Emile, yes, we must be sure to not misrepresent any part of history that actually happened, and I have to say, with a little be of know-it-all attitude, that for certain there are very few books on the crusades I have not read, and many required interlibrary loans to obtain and the rest are in medieval french, and that kind of let me out of it, thanks.
The history of the crusades I know through the Knights of God, the Poor Knights of the Temple of Jerusalem. I also know in excruciating depth the turn their lives took, and again, that through every book I can read on the subject. It is all a lie. A horrible lie. The "Templars" are the most betrayed Christian men who ever lived,
The regular knights that went on crusade, so to speak, were all quite converted from paganism to Christianity, but they were worldly, and had the normal male appetites for pleasures and bounty and fame and fortune. They were shunned and avoided, of course, almost totally by the monastic Knights of God. The Knights of God were just too tough to put down the sword, but otherwise their lives were as simple and as godly as a young childs.
To digress, I believe one of the saddest things I have ever coped with except the colliseums in Rome and the Wounded Knee history, from l850 to Wounded Knee, is the trials of the Templars, and the fact that many of the accusations against them were accompanied by "it was [their satanic] powers that made the flowers grow." I kept seeing that over and over, and realized that these huge fighting machines were the greatest of all gardeners, and their flowers were so beautiful they seemed unreal. Hence, many of the recordings of the charges against them included " [the devil] made the flowers grow."
To be ripped apart piecemeal and slowly burned with green wood for being so close to God that He overly blessed your garden is a little difficult to cope with, you know? Also, if the mind can accept this idea without imploding upon itself, the Inquisitors who worked over and terminated the life in the tough bodies of the Knights of God were........Dominican "monks and priests" Yes. Dominican and later Franciscan monks and high ranking priests, exclusively. The Inquisition, after all was a "work of God, through the Pope."
I try to imagine Francis coping with that particular legacy of an order that once existed to bathe the sores of lepers.
As for the other knights, they were not godly men, but they sure weren't pagans either. THere are very horrible stories of their march through poor lower east Europe, and a lot of it was just medieval slaughter. But then the whole time was just medieval slaughter, and
it was accepted as life on Earth. Of that history--marching through lower Hungary of the time to Constantinople, I know or care little.
I do know that the inhabitants of Jerusalem loved the Knights of God and were astounded at these huge men falling on their faces and weeping aloud when they first arrived at the Temple in Jerusalem because they were so happy to be where Christ had walked.
Actually, all they did was read what scriptures they had, grow flowers and vegetables, take care of their horses, say Our Father Who Art in Heaven prayer about 150 times a day, and wait to go die. And feed everyone who showed up at their fortresses, of course.
I love them.
And of course a lot of their inspiration was the first Jewish Christian Church, as they had those scriptures and knew of the early church. They were not dumb. Actually most of them were highly educated.
I just look for balance between the illogical tendency the true born-again followers of Jesus Christ, who have made a verbal and spiritual committment to follow Him wherever it leads, to be taught that to love Christ is to worship all Jews by genetic heritage.
I can't worship all of my own family, and we're all the same DNA for Heaven's sake, and fairly decent people at that, and I don't hold them in any special esteem. To hold a whole people as
sacrosanct to me is almost absurd. That's my point. It's absurd, and is it even scriptural? John Hagge, a pastor I could not like or love any more and agree with every word out of his mouth LOVES Israel, and he's one of the worst to associate it, the physical country and the people living in it, with the very Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ almost.
On the other hand, a Jewish convert who accepts Christ has always seemed to me to have a wonderful edge, and if I could find any group of Messianic Jews here I would for sure plunk myself down right in the middle of them and stay there. I can tell you that there is only holiness and reverence toward God the Father and a pure and
genuine love for Jesus the Son which is most to be desired, and is like being with the First Church. Unfortunately, they are also hard to find. And also, they are just plain fun people. Period. There is the joy of both kinds there.
Well, I could write another three hours, but have said enough.
I would very much like to discuss the early church and the "Templars" and other aspects of our true history as Christians, and
maybe if someone could start a Christian history thread we would all learn amazing truths, and feel a little better about fellow human creations. |
