Posted on 09/09/2004 1:45:13 AM PDT by NotchJohnson
• Islam was born in war and grew the same way. From the time of Mohammed, the means of Muslim expansion was always the sword.
• With enormous energy, the warriors of Islam struck out against the Christians shortly after Mohammed's death. Palestine, Syria, and Egypt -- once the most heavily Christian areas in the world -- quickly succumbed.
• By the eighth century, Muslim armies had conquered all of Christian North Africa and Spain. In the eleventh century, the Seljuk Turks conquered Asia Minor (modern Turkey), which had been Christian since the time of St. Paul.
• The Byzantine Empire was reduced to little more than Greece. In desperation, the emperor in Constantinople sent word to the Christians of western Europe asking them to aid their brothers and sisters in the East.
• The end of the medieval Crusades did not bring an end to Muslim jihad -- Islamic states like Mamluk Egypt continued to expand in size and power, and the Ottoman Turks built the largest and most awesome state in Muslim history.
• Under Suleiman the Magnificent the Turks came within a hair's breadth of capturing Vienna, which would have left all of Germany at their mercy. At that point Crusades were no longer waged to rescue Jerusalem, but Europe itself.
• It is often asserted that Crusaders were merely lacklands and ne'er-do-wells who took advantage of an opportunity to rob and pillage in a faraway land. Recent scholarship has demolished that contrivance. The truth is that the Crusades were notoriously bad for plunder. A few people got rich, but the vast majority returned with nothing.
• The Ottoman Turks conquered not only their fellow Muslims, thus further unifying Islam, but also continued to press westward, capturing Constantinople and plunging deep into Europe itself. By the 15th century, the Crusades were no longer errands of mercy for a distant people but desperate attempts of one of the last remnants of Christendom to survive. Europeans began to ponder the real possibility that Islam would finally achieve its aim of conquering the entire Christian world.
• In 1529, Suleiman the Magnificent laid siege to Vienna. If not for a run of freak rainstorms that delayed his progress and forced him to leave behind much of his artillery, it is virtually certain that the Turks would have taken the city.
• Whether we admire the Crusaders or not, it is a fact that the world we know today would not exist without their efforts. Without the Crusades, Christianity might well have followed Zoroastrianism, another of Islam's rivals, into extinction.
Time to liberate our former Christiam territory.
Cool. Looks like it's time for "The Crusades Part II."
The Turks aren't exactly the warriors of the mid-east.
They allowed women the right to vote before we did, and have banned the veil in public for decades, something unheard of in both our country and europe.
So how do we get Christianity back into Turkey?
Since Christianity didn't enter Turkey via military action, how could the "Crusades, part II" be the right answer?
God must raise up leaders and begin an awakening. There is a wonderful liberation in store for those who turn to Christ. That is what I am praying for.
The chutzpah shown by modern muslims has them requesting the Vatican to approve muslim prayer services in an "ancient" muslim mosque that was replaced by a Catholic church. The press neglected to mention that the mosque was formerly a Catholic church that had been destroyed when the muslims conquered Spain.
Look at Ask the Imam. They say that slavery is still permissible if the slaves are seized in jihad (holy war) and if they are divided up in a "muslim territory". Spain was used to establish a Western capital for Islam. That they see territories marked by faith tells me all I need to know about the true nature of their religion.
It isn't over, until its over!
This time it needs to done right. Salt every square inch of it, destroy all access to water, and outlaw and destroy all heathen images and false doctrine books and materials. Think the pope will bless this, the mother of all crusades.
And when they arrived in Constantinople, they sacked it.
Also, here's a link to the main article that may work a bit better: link
We need a new Crusade.
Its time to liberate the Holy Land from continual threat by Islamic invaders.
Ping - The Crusades
Were the Arabs really ever all that advanced? Or did the advances come out of the formerly Greek and Zoroastrian societies that the muzzies conquered. I mean, I know the slamis didn't WRITE the books in the great library at Alexandria. But they did know how to BURN the books in the great library at Alexandria, maybe the single greatest loss ever to civilization at a single moment in history.
Freedom is a wonderful thing.
If you're a Christian, the Crusades were hardly anything to be proud of. Church corruption was at the heart of it more so than any thought of liberating occupied lands.
Exciting! I love it! Thanks for the report.
Otherwise we would have an Islamic Hitler across the pond.
BUMP
1) If the Crusades were simply a war to force Christianity upon Muslims, then why did the Crusaders (most of whom were from France and Germany) go all the way to the Holy Land? The Muslims in Spain were much closer and a more serious threat.
2) If all the Crusaders wanted to do was run the Muslims out of the Holy Land, then why did they wait until 1096- 400 years after the Muslims took the area over? Surely they would have been in a much better position to do so in the days of Charlemagne.
The answer is simple. In the late 11th Century, the Islamic world was hijacked by radicals bent on spreading their version of Islam. These radicals took control of the Holy Land and began a terror campaign against Christian residents and pilgrims (who were tolerated and even welcomed by the Caliphs until this time). The Byzantines, Franks and Normans launched the First Crusade and retook the Holy Land from the islamofascists. Subsequent Crusades were launched until the threat of islamofascism subsided.
I agree but this time with a more powerful army. Rom. 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the POWER OF GOD unto salvation...
You missed the point. The crusades were less about liberating, than about counter attacks to prevent Europe from falling. In my mind, the crusaders were heroes and should be honoured.
I think you have to insist that these Muslim countries allow for freedom of religion or at least tolerance in order for Christianity to spread. Christians have been persecuted in Turkey for hundreds of years -- when it wasn't by the state, it was done by Muslim clerics and mobs.
bfl
What's wrong with a new Crusade.........Since these perverted a$$holes are always demanding a "holy war"..lets have one.
Interesting perspective...
When I call them on it, the argument usually ends pretty quickly since they can't justify their position anymore. I'm no expert but they find out pretty fast that I'm not stupid either...once that is established they know not to talk middle east current events with me around, else they get pounded by me with a big stick called historic fact!
Note to Terrorist:You poked the wrong tiger in the eye, again!
Anywhere Islam exists and is practiced, the followers of
Mad Mo get real pushy....why do you think that the french
have that head scarf ban? How pleasent are the wailings
of call to prayer over that poor town in Michigan?
If muslimes would just allow the rest of us to live in
peace, we wouldn't be where we are. That just can't
happen when they follow their 'religion'. The nature
of Islam simply won't allow for freedom of religion,
freedom of government, freedom of anything. Why, they
even kill other muslimes who don't toe the line.
The decline of the Ottoman Empire long predated the machine gun. They started collapsing in the Napoleonic era.
There is probably no area of Western history subject to more misunderstanding, ignorance and direct distortion as the history of the Crusades.
One heroic scholarly effort to sift the truth is being made by Thomas F. Madden, associate professor and chair of the Department of History at Saint Louis University.
Professor Madden is the author of numerous works, including
A Concise History of the Crusades. Here is another point made by the man:
"...the Crusades to the East were in every way defensive wars. They were a direct response to Muslim aggression – an attempt to turn back or defend against Muslim conquests of Christian lands..."
BUMP!
bttt
Bump for anyone who wants to remove their blinders.
The Crusades were a result of a number of factors. The Muslims had already conquered Spain and Sicily prior to the First Crusade. I believe primogeniture played a larger role than corruption. Primogeniture left a number of knights with no land and plenty of time on their hands.
BTTT
The Real History of the CrusadesMisconceptions about the Crusades are all too common. The Crusades are generally portrayed as a series of holy wars against Islam led by power-mad popes and fought by religious fanatics. They are supposed to have been the epitome of self-righteousness and intolerance, a black stain on the history of the Catholic Church in particular and Western civilization in general. A breed of proto-imperialists, the Crusaders introduced Western aggression to the peaceful Middle East and then deformed the enlightened Muslim culture, leaving it in ruins... [T]he Crusades to the East were in every way defensive wars. They were a direct response to Muslim aggression—an attempt to turn back or defend against Muslim conquests of Christian lands.
by Thomas F. Madden
9 May 2002
Thank you for the reminder and the pingarooni
Joking or not....I think you may have something! Crusades!!
Three strangers strike up a conversation in the airport passenger lounge
in Bozeman, Montana, while awaiting their respective flights.
One is an American Indian passing through from Lame Deer.
Another is a Cowboy on his way to Billings for a livestock show
and the third passenger is a fundamentalist Arab student, newly
arrived at Montana State University from the Middle East.
Their discussion drifts to their diverse cultures. Soon, the two
Westerners learn that the Arab is a devout, radical Muslim and the
conversation falls into an uneasy lull.
The cowboy leans back in his chair, crosses his boots on a magazine
table and tips his big sweat-stained hat forward over his face. The wind
outside is blowing tumbleweeds around, and the old windsock is flapping;
but still no plane comes.
Finally, the American Indian clears his throat and softly he speaks, "At
one time here, my people were many, but sadly, now we are few."
The Muslim student raises an eyebrow and leans forward, "Once my people
were few," he sneers, "and now we are many. Why do you suppose that is?"
The cowboy shifts his toothpick to one side of his mouth and
from the darkness beneath his Stetson says in a smooth drawl . .
"That's 'cause we ain't played Cowboys and Muslims yet,
but I do believe it's a-comin'."
Pingarooni... kinda neat soundin'... "Franco-American Pingarooni..."
"The Crusades was just one of those parties that got out of hand."
There have been six, so far, AFAIK, this link being the oldest:
The Real History of the Crusades
Crisis Magazine | 4/1/2002 | Thomas Madden
Posted on 04/07/2002 10:35:39 PM EDT by traditionalist
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/661560/posts
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.