The Crusades Were True Holy Wars

Resolved, that the Crusades were true "Holy Wars"

Intro: The Crusades are possibly the most misunderstood events in European history. The Crusades, from years 1095-1291, are defined to be military expeditions undertaken by Christian powers in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries to win the Holy Land from the Muslims. The Crusades were responses to more than four centuries of conquests in which Muslims had already captured two thirds of the old Christian World. Some historians categorize them as "Holy Wars," but others stand on the completely opposite side of the debate. The words Holy and Wars are very incompatible. The Crusades were considered wars, so nobody should consider them full of nothing but good intentions and piety. There were many incidents within the Crusades in which the Pope completely disagreed on.

Points:

I. Wars are wars; they all contain slaughter and robbery.

a. Slaughter of many people that were "against Christ." (Madden)

i. During the early days of the First Crusades in 1095, crusaders led by Count Emicho of Leiningen made its way down the Rhine robbing and murdering all the Jews they could find.

1. They thought that taking the Jew's money was a righteous deed and that the money could be used to fund the Crusades.

ii. Similarly, Peter the Hermit and 20,000 pilgrims of the "People's Crusade" sacked Semin and Belgrade and had to fight their way into Byzantium, suffering serious losses at Nish in July 1096.

II. The Crusades were not justified. (Demy)

a. The main reasons given for the Crusades:

i. Conquering/re-conquering the lands taken by the Muslims.

1. The Bible does not indicate that certain lands have to be in the hands of the Christians.

a. Matthew 22:21: "Caesar's," they replied. Then he said to them, "So give back to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."

b. Exodus 20:15: You shall not steal.

c. Exodus 20:17: "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife...or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

2. The Bible teaches Christians to love their enemies.

a. Matthew 5:44 in the bible: "But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you..."

ii. Fulfilling personal vows

1. Jesus teaches people to avoid vows.

a. Matthew 5:33-37: "...But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven,