Crusades: How to have a holy war.

Here we combine yesterday's hinting at some of the fundamentals of the Crusades, last week's Veteran's day, and the Sunday school lesson yesterday about war/battles as mentioned in the scriptures.

The Crusades were a series of religious expeditionary wars blessed by Pope Urban II and the Catholic Church, with the stated goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem. (Wikipedia)  Somehow, since Veteran's day was on Sunday, the talks last week at church wandered into the realm of life being hard for soldiers and families of soldiers, who give most of their attention to selfless acts of devotion to our country.  Not your typical Sacrament Service.  Lastly, yesterday's Sunday School lesson focused primarily on what parents can do to teach their children to be good Christians, which included elements of devotion, patriotism, and fulfilling expectations even when the going gets rough.

via.

I'm not normally one to think about war and fighting, as it generally makes me a bit squeamish.  Recently I have come to a greater sense of empathy, too, which makes it easier to see the human side of an "enemy".  But, with all this talking of war, I wanted to discover what the Book of Mormon says about war.  

What I learned falls into three categories:
I. The Lord will add confidence to the righteous that He will deliver them out of the hands of their enemies.
II. War inspired by a better cause, e.g. family, home, rights, religion, is a duty of believers.
III. Wars of aggression will never be sanctioned by God.

These are the verses I read which taught me these directives:
Alma 58:11-12

11 Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our ^adeliverance in him.
 12 And we did take courage with our small force which we had received, and were fixed with a determination to conquer our enemies, and to^amaintain our lands, and our possessions, and our wives, and our children, and the cause of our ^bliberty.

Lord Spoke Assurances of deliverance, and provided peace, faith, and hope.  The fighting force's conviction to conquer was for the sake of maintaining their possessions, and protecting the liberty of their families.  It was not, "a conquering we'll go" with the expectation of building a kingdom.  It was to allow them to continue to work for their sustenance and enjoy the freedom to make their livelihood.

Alma 43:45-47

 45 Nevertheless, the Nephites were inspired by a ^abetter cause, for they were not ^bfighting for monarchy nor power but they were fighting for their homes and their ^cliberties, their wives and their children, and their all, yea, for their rites of worship and their church.
 46 And they were doing that which they felt was the^aduty which they owed to their God; for the Lord had said unto them, and also unto their fathers, that: ^bInasmuch as ye are not guilty of the ^cfirst offense, neither the second, ye shall not suffer yourselves to be slain by the hands of your enemies.
 47 And again, the Lord has said that: Ye shall ^adefend your families even unto ^bbloodshed. Therefore for this cause were the Nephites contending with the Lamanites, to defend themselves, and their families, and their lands, their country, and their rights, and their religion.

See?  I knew I remembered that it was not for monarchy or power.  They felt duty driven to defend their families to the end.  So I was interested to find out what this first and second offense was.

Here was one of the cross-references.  3 Ne 3:21

 21 But Gidgiddoni saith unto them: The Lord ^aforbid; for if we should go up against them the Lord would^bdeliver us into their hands; therefore we will prepare ourselves in the center of our lands, and we will gather all our armies together, and we will not go against them, but we will wait till they shall come against us; therefore as the Lord liveth, if we do this he will deliver them into our hands.

Okay, so one offense would have been to be the aggressor.  Deliverance was not promised if they aggressed, but only if they stood with their armies to defend their lands.  Ultimately, I suppose the truth of the matter is that we can do no wrong if we heed the Master's directive from Luke 6:29:

^aAnd unto him that ^bsmiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that ^ctaketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also.

Then once you've been smitten twice, or had your cloke and your coat taken, then you are justified in saying "enough is enough"?  Well, as long as the defense is performed humbly, in a nutshell, without flaunting God's power as though He could be commanded to fulfill our short-sighted goals.  Mormon 3:9-11

9 And now, because of this great thing which my people, the Nephites, had done, they began to ^aboast in their own strength, and began to swear before the heavens that they would avenge themselves of the blood of their brethren who had been slain by their enemies.
 10 And they did ^aswear by the heavens, and also by the throne of God, that they ^bwould go up to battle against their enemies, and would cut them off from the face of the land.
 11 And it came to pass that I, Mormon, did utterly^a refuse from this time forth to be a commander and a leader of this people, because of their wickedness and abomination.

From this brief exercise, I think I've come to the conclusion that it's expected that we stand up for truth and virtue, acting humbly in defense of God's gifts to us.  If we do it His way, then surely we'll be on the successful side.

Went to the temple.

So when I say that phrase, most of the LDS readers in this audience might think of this:

Boston Temple via.

Or if you knew I was in Washington DC this week you might have thought of this:

Washington DC Temple via.

But instead, I'm going to talk about this:

Rapeseed fields near Cressing Temple with Elder Jackson, June 2001.

In the background there, you see the Cressing Temple and Barns.  Here's the run-down, from Wikipedia:

Cressing Temple is an ancient monument situated between Witham and Braintree in Essex and was founded in 1137 by Matilda of Boulogne, the wife of King Stephen. It was the headquarters of the first grant of land given to the religious order of the Knights Templar in England. The two barns and the templar well which exist on the site, originate from this period. The Wheat Barn and the Barley Barn are the two finest Templar-built barns in Europe while the Barley Barn is recognised as the oldest timber-framed barn in the world.

Check out this guide from the temple website. 

 So now, who are the Knights Templar again, and why do they need barns? Again, from Wikipedia:

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders. The organisation existed for nearly two centuries during theMiddle Ages.
Officially endorsed by the Catholic Church around 1129, the Order became a favoured charity throughout Christendom and grew rapidly in membership and power. Templar knights, in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades. Non-combatant members of the Order managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom, innovating financial techniques that were an early form of banking,^[6][7]and building fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land.

And further down:

Although the primary mission of the Order was military, relatively few members were combatants. The others acted in support positions to assist the knights and to manage the financial infrastructure. The Templar Order, though its members were sworn to individual poverty, was given control of wealth beyond direct donations. A nobleman who was interested in participating in the Crusades might place all his assets under Templar management while he was away.  

It doesn't take much looking to find that the Templars had much influence in England.  I visited several ancient sites like this round church while there as a missionary.

Hedingham Castle at the village of Castle Hedingham.  

This Castle is where Matilda, who founded the Cressing Temple,  died  in 1152.  You can rent the castle's great hall if you want to host a wedding there.  Otherwise, the castle appears to be occupied by the owner's son and daughter-in-law and small children (how cool would it be to be raised in an ancient castle?). 

Associated with the templars are pilgrims, who would visit the Holy Land, even amid the war and turmoil.  They were permitted to visit Jerusalem as long as they were unarmed.  I wonder if that's why one of these stone figures of pilgrims have been unarmed?

Pilgrims at Finchingfield

When I took this picture, I thought it curious that some mischievous person inscribed the tomb with graffiti, "1755", right above the man's bicep.

Well, maybe we're not so different than the ancient pilgrims and Knights Templar as the principles of visiting holy places, contributing our means to funding the Lord's effort, and sending (peaceful) missionaries to reclaim the souls of men are still in effect.

"To you who are worthy and able to attend the temple, I would admonish you to go often. The temple is a place where we can find peace. There we receive a renewed dedication to the gospel and a strengthened resolve to keep the commandments."

—Thomas S. Monson