from the president to my father very angry I will close with saying what Dr. Emir and Ergun Caner said, Jesus’ blood was the only blood ever spilt that needed to be, and we are under it to be saved, not to push back those who are not.
To love those like Christ loved us is the point i want to drive home in this, nothing more, nothing less. Jesus did not come to wage war and kill those whom he opposed, but he came to give shelter to the weak and water to the thirsty(in irony, he opposed the religious leaders of the day). Please if you have more questions I am always open to discussion.
With his love
StevenBenjamin
A lot of times we Christians look at the violent Martyr deaths of Muslims. We forget, however, that people, who called themselves Christians, used to do likewise and maybe even worse. Ergun and Emir Caner are trying to convey the truth about a dark chapter in the history of the church. Their book “Christian Jihad” informs us about the crusades and other horrible slaughters made in the name of Christ.
The authors start with the pacifistic mindset of the Early Church Fathers and about the change that took place about this issue when Christianity became a religion under Constantine. He also arranged a marriage between the state and the church, which will turn out to be bad. The moment when Pope Urban, as the head of the church and therefore also head of the state, challenged Christians to conquer the Holy Land from the Muslims, is considered to be the low point for Christianity. The time of Invasions, murders and slaughters started and resulted in more than three crusades in the beginning of the second millennium. Later the church even justified the death of heretics. Opponents of the church were not tolerated at all. Instead the most happened consequence for holding different views than the Catholic Church would end in a death by burning at the stake. The authors also describe the relationship of the church to the Jews and notice that it also was not free of violence and maledictions. “Christian Jihad” wants to challenge us to have a critical view on our mostly not known history and warns of the consequences of the question on separation of church and state.
How could such horrible things like the killing of so many people in the name of Jesus Christ happen? This is an often asked question that I want to answer, based on the Research the authors have done.
The most important reason is the situation Christianity and Christian people were at that time. Before the first millennium ended people in Europe were pretty desperate. After a time of moderate conditions for Europeans, it was much easier to find something to look forward to. People were not satisfied with their situation at all; they did not really have purpose they would like to die for. This is the first condition to start something like the crusades. Pope Urban knew very well to take advantage of this situation. He mobilized almost all of Europe to recapture the Holy Land together. He promised them forgiveness of their sins and the assertion of eternal life. Of course, Pope Urban had in mind also the reaffirmation of the papacy, which had lost a little bit of reputation.
As a German, I would like to compare this initial situation of the crusades with the situation in Germany which led to the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. The German people around the thirties were as well a very desperate people. Branded by the consequences of World War 1, the economic crisis, and a political mess people were looking for somebody to put the blame on. Hitler, who was a great orator and like Pope Urban, could unify and mobilize people. They both used their talent to abuse people for their own ideals and motivations. At this point it is important to state that I do not want to trivialize either of these occurrences. However, it could be important for us to see what exactly caused people to join such a cruelty.
It is our responsibility to learn from our past. As Christians we ought to live accordingly in every part of our life.
You can find rivalry in many ways. Sometimes it is brought on by one’s particular choice in a professional team, there can be yearly rivalry or there can be a rivalry that has been passed from generation to generation because of an event that took place in history. You find this long term rivalry usually between high school sports teams. Most of us don’t choose where we attend high school; it’s based upon where we live. However while embracing and attaching our names to a school we usually inherit a sportsman like hatred towards one opposing team that has been passed on for generations. So many years have passed that most students have no idea why the abhorrence for that particular team over the others is there.
In the book “Christian Jihad” by Ergun and Emir Caner, they take you through what can be described as some of Christian’s darkest periods. The book brings the reader a sense of shame if they are Christian, until they realize that the people committing these horrific acts truly didn’t deserve to hold to the name Christian. Everyone someway or another has heard the ruthless things done throughout the Christian Crusades, however most of us have never done the research to know exactly what took place. The Caners use history to bring out and turn Christians little dark secrets in their closet, to a well lighten understanding of truth behind exactly who and why they did what they did. The book goes on to discuss several things about the church and pacifism, the church working it’s way into the military, church and state together and it’s troubles, 1st 2nd and 3rd crusades, church persecution within and from without of the church, and the war between Christendom and Islam.
Learning exactly the events that took place during the 1st crusade or should I say “Christian Jihad” against the Muslims, I have a better understanding of the imbedded hatred that Muslims have towards Christians. The reasoning behind the crusades was not only to recapture Jerusalem and come to the aid of suffering believers, but it was said by church leaders that they would receive the remission of their sins. During the battle for Jerusalem in 1099 the Christian crusaders showed no mercy to their Muslim foes. “Some of our men…cut off the heads of their enemies; others shot them with arrows, so that they fell from towers; others tortured them longer by casting them into flames…At nightfall, the Crusaders’ hands were still bloody when they folded them in prayer and knelt at the Church of Holy Sepulchre, sobbing for excess joy.” (Brehier, Histoire anonyme de la premiere croisade, pg 241) Our early church fathers didn’t look at their Muslim foes as lost souls that needed saving but rather as a pagan sect that deserved to be slaughtered.
“Christian Jihad” is a book that will make you question your own personal beliefs on war. Many a time people follow ones direction on an issue based on affiliation, instead of seeking truths. The truth of the matter is that even though “Christians” declared that “God wills it”, most Christians today would disagree with the decisions made during the crusades. Only time and true Christianity will heal the Muslim’s defense against Christians for I believe that it isn’t a hatred that is aware of the past misfortunes bestowed upon their families, but like a high school rival hatred that has been pasted down from generation to generation because of an event long forgotten. My fear as American Christians is that today we can look back to 9/11 and see a Muslim terrorist group who we hate, and let history repeat itself. That if we allow hatred to embed our generation from one act, then many generations from now they too will look at Muslims with hate instead of someone who needs a Savior.
