I've been reading about the Christian Crusades between 1096 and 1272. The book was written for young people and with that, it seemed somewhat easier to grasp what was going on during that period. The pilgrimage of the first crusade may have had good intentions, but by the time of the last crusades, any good intentions lay in ruin, deceit, disgust, death.
Historian Steven Runciman noted "The triumphs of the Crusades were the triumphs of faith. But faith without wisdom is a dangerous thing ... ... the Crusades were a tragic and destructive episode. There was so much courage and so little honor, so much devotion and so little understanding. High ideals were besmirched by cruelty and greed, enterprise and endurance by a blind and narrow self-righteousness; and the Holy War itself was nothing more than a long act of intolerance in the name of God, which in itself is a sin against the Holy Ghost."
Faith without wisdom is a dangerous thing ... have we yet learned that today, hundreds of years later?
"God wills it!" -- how can any of us presume we know what God wills. Just by saying it, does not make it so. Just because you believe God is behind anything you do, does not mean it is His will. To have even an inkling of what God's will is, you must have a personal relationship with His son, Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. You must seek His will for you, praying always, continually.
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